Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies - Art, Religion & Chocolate Biscuits (2025)

He’s a seemingly, ever-present stalwart around the North Western environs (he’s been doing his thing now for the last 15 years) and is already up to album number six, they are the finest “part experiential performance art drag-act and part punk rock show” that you may still be unfamiliar with, yes, it’s Pete Bentham & the Dinner Ladies new album time.

For those of us who have had them in our lives for years, and have been enjoying their very own unique genre, (they call it Kitchencore), a mixture of punk and downright rock and roll, may notice some slight differences with this one however.

“I let myself write about more personal stuff this time, it’s more personal than the previous ones,” frontman Pete explains, “but not in a heavy way.”

Now humour and music are not comfy bedfellows, it doesn’t always work, the ‘novelty’ value sometimes negates the desire for repeated listens, as the joke wears thin, as Bentham is aware of.

“People dismiss bands that use humour,” he admits. “It happened to Madness. But humour is a better way of drawing people in than just ranting.”

And god knows we need something lighter in our life, and as fellow just-outside-of-Liverpool veterans Half Man Half Biscuit prove with every release, as long as the tunes are also there, then isn’t that better than some spoilt indie kid droning on miserably? The everyday tales on offer here cover a wide range of subject matter, all the way from shed-related mental health cures on opener ‘Shed’ (“I need a shed, don’t need no meds, My dad had a shed, where he could clear his head”) to the Catholic Church. on the quite disturbing piano based ‘Holy Pictures’, complete with satanic sounding choir, all told from a these-things-really-happened perspective.

There’s real energy and a sense of fun and punk spirit to tracks like ‘Is There Life in Rhyl?’ and the fantastically titled ‘Stand By Your Nan’, with lashings of shonky saxophone which pervades it’s way through the tracks, none more so than on the truly catchy ‘It’s Okay To Be Quiet’ and the ironic ‘Art Is Shit’, an ode to the Warhol ethos of making art for art’s sake, not for other people, and it’s this music with a message which makes this such an endearing listen, their DIY feel giving a real sense of excitement, you never can guess which direction they’ll go in next.

It’ s an album which compliments their already impressive back catalogue, it may well be the highlight so far, and will serve to fit in nicely to their brilliant live shows. but it’s very much not all shouting over thrashy guitars, there’s genuine subtle pathos and beauty in the two side closers, ‘Mermaids In The Mersey’ and the glorious singalong closer, ‘Lie Down’, a ‘Hey Jude’ for the Labubu generation, which serves up a harmonising, drum-filled treat.

You can’t actually get bored of this record, you’ll find something new on each listen, it’s a record that bears repeating. If it’s your first listen to a Dinner Ladies record, welcome, but what kept you?