Attila the Stockbroker’s Barnstormer 1649 – early music meets punk at the time of the Civil War
Attila the Stockbroker – Punk poet, dub ranter, singer-songwriter, early music punk pioneer, writer and social commentator
Barnstormer 1649 aim to do with early music & punk what the Pogues did with Irish music & punk – but with a strong historical and political message. Leader, poet and multi-instrumentalist Attila the Stockbroker, describes their sound as ‘Roundhead Renaissancecore’ and Baroque ‘n’ Roll’.
Attila has always loved early music and plays a lot of the instruments – crumhorn, cornemuse, rauschpfeife, shawm, bombarde and five different recorders as well as violin, viola , mandola and mandocello. A lifelong socialist and activist, he has always been fascinated by the radical movements which exploded at the end of the English Civil War and the execution of Charles 1 – radicals who can be described as the first English socialists. And his songs are inspired both musically and lyrically by the events of that tumultuous time. So instruments and ideas fit together: they are from the same period.
Attila the Stockbroker has journeyed through the great political battles and movements of recent times.. Rock Against Racism/Anti-Nazi League/Anti-Fascist Action, Miners’ Strike, Wapping dispute, Red Wedge, Poll Tax, campaigns against two Gulf Wars: Attila has been there, done the benefit and worn the T-shirt.
Fittingly for someone who describes himself as a ‘social surrealist’, you’ll often find yourself roaring with laughter. Attila once stood in for Donny Osmond at a gig. Having got an encore as the support act, he was thrown out of his own gig by the bouncers on the orders of the main act John Cale, one of his all-time musical heroes. His support acts? They’ve included Manic Street Preachers, Julian Clary, New Model Army and Billy Bragg. And in the early 80s the incredibly influential Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq was his roadie for a while.
There is a Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1397578190869659
