Named after a Nigerian state capital, Benin City is Theo Buckingham on drums, Tom Leaper on tenor sax, and Joshua Idehen on rhymes.
Joshua met Theo Buckingham at a squat party. They struck up a loud friendship and decided to make more organised noises together. They drafted in Tom to arrange their babble into music. Voila.
Within their relatively short career as a band, they have supported bands such as Fool’s Gold, Tinashe, Yungun, Sound of Rum and Kid British. They’ve been played on BBC 3’s The Verb and Huey Morgan’s BBC6 show. Their vibrant and energetic performances have garnered them a loyal following, including John Kennedy (XFM), Edith Bowman, Mark Lamarr, Scroobius Pip, Ed Sheeran and Craig Charles.
Their debut album, Fires In The Park will be released under AD in 2013
fantastic, sprawling' I guess I'm Floating
'Subletly soaked in that modern trifecta of electronic, bass and soul' - Pinboard blog
‘A Sulty piece of Afro dub blues-‘ Q Magazine
‘one of the UK's most exciting new bands’ –Huffington Post
‘Benin City are making awesome singles a habit’- Putmeonit.com
‘Bound to be a future live favourite- Urban Nerds