Attila the Stockbroker: Tory Free Tour

Event information

Punk poet, latterly dub poet, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Attila the Stockbroker exploded into public consciousness in 1982-3 via two John Peel sessions and a Melody Maker front cover and is now celebrating 43 years earning a living doing what he loves. So far: nearly 4000 gigs in 24 countries, some 20 CD/s LPs, eight books of poems, his autobiography ‘Arguments Yard’ (Cherry Red Books, 2015) and his collected works ‘Heart on my Sleeve’ (Cherry Red Books, 2021) His latest album, endorsed by his old friend, the now sadly departed Ben Zephaniah, is a dub poetry collection ’40 Years In Rhyme’ with rhythms from Kingsley Salmon and What’s Left Dub, and his previous one, 2018’s ‘Restoration Tragedy’ recorded with his band Barnstormer 1649, combines early music and punk – a lifelong ambition – with tales of the English Revolution of 1649.

Attila the Stockbroker formed the band Barnstormer in 1994, with the initial aim of combining punk rock and early music, which they did to an extent on their debut album, The Siege of Shoreham, in 1996. Then Barnstormer's line up changed: they turned into a melodic punk band and for the next 22 years performed regularly across Europe, doing over 500 gigs and releasing three further albums, Just One Life (2000) Zero Tolerance (2004) and Bankers and Looters (2012). In 2018, Attila, who has always been interested in the history of the radical movements spawned in the aftermath of the English Civil War, wrote and recorded an album, Restoration Tragedy on that theme, combining early music and punk. He has now changed the name of the band to Barnstormer 1649 (the year of King Charles I of England's execution and the revolutionary uprisings by the Levellers and Diggers).


Attila’s current solo performance comprises fiery, satirical, political and personal spoken word, dub poetry, acoustic songs and early music punk on ancient instruments. He really doesn’t sound like anything else. He’s very prolific and his material is very, very up to date. He has just finished 14 day run at this year’s Edinburgh PBH Free Fringe called ’14 Days, 14 Completely Different Shows’.

That's 14 hours of completely original material, no poem or song performed more than once in the whole run. He reckons he has at least double that to choose from!


Reviews

https://louderthanwar.com/dave-jennings-reviews-a-brilliant-career-spanning-collection-of-works-from-our-foremost-punk-poet/

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/works-wit-and-wisdom-free-spirit-left

https://louderthanwar.com/attila-the-stockbroker-40-years-in-rhyme-album-review/



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