No introduction should be needed for the agit-prop band who turned down a million dollar advertising contract, gave fans the all-clear to shoplift their album and gave John Prescott a cold shower at the Brits.
And 32 years since they introduced their anti-establishment campaign to music lovers, the ethics are still at the fore for Chumbawamba’s lead guitarist, Boff Whalley, whose no-nonsense attitude is now permeating plays, museums and the hills of Liversedge.
Most recently it has led him to the coal face of tributes to the 1984 miner’s strike, through his now touring play, We’ll Never Go Back, a venture that has taken him almost full circle to when he got involved with the campaign while living in a squat with other members in Armley in 1984.
But, as one of dozens of bands who managed to bridge the gap between anarcho-punk and unwavering politics and mainstream fandom, Boff is now wondering if taking a no nonsense stance on social issues in 21st century England has the same place it once held.
“Making songs that tackle inequality, injustice and talk about what’s going on in the world are still out there – but it’s a different playing field now. They’re not seen in the mainstream culture these days and bands are not always around as long – it’s a real shame.
“I think that the attitude of the music media here doesn’t help either – it will beat the hell out of anyone who can be antagonistic – we experienced it and nothing’s changed today.
“It’s strange because Europe is different – we’d go over there and people would listen to our music, interview us talk about what’s going on back home, for example when it was the miners’ strike but in British music magazines we got slaughtered for our songs.”
Not just wondering about where all the ideology has gone, he thinks that the amount of innovation within guitar bands is also lacking in the mainstream.
That may be no surprise to hear if one flicks back through Chumbawamba’s back catalogue, in which the band pushed different boundaries to explore new concepts and sounds on each album.
“It’s odd because I find with a lot of bands now a days that they just sound like someone from the past and aren’t doing anything new.
“I hope someone will come along and blow everything out of the water.”
He is equally passionate about the current barrage of cuts that are being inflicted upon the arts in the country, which he said would only act as a blockade to talents and creativity to flourish.
He said: “I think culture is one of the most integral ways in which advancement of a country is judged.
“It shows that we can create something beautiful. We may be going through a recession but protecting culture is integral.
“It offers people a way to express themselves in relation to what’s going on around them and makes peoples lives better and gives people a sense of control in their lives.”
The radical theatre group that he has recently found himself penning historical plays about working people’s struggles for, Red Ladder Theatre, is one of the most recent radical and inclusive organisations to feel the funding axe. A craft he never imagined taking up himself, he has found that play writing has opened up new opportunities for his own musical career.
“I didn’t think that I would end up play writing at all and when I started writing plays I wanted it to be different from the band, but a few years later realised that music was important as my way of engaging the audience on the topic that was being explored.
“Like with the band, the plays I write resonate with what’s going on at the moment and it’s great to be involved with.”
Since Chumbawamba’s split in 2012, Boff has also found himself engaging communities in museums, on guided walks in Kirklees, collaborations with other musicians and, when he has the time, as a solo artist.
“Even when we were living in the squat we made sure that we were involved with the communities and families around us, because it reconnected us to where we were from so it’s something that I could ever turn away from.”
And on whether the band will see the light of day again, Boff is relatively frank.
“For now it is for good – we all still get on really well but two many bands split up and get back together without a clear aim and we’ve all got lots of different projects on the go.
“We were really lucky to have played together for so long. It was an incredible privilege and the memories I have will never go away, everything from playing in the Eastern Block to fans who had only been able to hear our music through bootlegged records to the non-public parts of band life like warming up back stage.
“I’m enjoying what I’m doing right now. At the moment that also includes a big collaboration at the Manchester Museum with art organisation, People United, where I’m writing music for five choirs in response to its fascinating collection of curios, so I’ve not even really had chance to think about what I’m going to do as a solo act just yet. That’s something for the future.”
