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Title: Chumbas chill out Author: Solidarity Federation Date: Spring 1998 Language: en Topics: interview, music, Direct Action Magazine Source: Retrieved on November 30, 2004 from https://web.archive.org/web/20041130181935/http://www.directa.force9.co.uk/archive/da6-features.htm Notes: Published in Direct Action #6 — Spring 1998.
Welcome to Chumbaworld! John Prescott may not wear his Chumbawamba
T-shirts any more but their 15 year overnight success means some people
are. While the gutter press try to make up their minds whether they are
cuddly or dangerous, DA lets Alice Nutter of the band speak for herself
when we caught up with them before a recent gig.
DA: Did you anticipate accusations of selling out by writing the song
“The Good Ship Lifestyle” (on the recent album Tubthumping). Have you
got that sort of reaction now you’re famous?
Alice: No, well the whole album (Tubthumping) was written before we
signed to EMI anyway. Have you seen that pamphlet “The circled A and its
parasites” ? We wrote it about that, and about some people’s puritanical
take on the world. We wanted to say it isn’t OK to be like that, that
we’ve got to live and fight in the real world.
DA: So you aren’t getting loads of hassle for going “mainstream”?
Alice: On the whole, people have been into it, because I think they know
that if we weren’t on Top of The Pops, then they wouldn’t hear us at
all. This time last year we didn’t have a record deal at all. Even
before we’d signed to EMI and any of that stuff, I was going to
political meetings and some people are funny because you’re in a band.
But if you recognise that you’re part of a community — except that you
have access to the media for two minutes of your life — that’s how we
see it. We know the people who do all the hard work get no fucking glory
at all.
DA: The mainstream press seem to enjoy casting you as a “controversial”
band but seem to pick up on things like references to drinking in lyrics
rather than the political content of your music.
Alice: Did you hear that stuff last week about Virgin taking our records
off the shelves? I did this crap TV debate in America which went out
live across the country. I was the loony in the corner arguing against
capitalism, and shoplifting came up. I said we wouldn’t mind if people
shoplifted our records from major chainstores. Their argument against it
was that no-one needs to shoplift a record, it’s not food, but why
should just the rich have access to culture?
DA: Will Virgin put your records back on the shelves?
Alice: To be honest, I don’t really care. People are throwing money at
us, or are trying to. Nike offered between ÂŁ1 and ÂŁ3 million to do them
a song for the world cup and we told them to tuck off. We don’t need it.
Not that we’ve got millions, but we’ll do stuff if there’s a point. We
did an advert for Renault in Italy and gave the money to Italian
anarchist radio stations. If there’s a point to taking the money and
getting into the mainstream, then we’ll do it. But we’re not going to
take Nike’s money. Even if you give £3 million away, you’re still
financing the sweatshops and that’s a dilemma that you can’t live with.
So we got in touch with the anti-Nike group and said, “do you want a
song for free?”
DA: How far do you think it’s possible to use the press for yourselves,
and how far do they think they’re using you?
Alice: You can’t control it, we’re not on the same side. The Sun and the
Mirror have got us in all the time but I wouldn’t wipe my arse on them.
I read the Mirror sometimes but I don’t like it. We don’t even try and
control it because, depending on what they write, one minute it’s about
this band who say they like it when cops get killed, next minute we’re
cuddly anarchists.
DA: So it doesn’t matter what you say?
Alice: No, but I do think that even if they cast you as a cartoon
figure, there’s loads of people out there that go “yeah I think that”.
They’re using us, and to some extent we’re using them. Now, whether it
works or not, I don’t know, but we’ve tried not using them and that
definitely doesn’t work.
DA: Is there any way of getting them to report less sensational stuff,
like organising and longer term issues, any way of taking it further?
Alice: For a start even if we’re talking about Chumbawamba, we point out
that the reason we’ve existed all these years is because we’ve organised
as an anarchist unit. We work as a democracy, everybody gets equal
money, everybody gets a say in what goes on. There isn’t a leader....
And then you move it off and start talking about other forms of
anarchist organising and how important community and grassroots politics
are, and occasionally that goes in. And when it’s live on TV, then it
has to go in.
DA: So what do you think the media think anarchism is, and how far is it
possible to influence this?
Alice: It’s interesting because they always start off from the basis
that anarchism is chaos. So part of our role at the moment, which has
appeared in magazines like Q, is to say that anarchism is actually to be
extremely organised in a responsible way. It’s a social order where
everybody starts off on an equal footing, without the blandness of state
communism; without a leader at any point. To be an anarchist you have to
be organised because you have to take on responsibility. So I do think
it is possible to use the media to change people’s perceptions of
anarchism.
DA: The whole idea of doing this, and having EMI as your boss etc... is
quite ironic...
Alice: It’s like the dockers thing. We did a benefit and we expected EMI
to be lukewarm about it but they said “Brilliant! Publicity!” If you’re
suiting capitalism’s ends, then they’ll let you. But there’ll come a
point when we stop selling records and the relationship will change
drastically and we’re fully aware of that. What we’re actually doing
with all the money is to pay ourselves a living wage now, so that when
we’re not selling records we can still make artistic choices and carry
on in some form and have money to do that.
DA: Are there other things you’d like do with Chumbawamba, like tour
with a big band?
Alice: We got offered the Rolling Stones... We talked about it but
decided that it would only be worth doing if we could do something that
would get us dragged off stage. It wasn’t really relevant, but we’d love
to do U2!
DA: People put in years of political activity against massive odds....
why do you think we do it?
Alice: Because it enhances our lives. It’s not really a conscious
choice, it’s something you are. The best thing about touring isn’t owt
to do with all the media stuff. It’s getting to meet strikers, and being
in touch with the dockers and the anti-fascist people here tonight. I
think politics should be an accepted part of everyday life, not a boring
thing for a meeting in a pub once a week. I think there’s a move to
reform a workable anarchist movement that’s not elitist or based solely
on youth culture. It’s got to reflect the world as it is.
DA: I’d say that’s going on with the formation of the Solidarity
Federation and the more recent stuff about Class War.
Alice: It’s really difficult to think “this isn’t working” and it’s a
really big move to say “right, we’ve got to knock it all down, take
what’s good about what we’ve done but try to work in different ways”.
It’s hard to do because people are resistant to change, even
anarchists...