Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg

Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left wing activist who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes. His music career has lasted more than 30 years, and he has collaborated with Natalie Merchant, Johnny Marr, Hank Wangford, Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash, Leon Rosselson, members of R.E.M., Michelle Shocked, Less Than Jake, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, Kirsty MacColl, and Wilco. Bragg often plays and speaks at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival. Bragg Close, a street in Dagenham, is named in his honour, and he currently lives in Dorset.

Early life

Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking,London, England, the son of Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap and hat maker, and his wife, Marie Victoria D'Urso. Bragg was educated at Barking Abbey Secondary School in Barking in East London..

Career

Bragg performing at South by Southwest in 2008.

In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking, Essex. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May, 1981 joined the British Army as a trooper destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After a few months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having finished his training, but not joining his regiment.

Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, "Great Journeys", in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile) .

Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy was released in July, 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). Peel insisted he would have played the song even without the biryani, and later played it at the correct speed.

Within months, Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. Stiff Records' press officer Andy Macdonald — who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs — received a copy of Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November 1983. In 1984, he released Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, a mixture of political songs (e.g., "It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love (e.g., "The Saturday Boy"). The following year he released Between the Wars, an EP of political songs that included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's "The World Turned Upside Down". Bragg later collaborated with Rosselson on the song, "Ballad of the Spycatcher". In 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a Top 10 hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse in her honour.

In 1986, Bragg released Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, which became his first Top 10 album. Its title is taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and a translated version of the poem was printed on the record's inner sleeve. Back to Basics is a 1987 collection of his first three releases: Life's A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, and the Between The Wars EP. Bragg released his fourth album, Workers Playtime, in September 1988. With this album, Bragg added a backing band and accompaniment. In May 1990, Bragg released the political mini-LP, The Internationale. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style, but some songs featured more complicated arrangements and included a brass band. The album paid tribute to one of Bragg's influences with the song, "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", which is an adapted version of Earl Robinson's song, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", itself an adaptation of a poem by Alfred Hayes.

The album Don't Try This at Home was released in September 1991, and included the song, "Sexuality", which reached the UK Singles Chart. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs' Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign a four-album deal with a million pound advance, and a promise to promote the album with singles and videos. This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and the situation put the company in financial difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract early and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue. Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band, The Red Stars, which included his Riff Raff colleague and long-time roadie, Wiggy.

Bragg released the album, William Bloke, in 1996 after taking time off to help raise his son. Around that time, Nora Guthrie (daughter of American folk artist Woody Guthrie) asked Bragg to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco and Natalie Merchant (with whom Bragg had worked previously). They released the album Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, The Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes included keyboardist Ian McLagan, who had been a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces. The documentary film, Man in the Sand, depicts the roles of Nora Guthrie, Bragg, and Wilco in the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums.

At the 2005 Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, Bragg teamed up with the Levellers to perform a short set of songs by The Clash in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday. Bragg performed guitar and lead vocals on "Police and Thieves", and performed guitar and backing vocals on "English Civil War", and "Police on my Back".

Performing with The Imagined Village at Camp Bestival, 20 July 2008

In 2007, Bragg moved closer to his English folk music roots by joining the WOMAD-inspired collective, The Imagined Village, who recorded an album of updated versions of traditional English songs and dances and toured through that autumn. Bragg released his album, Mr. Love & Justice, in March 2008. This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.

In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "A13: Road Movie". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament in a film that explored "the overlooked, the hidden and the disregarded."

Bragg was involved in the play Pressure Drop at the Wellcome Collection in London in April and May 2010. The production, written by Mick Gorden, and billed as "part play, part gig, part installation", featured new songs by Bragg. He performed during the play with his band, and acted as compere.

Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010

Politics

Bragg has been involved with grassroots, broadly leftist, political movements , and this is often reflected in his lyrics. Bragg backed the 1984 miners' strike, and the following year he formed the musician alliance Red Wedge, which promoted the Labour Party and discouraged young people from voting for the Conservative Party in the 1987 general election. Following the defeat of the Labour Party and the repeated victory of Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government, Bragg joined Charter88 to push for a reform of the British political system. Billy Bragg has recorded and performed cover versions of famous socialist anthems The Internationale and The Red Flag.

During the 1980s, Bragg travelled to the Soviet Union a few times, after Mikhail Gorbachev had started to promote Perestroika and Glasnost. During one trip, he was accompanied by MTV, and during another trip he was filmed for the 1998 mini documentary Mr Bragg Goes to Moscow, by Hannu Puttonen.

In 1999, Bragg appeared before a commission that debated possible reform of the second chamber. In the same year, Bragg was heavily criticised by Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers for appearing to intervene in the Crappergate argument (in which Manic Street Preachers requested their own toilet at Glastonbury 1999).

During the 2001 UK general election, Bragg attempted to combat voter apathy by promoting tactical voting in an attempt to unseat Conservative Party candidates in Dorset, particularly in South Dorset and West Dorset. In the 2001 election, the Labour Party won South Dorset with their smallest majority, and the Conservative majority in West Dorset was reduced.

Bragg has developed an interest in English national identity, apparent in his 2002 album England, Half-English and his 2006 book The Progressive Patriot. The book expressed his view that English socialists can reclaim patriotism from the right wing. Bragg has been involved in a series of debates with some socialists who disagree, notably the Socialist Workers Party. Bragg also supports Scottish independence.

Bragg has been an outspoken opponent of fascism, racism, bigotry, sexism and homophobia, and is a supporter of a multi-racial Britain. As a result, Bragg has come under attack by far right groups such as the British National Party. In a 2004 article in The Guardian, Bragg was quoted as saying:

The British National Party would probably make it into a parliament elected by proportional representation, too. It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy, and that would be much more powerful than duffing them up in the street — which I'm also in favour of.

Also in 2004, Bragg collaborated with American ska punk band Less Than Jake to record a song for the Rock Against Bush compilation album.

Bragg supported the pro-Iraq war candidate Oona King against the anti-war George Galloway in the 2005 general election in the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, due to a belief that splitting the left-wing vote would allow the Conservative Party to win the seat. Galloway went on to overturn King's 10,000-strong majority to become his party's only MP.

In March 2006, journalist Garry Bushell (a former Trotskyist who ran as a candidate for the English Democrats in 2005) accused Bragg of "pontificating on a South London council estate when we all know he lives in a lovely big house in West Dorset".

Supporting a demonstration against police misuse of anti-terrorism legislation; Trafalgar Square, London, 23 January 2010

In January 2010 Bragg announced that he had decided to withhold his income tax as a protest against the prospective decision by Royal Bank of Scotland to pay bonuses in the region of £1.5 billion to staff working in its investment banking business. The protest was sparked by the appearance of Stephen Hester, the RBS Chief Executive, before the Treasury Select Committee on 12 January 2010. To publicise his protest Bragg set up a Facebook group, which attracted 30,000 members, made numerous appearances on radio and television news programmes and appeared in public at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park. Amongst other things, Bragg said,“Millions are already facing stark choices: are they willing to work longer hours for less money, or would they rather be unemployed? I don’t see why the bankers at RBS shouldn’t be asked the same.”

On the eve of the 2010 General Election, Bragg announced that he would be voting for the Liberal Democrats because "they've got the best manifesto".

However, regarding his music and politics, Bragg said in an interview: "My theory is this; I'm not a political songwriter. I'm an honest songwriter. I try and write honestly about what I see around me now." In another interview, Bragg said: "I don't mind being labeled a political songwriter. The thing that troubles me is being dismissed as a political songwriter." In an interview with Bullz-Eye, Bragg said:

I would then say that I am Mr. Love and Justice, and to check out the love songs. That’s how I capture people. People do say to me, “I love your songs, but I just can’t stand your politics.” And I say, “Well, Republicans are always welcome. Come on over!” I would hate to stand at the door, saying to people, “Do you agree with these positions? If not, you can’t come in.”

Bragg is a board director and key spokesman for the Featured Artists Coalition, a body representing the rights of recording artists.

Discography

Main article: Billy Bragg discography

• Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy (1983)
• Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984)
• Talking with the Taxman about Poetry (1986)
• Back to Basics (1987)
• Workers Playtime (1988)
• The Internationale (1990)
• Don't Try This at Home (1991)
• William Bloke (1996)
• Bloke on Bloke (1997)
• Mermaid Avenue (1998) (with Wilco)
• Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) (with Wilco)
• England, Half-English (2002) (with the Blokes)
• Mr. Love & Justice (2008)

Further reading

• Andrew Collins, Still Suitable for Miners, Billy Bragg: The Official Biography (London: Virgin Books, 1998; revised and updated edition, 2002; revised and updated edition, 2007) ISBN 0-7535-0691-2
• Billy Bragg, The Progressive Patriot: A Search for Belonging (London: Bantam Press, 2006) ISBN 978-0-593-05343-0
• Billy Bragg, How we all lost when Thatcher won: (guardian.co.uk, 5 March 2009)

See also

• Red Wedge
• Charter88
• George Gimarc

External links

• Official website
• Braggtopia
• Billy Bragg collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Stereokill Interview: 24 July 2009
• Template:Last.fm