Spin reports that punk duo Sleaford Mods released a new single today, ahead of the release of the release of their new album English Tapas, which is available from March 3. The track is titled ‘B.H.S’, taking it’s title from the now defunct chain of British department stores.
B.H.S’s previous owner, controversial businessman Sir Philip Green, sold the company for £1 in 2015, before collapsing last year. Green received a lot of negative attention and scrutiny as a result of this, due to controversy around pension obligations.
Sleaford Mods’ publicist provided a statement to explain the connection between the duo’s new single, and the former plaything of Philip Green. The Statement read:
“BHS (British Home Stores) was a chain of department stores in the UK controlled by Sir Philip Green, the chairman of Arcadia Group, which also owns Topshop, among others. The chain was shuttered in the summer of 2016, and 11,000 jobs were lost, as well as £571 million from the pension fund, leaving 22,000 former employees without retirement income. Having taken £400 million in dividends from the failed retailer, Green was sailing the Mediterranean on a newly-purchased super-yacht as the last stores closed.”
Appropriately for the often-embittered, politically vocal band, the track’s video takes multiple swipes at the man that Vanity Fair calls “Britain’s most hated billionaire”. The video shows the duo aboard one of Green’s aforementioned yacths, performing for a cigar-chomping impersonator, wearing a robe and Union Jack underpants.