We launched the brand new We Shall Overcome initiative ‘Fight The Good Fight Club’ on August 5th with a cracking night live from an increasingly dilapidated shed.
FTGFC is a Wednesday night music club which runs from 9-10pm each week bringing you a live stream from an artist who has helped support WSO this last five years but now, thanks to Lockdown, has lost the gigs which pay their bills. It is the movement standing in solidarity with those who are its lifeblood in better times, and we would love you to join us in the dedicated group here:
Every morning between now and Christmas Eve I’ll be running a mile before work and asking for donations for Hull Help For Refugees. I started 32 days ago in response to an urgent appeal for tents, and so far this sponsored pain has raised £769 for the cause via a dedicated GoFundMe at:
If you can spare a donation, no matter how small, please hit the link and help me help them. A tent costs roughly £13 so we have already made a significant difference, but so much more can be achieved between now and when I finally hang up my jogging shoes for the Winter.
New Wednesday night live stream music club starting August 5th.
Each week from 9pm we will introduce an artist who has helped support We Shall Overcome, only this time out we will be helping to support THEM.
As Lockdown continues for musicians we wanted to put together a regular night where instead of gigging for a cause as we are forever asking them to do, we ask for donations to help support them through these desperate days. So there’ll be links to throw in a few quid as they play, and opportunities to chat on the threads afterwards and to share links to merch.
I’m playing the first one on August 5th to raise money for Help Musicians UK and to introduce the night itself. After that the next three will feature Jess Silk, Bedford And Simmonds and Calum Baird.
Join the group and help us support those who have done so much for WSO.
‘Live From T’Shed #4’ and my #lockdownsolidarity money from last week raised £1500 to help kickstart this brand new collaboration in Hull.
‘Unity Shop’ is part food bank, part advice centre, part place to call in a crisis and will be based at the Kurdish Community Centre off Spring Bank.
My £1500 has been matched by trade unions to give us a fighting fund we will be putting to good use as soon as possible.
Massive thanks to Joe Francis and all at Hull and District Trades Council for listening to my rants about the need for grassroots street level involvement right in the heart of communities so often abandoned by party politics, and consequently all too often breeding grounds for the Far Right. In the new post-lockdown financial reality there needs to be Unity Shops up and down this land demonstrating the sort of solidarity and spirit we preach but often don’t practice. Now is the time to walk it like we talk it, to get ahead of the future and change tomorrow for the better.
If you are struggling to make ends meet, having to choose between heating and eating, living under the shadow of eviction or any of the multiple often invisible tragedies of life on the bread line in work or out, we will be there.
As ever my comrade-in-crayons Kevin Pearson has delivered us a logo, and as ever my comrades in Hull are the first to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in, could not be prouder to stand with all.
Can’t say how much it means to be offered space by the city’s Kurdish Community, and we stand in solidarity with them as we look to shape a better future for all.
So if you see me banging the drum for this, you’ll know what I’m ranting about.
You can find out everything you need to know about Hull Unity Shop here:
Wanted to keep you up to date with what we’ve been up to with WSO during Lockdown, and where we are heading.
Covid-19 has thrown us a LOT of challenges as a movement, but our first worry was keeping Pauline Town afloat. Without regular gigs there was no income to keep a roof over her head or to fund those 90 daily packed lunches and the incredible work she does getting people off the streets.
We secured that on Easter Saturday when WSO ISOLATION FESTIVAL- SAT APRIL 11th 2020 raised more than £26,000 plus another £2000 from Steve Nevard and his AMAZING merch campaign running alongside. You can catch all the festival performances by clicking here:
Since then WSO Nottingham have been running regular events online, and the team there deserve massive credit for their innovation and ingenuity as well as the amazing sums they have made.
Janine Booth has compiled a book of poetry ‘Coronaverses’ which is being sold for WSO causes here:
Matt Hill has continued his brilliant Defiance Sessions online with the next event featuring one of THE stars of lockdown Jess Silk, so make sure you don’t miss either event!
Some regular WSO artists have been consistently active for their local food banks and outreach services. Skinner & T’witch’s Pick n’ Mix Social Club has been brilliant, as has Lewis Pugh with his regular Monday live streams. If you get chance to support them, please do.
Personally, I’ve been running regular ‘Live From T’Shed’ shows with GoFundMe pages running alongside; and for the last 11 weeks my #LockdownSolidarity campaign has been donating all merch money to a different cause each week.
I’ve also teamed up with Hull and District Trades Council to work on a proposed Trade Union Solidarity Food Bank in the city. We’re looking to establish roots in communities up and down the UK and involve the TU movement in the struggle at street level.
And current news is the INCREDIBLE single released on Sunday. Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds have pulled off something very special indeed and put together a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Lily, Rosemary and The Jack Of Hearts’ featuring 12 singers and 6 musicians all recorded in isolation during lockdown. The result is absolutely brilliant and you can download it here:
with all money going to frontline WSO causes wherever need is greatest.
You can also enjoy the fantastic video here:
So what about the future?
Well, I think we all know tough times are coming, and on top of that we have no clue what the live music scene will look like on the other side, so it’s very difficult to book anything with any certainty; but we will continue to find ways to raise whatever help we can in whatever way it takes.
Anything you can bring to the party please do. As ever, We Shall Overcome is only as strong as those willing to stand up and support it.
Just wanted to update you all with where we are.
We have fought hard for the last five years and we will fight on for as long as it takes.
Today saw the release of an INCREDIBLE lockdown project to record Bob Dylan’s classic ‘Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts’ in isolation for We Shall Overcome.
The idea was the brainchild of Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds and has taken weeks of painstaking piecing together building the musical backdrop and compiling vocal takes from up and down the land.
You can watch the stunning video here:
Very proud to have been asked to add my voice to the likes of Naomi, Justin Currie, Jess Silk, Carol Hodge, Daniel Lucas, Aladsdair Roberts and Phil Odgers among others; and the finished product is just brilliant.
MASSIVE thank you to everyone who continues to support my ongoing #LockdownSolidarity campaign. The numbers are staggering, but still you keep em coming.
For the uninitiated, eleven weeks ago I began donating what money I make in merch sales to a different cause every seven days. Normally this wouldn’t amount to that much as I really aren’t that popular, but you lot have taken the campaign to your hearts and this is what has been accomplished so far…
WK1 £125 for Mesopotamia Cafe in Nottingham
WK2 £130 for Teardrops in St. Helens
WK3 £540 for Dundee Food Bank
WK4 £532 for The Florrie in Liverpool
WK5 £501 for East Worthing Food Bank WK6 £335 for Help The Homeless in Glastonbury WK7 £346 for Kitchen For Everyone in York WK8 £915 for Feed Newport WK9 £635 for LoveGlasgowHateRacism WK10 £453 for DN7 Food Bank
And WK11 already has £160 on the board for East Durham Trust as I type.
Incredible stuff folks. Thanks you all so much for the support, enthusiasm and encouragement.
If you would like to help too then everything I have is included, from tunes to t-shirts and tote bags at:
My #LockdownSolidarity campaign has been a massive success so far and I really can’t thank you enough for supporting it.
Six weeks ago I decided the crisis out there growing, and We Shall Overcome unable to operate on any meaningful level, I had better get creative. I decided to help raise funds on a weekly basis by giving away all merch money until I can gig again. ALL merch is included- CDs, downloads, t-shirts and bundles- from my Bandcamp page at:
WK1 £125 for Mesopotamia Cafe in Nottingham
WK2 £130 for Teardrops in St. Helens
WK3 £540 for Dundee Food Bank
WK4 £532 for The Florrie in Liverpool
WK5 £501 for East Worthing Food Bank WK6 £335 for Help The Homeless in Glastonbury WK7 £346 for Kitchen For Everyone in York
Week 8 is looking to raise some much-needed cash for Feed Newport, so if you’re short a couple of my records, or in need of a new t-shirt or tote bag please remedy that and help me help others.
Last night’s ‘Live From T’Shed #2’ raised a fantastic £1000 for Black Country Food Bank and I can’t thank you all enough for tuning in and supporting the event.
It was a night with my ‘No Pasaran’ album and the stories behind the songs, and the support I received from the first second was simply overwhelming. Live streaming is tough as a musician but you are making life in lockdown not only bearable, but a successful continuation of We Shall Overcome work we are currently unable to do with live gigs.
‘Live From T’Shed #3’ will take place on Saturday June 20th, and will be a performance of my Miner’s Strike album ‘Never Be Defeated’. I’m hooking up with the annual Orgreave Rally to present a day of speeches and music of which my live stream will be the evening session. Can’t wait.
If you missed the ‘No Pasaran’ stream, it is now available on YouTube here:
Thanks again everyone. Your support is keeping me going through these troubled times, and is helping me help others.
Joe Solo 