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Thee Faction
Thee Faction Live Putney
Background information
OriginSurrey, UK
GenresGarage punk, punk rock, rock
Years active2010–present
LabelsSoviet Beret[1]
MembersBilly Brentford
Nylons
Babyface
Dai Nasty
Kassandra Krossing
Thee Citizen
Red Scare
Nineteen Nineteen
The Ol' One Hand
Past membersThe G.A.
Horace Hardman
Websitetheefaction.org

Thee Faction are a rock/garage punk band from Surrey, UK, noted for their explicit Socialist agenda.[2] They refer to their music, which incorporates elements of garage rock, pop and rhythm and blues[3] as "Socialist RnB".[4][5] Their album Up The Workers! was rated one of the Daily Mirror's top twenty albums of 2011.[6]

Biography

Thee Faction's debut album At Ebbw Vale was released in 2010.[7] Dubbed 'rhythm and booze' and 'timely'[8] by Simon Price in The Independent it was rated 8/10 in Vive Le Rock.[9] Is This Music? praised the record, comparing the band to Dr. Feelgood.[10]

Second album Up The Workers! or, Capitalism is Good For Corporations That's Why You've Been Told Socialism is Bad All Your Life[11] was described by the Daily Mirror as "Power-packed garage rock 'n' soul underlined by a defiantly political edge."[6] The title track featured Ivan Chandler (The Echoes) on piano.[11] The album was rated 7/10 by Drowned in Sound who praised it as "a lot of fun, undeniably stirring.. Thee Faction write showstoppers" but also criticised the music as "entertaining in a very conventional way".[12]

Thee Faction's third album Singing Down The Government, or, The War of Position and How We're Winning It,[13] was released in 2012, and introduced all-female horn section Brass Kapital.[14] The album was promoted by headlining appearances at the Marxism Festival[15] and Tolpuddle Martyrs festival and included contributions by Richard Archer from Hard-Fi and rapper Clencha.[13][16] Free download-only singles for tracks 'Soapbox'[17] and 'Sausage Machine'[18] were accompanied by promotional videos.[19] Q Magazine praised the album as "a critique of societal hegemony on the back of a grimy blues'n’b twang, rife with the contagious energy of people who know they're right",[20] and it was rated 7/10 by Mick Farren in Classic Rock Blues magazine.[21]

Thee Faction released their latest album Good Politics: Your Role As An Active Citizen Within Civil Society[20][22] in 2013, preceded by single 'Better Than Wages',[23] remixed from the album by Andy Lewis. The album featured (on one track each) guest vocals from writer Francis Wheen[24] and saxophone from Crayola Lectern, and was rated 8/10 in Classic Rock[25] and 4/5 in The Independent[26] and Mojo[27] who called it "wildly galvanising, blisteringly angry, insanely entertaining blue-collar rock'n'roll".

Flyer for a Thee Faction-curated gig in aid of the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign.

Thee Faction released fifth album Reading Writing Revolution: The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall in June 2015,[28] preceded by a track on double-CD fundraising album Orgreave Justice[29][30] and free download single "Choose Your Enemy", released on March 29 with accompanying video.[31][32] A second free download single "(You've Got The) Numbers (Why Don't You Use It)" accompanied the release. The album received 5/5 in the Morning Star,[33] 9/10 at MaximumVolumeMusic,[34] and a positive review in Socialist Standard,[35] while R*E*P*E*A*T zine called it "highly enjoyable, dangerously tuneful, subversively catchy and dialectically danceable, as well as being (as the title implies) properly educational - thought provoking and agitational."[36] The band announced a number of summer festival dates, including Glastonbury,[37] and a return to Tolpuddle[38] and the Matchwomens Festival.[39]

Politics

The band have performed with, and for, various artists and organisations of the broad Left including Attila the Stockbroker, Robb Johnson, Chris T-T, Grace Petrie, Mark Steel, Josie Long, the SWP, the Welsh Communist Party and the Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party leadership campaign.[40][41][42] The band appear to be unaligned with any particular organisation or tradition but are noted for promoting ideas associated with guild socialism, democratic socialism, classical Marxism and left communism, while supporting a range of left-wing and trade union causes.[43][44][45] Notwithstanding the band's use of Ostalgic tropes and apparent (possibly parodic) anti-revisionism, in a 2013 interview they declared themselves "libertarian socialists of one kind or another".[46] Thee Faction have however attracted criticism for their political views; notably, a 2012 gig review by Ruth Dudley Edwards for The Daily Telegraph angered the newspaper's Conservative readership.[47]

Discography

Albums

  • At Ebbw Vale LP/CD (Soviet Beret, 2010)
  • Up The Workers! or, Capitalism is Good For Corporations That's Why You've Been Told Socialism is Bad All Your Life CD (Soviet Beret, 2011)
  • Singing Down The Government, or, The War of Position and How We're Winning It CD (Soviet Beret, 2012)
  • Good Politics: Your Role as an Active Citizen in Civil Society CD (Soviet Beret, 2013)
  • Reading Writing Revolution: The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall CD (Soviet Beret, 2015)

Singles/EPs

  • Better Than Wages (remix) CD [promo single]
  • Songs To Remind the Class of the Glorious Victory to Come and the Work That Must Be Done to Get There CD EP (Soviet Beret, 2013) [ft. Attila The Stockbroker and Judy Dyble]

Current band line-up

  • Billy Brentford: vocals
  • Dai Nasty: drums
  • Nylons: face-melting guitar
  • Babyface: guitar, polemic
  • Kassandra Krossing: vocals, organ of truth
  • Thee Citizen: bass and superstructure
  • Red Scare: trumpet
  • Nineteen Nineteen: the 'bone of contention
  • The Ol' One Hand: saxophone

Auxiliary member

  • 'iggins: Welsh harp

Reviews

Interviews

References

  1. ^ "Soviet Beret Records | Home of Socialist R&B and official record company for proletarian struggle". Sovietberet.wordpress.com. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Neil Scott: Not a Review. Reviews are Bourgeois". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Album Reviews – 2010". Tastyfanzine.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  4. ^ Simon Andrew (15 November 2012). "Thee Faction – Singing Down the Government". Beat Surrender. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  5. ^ Keen, Ross (15 May 2012). "Thee Faction: An Interview". Louder Than War. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Thee Faction's Up The Workers: the Daily Mirror's 17th best album of 2011 | Thee Faction". Theefaction.wordpress.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Thee Faction – At Ebbw Vale (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  8. ^ Simon Price (21 November 2010). "Album: Thee Faction, At Ebbw Vale (Soviet Beret) – Reviews – Music". The Independent. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  9. ^ "Vive Le Rock!". Vive Le Rock!. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  10. ^ "is this music?" long players Thee Faction " is this music?". Isthismusic.com. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Thee Faction – Up The Workers! (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  12. ^ August, Els (11 August 2011). "Album Review: Thee Faction – Up The Workers! / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound". Drownedinsound.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Thee Faction – Singing Down The Government (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  14. ^ "Vive Le Rock!". Vive Le Rock!. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  15. ^ "Home | Marxism 2014". Marxismfestival.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  16. ^ "clencha | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace.com. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  17. ^ Bill Cummings (12 September 2012). "Thee Faction get on their 'Soapbox' for FREE release | God Is in the TV". Godisinthetvzine.co.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Comrades, Thee Faction Needs You!". Louderthanwar.com. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  19. ^ "theefaction". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  20. ^ a b "Thee Faction. – Projekta". Projekta.is. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  21. ^ "Thee Faction – Did we share this with you? Your actual..." Facebook. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  22. ^ Shepherd, Sam (8 July 2013). "Thee Faction – Good Politics: Your Role As An Active Citizen Within A Civil Society | Album Reviews". musicOMH. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  23. ^ "Thatcher dies. Thee Faction launch new video. | Thee Faction". Theefaction.wordpress.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  24. ^ "Thee Faction – Good Politics (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  25. ^ "This Machine Kills Capitalism – Buy Thee Faction's 'Good Politics' – the new album | Thee Faction". Theefaction.wordpress.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  26. ^ Simon Price (13 July 2013). "Album review: Thee Faction, Good Politics (Soviet Beret) – Reviews – Music". The Independent. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  27. ^ "Thee Faction land four star review in Mojo | Thee Faction". Theefaction.wordpress.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  28. ^ http://www.rhythm-and-booze.co.uk/?p=12037
  29. ^ http://louderthanwar.com/orgreave-truth-and-justice-cd-out-now/
  30. ^ http://otjc.org.uk/otjc-cd-out-now/
  31. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahlsxIry67E
  32. ^ https://theefaction.wordpress.com/download-choose-your-enemy/
  33. ^ http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7735-Factional-activity-a-revolutionary-gem
  34. ^ http://www.maximumvolumemusic.com/review-thee-faction-reading-writing-revolution/
  35. ^ http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2015/no-1335-november-2015
  36. ^ http://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk/Reviews/Reading%20Writing%20Revolution%20thee%20faction.htm
  37. ^ http://vivelerock.net/thee-faction-get-their-rs-in-gear/
  38. ^ https://www.tuc.org.uk/about-tuc/regions/billy-bragg-returns-tolpuddle-festival-2015
  39. ^ http://www.matchfest.co.uk/matchfest-line-up.html
  40. ^ http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/52144/
  41. ^ http://www.welshcommunists.org/index.php?id=484
  42. ^ http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-71f1-A-celebration-of-a-class-resurgent#.VfG5x03JDcs
  43. ^ "Thee Faction | "Taking down the Tory government, one song at a time" (The Guardian)". Theefaction.wordpress.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  44. ^ Bennett, Peter (11 November 2011). "Thee Faction 'Capitalism Is Good For Corporations' – album review". Louderthanwar.com. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  45. ^ http://otjc.org.uk/music-news-orgreave-truth-and-justice-gig-date-set/
  46. ^ "IS Network – 'Love music, hate capitalism': an interview with Thee Faction". Internationalsocialistnetwork.org. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  47. ^ Dudley, Ruth (13 December 2012). "It's Christmas: join hands and dance with our socialist brethren – Telegraph Blogs". Blogs.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
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