MPF2026 FIRST TIMER SPOTLIGHT: BE N!CE

In the built up to MPF2026 John Porter is exploring bands who are playing Manchester Punk Festival for the first time. This week John speaks with Be N!ce.

No one tells you this, but sometimes there’s a sweet spot for interviewing bands, and it isn’t 4pm on a dreary, rainy Friday, as Emily, long-standing bassist for Be N!ce (the exclamation mark IS important) and I commiserate at the end of a long week. Fortunately, as the intrusive exclamation mark in their name suggests, Be N!ce bring one hell of a lot of energy and cheer to our interview, and by the end, I’m not only energised, but fully on board with the ‘chaos punk’ (more on which later), style of the band. Let’s get into it:

Who Are Be N!ce?

Be N!ce are a London-based four-piece:

• Pol Mills (they/them) – Vocals
• Emily Harris (she/her) – Bass
• Alex McIntosh (he/him) – Drums
• Brett Lee (he/him) – Guitar

How Be N!ce Began

Originally formed after a house-share post-COVID in Leicester translated into punk rock dreams in London (“I was inspired by my local Leicester scene..I had a lot of friends in a lot of bands, and I wanted a piece of that,” says Harris, while McIntosh concurs with “I happened across a local hardcore show in Leicester, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is it. This is me now,’ and I’ve been trying to do that ever since.”), Harris, McIntosh and Lee originally began jamming together, before recruiting Mills following a club night in Central London, beginning to play together in 2022. “I met Pol at a club in London, just by chance,” says Brett. “I mentioned we were looking for a singer, and it turned out Pol really wanted to be a singer in a punk band! So a few rehearsals later, it fell into place, and we were gigging a few months later in South London…”

Running At Full Speed

Since then, it’s been a busy few years of gigs, originally around the London scene, but also expanding into other major cities in the UK, like Manchester and Birmingham. As I speak to them, they’re gearing up to play Europe, too; they’ve already visited Germany, and Belgium’s coming up as well. Jam in an EP release last year (the excellent WHERE AM I?) with it’s own packed release show, and the band have been pretty busy. Still, they seem to enjoy it. “It’s pretty surreal to have a crowd of people screaming, ‘I’m going to go to the office and kill myself.’… ,” says Emily, smiling.

Sorry, what?! – Lyrical influences and themes

Oh, yeah, I should probably explain about that. That’s not just the random explosion of a few people frustrated with dreary middle-management jobs. No, that one comes from the musical stylings and twisted minds of Be N!ce. In some senses, the band consider their name ironic: “Everybody’s so divisive or divided these days, and we thought it was, a little bit passive aggressive and ironic, because we call ourselves Be N!ce, but we’re not very nice to the people who deserve it,” Brett says. “Yeah, but we’re not horrible for the sake of it,” adds Pol. McIntosh adds: “I think also it’s frustration at the way that you think the world should be. And you get out into it, and you find that a lot of the time that’s not quite the case.”

They’ve got a point on both counts – most songs skewer some objectively acceptable targets, from predator police officers in corrupt forces (ONE BAD APPLE, an incendiary song sure to have all singing along come Easter), to the mundane purveyors of office jobs (the aforementioned CAMBRIDGE) – and there’s an intensity to the sound, too.

“We like going to the most extreme response,” Pol explains. “Sometimes it might be, ‘I hate my office job, I’m going to kill myself in front of everyone’, or in the case of a song called ‘Oopsie’ that we performed live, it might be ‘My landlord sucks, I’m gonna burn this place to the ground….either way, I think a lot of it tends to be angry, because we’re angry about a lot of stuff,” says Pol. “Especially recently, I feel like we’ve written a lot of really angry, intense songs…but…” she trails off. “We’re also kind of stupid,” she chuckles.

It’s true to say this, to an extent (although I’d call them silly rather than stupid) – after all, my introduction to the band was through the bouncy ode to screaming exhaustion that is BEDTIME – one of the catchier songs on the EP, and something that I think could get a rousing reception on the MPF stages. This incongruity in styles is explained by the band as the culmination of a melting pot of four people’s different influences: “We all like different things!” Brett explains. “That led to us calling ourselves “Chaos Punk”, meaning we have a punk ethos, but we’re all over the place in terms of genre.”

Something for everyone, and loving playing live

The band are right – from bouncy fun to incendiary rants, there’s something here for everyone, and I can only imagine the intensity will rachet up a notch in the live arena. “When we played Exeter last year, at the Cavern…the place fucking lit up. Playing live is amazing. I love doing it,” says Alex. “Connecting with people is awesome, I love it when people come to shows and sing along, it’s the human connection, that’s why we do it…now its time for MPF, and it’s kind of a staple of being a punk band…we’re really excited!”

Honestly, I am too – by the end of this interview, I could run through a brick wall, and punch anyone waiting at the other side to boot. If you like your punk rock full of singalong tunes and dripping with attitude, these lot are for you. There’s no signs of them slowing down, either; as well as MPF, they’re slated to play Bearded Theory, Rebellion, and other gigs across the UK. They’re front foot, full speed, and unapologetic. And if you sounded like this, you would be too. Get yourself down to see them – you won’t regret it.

Be N!ce will play The Union at 3pm on Good Friday.

Be N!ce’s MPF Recommendations

• Split Dogs
• Menstrual Cramps
• Sour Flake
• Gaydar
• Sourflake
• Bridget.
• Joe & The Shitboys
• Face Up

Be N!ce’s major, worthy, cause

I want to close this piece by bringing Emily Harris’s cause to the forefront. Emily runs Trans Jams London, a trans-exclusive jam night for any and all trans people, a safe space to play music, make friends, and join bands. I honestly can’t think of anything MPF could be more behind than a cause like this, and I think it’s a tremendous thing to put some weight behind. Emily wants to help the trans community as much as possible – “It was born out of seeing a lot of misery in my community. And I just want to stop that.” As she says herself, “No one’s coming to save us…so we must save ourselves.” Sadly, in today’s world, that’s incredibly true, and I think that’s something every MPF-goer can identify with.

Go to https://www.trans-jams.org/ to help and support their cause and find out more.

Make sure you pick up your MPF2026 ticket.