The line-up of this long serving UK band has included Alice Nutter, Boff Whalley, Mavis Dillon, Louise Mary Watts, Danbert Nobacon (b. Nigel Hunter, England), Harry Hamer, Neil Ferguson, Jude Abbot and Dunstan Bruce. Chumbawamba was originally an anarchist outfit formed in Leeds, England, out of a household situated in the shadow of Armley jail. In a similar manner to Crass, who were an obvious early influence, the band dynamic was powered by their communal life. First playing live in 1983, the band, whose regional origins are in Burnley and Bradford, alternated between instruments and theatricals on stage and record. Their first single, ‘Revolution’, was startling, opening with the sound of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, before having it removed from the stereo and smashed. It was just as precise lyrically: ‘The history books from every age, Have the same words written on every page, Always starting with revolution, Always ending with capitulation, Always silenced by the truncheon, or bought out with concessions, Always repetition...’. It was a powerful introduction, finishing at number 6 in UK BBC disc jockey John Peel’s 1985 Festive 50 radio poll. The follow-up, ‘We Are The World’, was banned from airplay due to its explicit support of direct action. Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records (1986) used polemic and agit-prop to subvert a common theme in the music industry at that time, denouncing the self-indulgence of Band Aid. Other targets included multinationals (the band had published a booklet on immoral activities titled Dirty Fingers In Dirty Pies), apartheid and imperialism.
Chumbawamba’s discourse was made all the more articulate by the surprising virtuosity of musics employed, from polka to ballad to thrash. Pouring red paint over the Clash on their comeback ‘busking’ tour in Leeds demonstrated their contempt for what they saw as false prophets, while the second album considered the role of government in oppression and the futility of the vote. The 1989 album English Rebel Songs: 1381-1984 acknowledged their place in the folk protest movement, and Slap! saw hope in the rebellious dance music that characterized the end of the 80s. By this time the band had somewhat abandoned their previous austerity - now Danbert and Alice were all-singing, all-dancing compères to a live show that celebrated resistance and deviance rather than complaining about ‘the system’. 1994’s Anarchy!, somewhat ironically titled in view of new perceptions of the band, dismissed the blind-alley myopia of the punk set (‘Give The Anarchist A Cigarette’), while still railing against intolerance (‘Homophobia’ gave a musical backdrop to a true story of a gay slaying in Bradford).
Chumbawamba may no longer share the same living space, or even the same ideas, but they are as powerful and attractive a force in the underbelly of the British music scene as ever. They are humorous, politically correct and genuine - all the ingredients for a doomed cult band. However, this fate was reversed by the surprise success of ‘Tubthumping’, their catchy ode to alcohol, which only narrowly missed reaching number 1 in the UK in 1997, and also made the US Top 10. The following album (on major record label EMI Records) was much slicker than past efforts, yet beneath the often lush melody lay a strong bite in the lyric; particularly noteworthy were ‘The Good Ship Lifestyle’, ‘Drip Drip Drip’ and ‘Mary Mary’. Three years later the band released the major label follow-up, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), which featured an unlikely cover version of the Bee Gees’ ‘New York Mining Disaster, 1941’.
The band left EMI Records in 2001 and the following year formed their own record label, MUTT Records. Their first release on MUTT was the same year’s Readymades. In a surprise move they then accepted $100, 000 from General Motors for ‘Pass It Along’ to be used in a television advertisement for Pontiac Vibe, although this was qualified by the fact that the band gave all the money to activist groups. The eclectic Un (2004) was the last full-scale recording project by Chumbawamba. A scaled down line-up featuring Whalley, Watts, Abbot and Ferguson went on to record the acoustic A Singsong And A Scrap. Former member Danbert Nobacon released his solo debut in 2007.
