Quite a week coming up as the Joe Solo gigging machine finally grinds to a halt for 2016.

We finish with a flourish though, starting at Cafe INDIEpendent in Scunthorpe with my Punk Soul Brother Daniel Lucas AKA Boss Caine on Saturday November 26th. We’ll be singing songs of hope and heartache and everything in between, and collaborating on my song ‘Halo’ too, so it will be a cracking night in one of the best venues in the world.

From there to Monday. It will be quite a day. First up I’ll be heading to Snaith to master the next album ‘THE FUTURE NEEDS US NOW‘ ready for a January release. Really excited about this record, I’ve put a lot into it and I hope you all get a lot out of it too. The sleeve artwork based on an Alan Morgan image is immense, and Kevin Pearson‘s work on the 8-page booklet is simply stunning. Monday is my annual pilgrimage to Strange Reality Studios where Chris Miley will press ‘The Good Button‘ and the whole album suddenly comes into focus…..at least that’s how it seems anyway….it’s probably way more complicated than that in truth 😉

Monday also sees the much-anticipated release of ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ by Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade. The response to this song and the accompanying video have blown us all away and the solidarity we are witnessing from people up and down the country and around the world has been nothing short of breathtaking. Skybet currently have us at 33/1 to take the fabled #XmasNo1 spot, and the Facebook version of the video has been played more than 25,000 times! Watch it HERE on YouTube:

The single will be available for download from all the usual suspects…Amazon, Spotify, i-tunes etc….and your support in our #Miners4No1 campaign would be greatly appreciated. Every penny raised from sales will go to food banks and a new crisis fund in the pit villages of South Yorkshire. Please join in with this little bit of history.

…..and on top of all that,Monday is my birthday too.

Tuesday sees a VERY special gig at Unity Works Theatre in Wakefield as I play my second gig for the #JC4PM tour and I’m joining a bill including Jeremy Hardy, Francesca Martinez, Norman Lovett, Grace Petrie, Robb Johnson, Tiernan Douieb and hosted by Matt Abbott. As if that wasn’t enough I’ll be joined on stage by The Hatfield Brigade to sing what might very well be the only live performance of ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ so get yourselves to the online ticket office NOW before they are all gone!

Then the final gig of a frantic and genuinely incredible year will be at Shakespeares in Sheffield on Friday December 2nd with my musical brothers Boss Caine, Mark Wynn and Dave Woodcock. A cracking way to finish off.

Would be good to see you along the way.

January brings a new album and then I’ll be locked in t’shed dreaming it all up again as I start to write the next one…..

In the meantime though, let’s finish what has been an awful political year by planting the miners at No.1 and saving Christmas for a lot of people.

Bring it on.

We Shall Overcome has now organised more than 550 gigs in 140-plus towns and cities in nine different countries across three continents. We have raised an estimated £225,000 worth of food, cash, clothing and bedding for those struggling at the sharp end of austerity under the politics of despair; but more importantly we have brought people together all over the world in the spirit of community and solidarity forging bonds that will last a lifetime.

We did that. Together. ALL of us.

Our incredible extended week of events for #WSO2016 may have come to an end, but there’s still plenty to get involved with as we move into the worst of the winter.

We Shall Overcome is going to be active throughout up to and including the festive period helping where we can. On December 10th, following an idea by Jamie Bramwell, we are calling for WSO musicians all over the UK to join in our #Busk4TheHomeless campaign. Originally done as part of the main event and organised by GJ Armstrong in Ashton-under-Lyne, busking for the homeless has caught on in a few places and we currently have pledges in Liverpool, Ashton, Nottingham and Scarborough with more in the pipeline. If you can add your town to this fantastic campaign then please contact us and we’ll make sure the world knows about it.

Just remember to wrap up warm.

Speaking of wrapping up warm, Pauline Town is running the second of her incredible #SponsoredRoughSleep outside The Station pub in Ashton-under-Lyne on Saturday December 3rd. This will be the last of yet another incredible run of events the details of which can be found on this link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1812544058967817/

and once again, we ALL salute the tireless work of our Big Sis as she sets about saving the world one life at a time with such passion and fearless dedication. We love her to bits.

The final gig of our #WSO2016 run is a CHRISTMAS PARTY at Chesterfield Labour Club organised by Chris Parsons and featuring the brilliant Steve White & The Protest Family which promises to be a proper knees-up to finish our campaigning for another year….and word has it this will be the northern leg of their album launch. I’m pretty sure chaos and mayhem may just be the start of an absolute cracker.

…and DON’T FORGET! I have a single released on Monday 28th November called ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ recorded by myself and a choir of former miners and their families under the name Joe Solo and the Hatfield Brigade. All money raised goes to WSO causes so please download and let’s take both #WSO2016 and the miners to #XmasNo1. It will be available on all the usual sites- Amazon, i-Tunes, Spotify etc. The video is here:

Next year we step it up and we march on. We march on until there is no longer any need to feed and clothe and house our poorest and most vulnerable, because the politics which creates this injustice has been consigned to the dustbin of history once and for all.

#WSO2017?

Bring it on.

While I’ve had every spare second taken up with We Shall Overcome, the new album and plotting #XmasNo1 with the miners, Tony Peter Wright has been hard at it behind the scenes putting together May Day Festival of Solidarity 2017.

The festival was Tony’s dream from the start, and together we made it reality when we staged a day of music, poetry and speeches at The Polish Club in Barnsley on May 1st this year featuring some of the finest political voices around. Next year we plan to make a full weekend of it and the bill is rapidly coming together thanks to Tony’s hard work and commitment.

So far confirmed are:

Thee Faction, Robb Johnson, The Wimmins Institute, Lily Gaskell, Interrobang, Chris T-T, Efa Supertramp, Claire Mooney, Left Ahead, Lilith Ai, Dave Burland, Grigio, Attila The Stockbroker, The Hurriers, Burning Ferns and myself.

Tickets will go on sale soon with full weekend or day split versions available.

More details as they come in, but mark it in your diaries- this will be a classic.

The video to accompany ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ by Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade was launched late on Friday night and almost 14,000 people had streamed the Facebook version alone as I type this on Sunday afternoon. A truly incredible response from you all, so THANK YOU.

Shot by Michael Lee Toas of MLT Productions, and filmed on location at Stainforth Central Club on Sunday 30th October, this incredible video perfectly captures the community feel of the day as former miners and their families gathered from all over the UK to join a choir like no other and spread a little solidarity this Christmas.

We now need YOUR help folks. We do not have the industrial might of the record business; we do not have a queue of news editors looking for our story; we do not have full page adverts in glossy magazines, or telly programs pushing us every weekend, or heavy rotation on radio playlists; but what we do have is YOU- an army of ordinary people just like us who can now play YOUR part in this little bit of history. We need you to share and retweet like never before, to tell all your friends and relatives and to get ready to click on download when the single goes live.

You can do all that from the comfort of your armchair and it would mean such a lot to us if you could.

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ is released on Monday 28th November on all the usual download sites- Amazon, Spotify, iTunes etc. and every penny raised will go to help those struggling to make ends meet in #FoodBankBritain, so by downloading you will be helping an amazing community help others.

Here’s the video on YouTube. Please watch and share and let’s make this happen.

#Miners4No1

Delighted to announce that the music video to accompany ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ the forthcoming single by Joe Solo & The Hatfield  Brigade will be available online from Friday November 18th.

Shot by Michael Lee Toas from MLT Productions at the recording session in Stainforth on October 30th, the video captures the amazing solidarity of a community hit hard by cuts and closures, yet still fighting on.

I can’t wait for you to see it.

A taster is available here:

The song is released on all download websites from Monday November 28th and we are fighting to get it into the charts for Christmas. All proceeds from sales will go to help those suffering hardship under Tory austerity.

You can follow the campaign on Twitter.

Please follow @Miners4No1

Two more gigs this weekend and then I sign off on We Shall Overcome for another year.

Friday 11th November I’ll be playing The Chemic Tavern in Leeds as part of an epic bill. As standard with WSO, entry is by cash donation or by bag of non-perishables for local food banks. Added to this is an appeal for socks and gloves for the homeless as part of my #SocksAppeal. I have a great big box waiting to be sent to Pauline Town over in Ashton-under-Lyne which contains masses of warm clothes of all descriptions generously donated by people attending my recent gigs, and it would be fantastic to fill it right to the brim.

On Saturday the 12th I’ll be up in Middlesbrough at the Little Theatre Club being ably assisted by the brilliant Rebekah Findlay, so expect collaborations from my last three albums and a couple of tasters from my next…..plus Rebekah’s fabulous solo version of ‘Standing By My Man’, a thing of beauty indeed.

Then I have a hard-earned weekend off to put the finishing touches on ‘THE FUTURE NEEDS US NOW’ which I am very much looking forward to.

Be good to see you out there!

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘, the forthcoming single I recorded with the Hatfield Brigade, has a brand new 30 second video trailer by Michael Lee Toas of MLT Productions. You can view it here:

Michael travelled from Durham to Stainforth last Sunday to shoot the video to accompany the single, and this is a quick taster of the real thing which will follow soon. A big thank you to him for all his efforts on behalf of the cause. Michael is a fantastic community film maker and he is currently involved in making a documentary highlighting people in the north east taking matters into their own hands to help make a difference in #FoodBank Britain. He also shot the ‘Man of The Left’ back in January. You can view that again here:

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ will be released on all download sites on Monday 28th November 2016. The single is being brought to you by UK Miners Pension Scheme Association and We Shall Overcome, with all profits going to a hardship fund for people struggling in former pit communities up and down the UK. It is a song by a mining community on behalf of all mining communities and showing solidarity with EVERYONE struggling to make ends meet under Tory policy. The Hatfield Brigade feel they owe a debt of honour to people all over the world who clubbed together in the darkest weeks of the 1984-85 Strike to give them a Christmas they have never forgotten. This song is a chance to repay some of that debt.

…..and if you’re going to take on the Tories, you could not wish for better people at your shoulder. The finest band of brothers (and sisters) you will ever meet.

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ also goes out to our comrades at Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. They fight on, we will fight with them.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Well, SHARE SHARE SHARE. Is the answer. Play that video and pass it on, and when the full-length version becomes available do the same. Then when the download is released, click on it and spend 79p on helping us make Christmas that little bit better for some people who deserve better than this country is delivering.

Thanks folks.

This amazing artwork was designed by my comrade-in-arts Kevin Pearson for the forthcoming single ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ featuring the assembled Hatfield Brigade choir.

The song will be available to download from all the usual sites from Monday 28th November, and a massive push is underway to get it into the charts for Christmas.

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ is being used to highlight the twin struggles of ‘UK Miner’s Pension Scheme for Justice and Fair Play Association’ and ‘We Shall Overcome’, with all proceeds going to a newly-established crisis fund for anyone in the Doncaster area struggling under austerity cuts and benefit sanctions.

I’m also proud the sleeve shows off the iconic headgear of Hatfield Main pit, closed last year after almost a century of graft which saw sons follow fathers underground for generations. There is a campaign working very hard to have these incredible structures preserved as a monument to the coal mining industry, and a reminder to future generations of those who destroyed it, and with it an entire way of life. I hope by that sleeve being shared over and over that we draw support to the campaign, and to the lads and lasses fighting for it.

‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’ is without doubt one of the best songs I have written and I hope you all enjoy it enough to spread the word and help a lot of people into the bargain. A music video and a promo of the recording itself will follow soon, so watch this space!

What an absolute stormer of a night we had at the Central in Stainforth recording The Hatfield Brigade Choir for our forthcoming Christmas single ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’. 

I finished mixing tonight and have sent it off for mastering so we are on schedule for a late November release on i-tunes and a push for Christmas No.1 with the backing of the UK Miner’s Pension Scheme for Justice and Fair Play Association and Peter Stefanovic.

All proceeds from sales of the song will be sent to a fighting fund for causes local to the Doncaster area and the former pit villages for anyone struggling under austerity and my hope is that if the song captures imaginations out there that fund will be topped up by sales every year meaning we leave a legacy which ensures a Christmas for those who would otherwise miss out. As Les Moore says, the miners owe a debt of honour for the Christmas they were given in 1984 when people from all over the world chipped in to help them out, and this is their way of paying that debt back.

The event was filmed by both Michael Lee Toas of MLT Productions and a crew from BBC East Midlands, and from their footage a music video to accompany the song will land very shortly.

A MASSIVE thank you to all who turned out and made it such a great night, but biggest thanks of all must go to Dean and all at the Central for making it Christmas for the cameras and then having to take it all down and put Halloween back up after we’d gone. Top work Dean, thank you.

A lot of donations came in both for DN7 Community Food Band AND socks, gloves, hats and jackets for my #SocksAppeal for the homeless which will soon be winging its way to Pauline Town and straight to the front line, so thanks to all who came with donations.

Here’s a brief video of myself and Les being interviewed by Peter Stefanovic about the song and what we hope for it to achieve.

Look out for ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main’…..it is coming very soon!