On Monday I drove to Leeds to interrupt a Commoners Choir rehearsal, stick a mic in front of them, and record the closing track of my forthcoming ‘Headscarves & Hurricanes’ album, ‘Haul Away, Boys’, with 50 incredible voices.

Cannot thank Boff Whalley and the gang enough for arranging their vocal parts and being ready just to stand up and record, it made the night so easy and we were done in no time. A quick mix on Tuesday, a brief stint in front of the mic myself, and the deed was done.

You can hear the finished song here:

https://joesolomusic.bandcamp.com/track/haul-away-boys

Commoners Choir will be playing May Day Festival Of Solidarity next year, and who knows, maybe we’ll sing it live together……

Need your help, folks, and this is important to me so I would really appreciate it if you could pitch in.

My 2016 album ‘Never Be Defeated‘ telling the stories of the lads and lasses of the Hatfield Brigade during the 1984-85 Miner’s Strike, has all but sold out and I want to do something to honour the solidarity they have shown me over the last five years, so here is my plan.

I’m attempting to crowdfund the pressing, mastering and artwork costs of a new edition of the album to mark the 35th Anniversary of the Strike next March. The reason I’ve got the begging bowl out is that I want the album to be delivered free of overheads so I can donate all 1000 copies to the twin battles the Hatfield Brigade currently face.

To this end, if I can raise the money, every penny raised from sales of the new version of ‘Never Be Defeated’ will be split between the DN7 Hardship Fund, helping those struggling to make ends meet in the former pit villages of South Yorkshire; and the Save The Hatfield Main Headgear Campaign, looking to create a vital community resource for future generations out of the ashes of the past.

To make the new album completely independent, and to donate it in full to the Brigade, I need to raise around £1200.

The response so far has been IMMENSE and after 48 hours we have £730 so we’re over halfway there, but I would really appreciate it if you could either donate, if you can manage it, or share this blog around anyone who you think might help.

The new version of ‘Never Be Defeated’ will contain the original album plus eight bonus tracks including all three Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade singles, so it will be pretty special, and hopefully a fitting way to mark the 35th Anniversary.

You can donate here:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/-never-be-defeated

And that would be brilliant if you could.

Thanks everyone

Joe

I’ve delayed writing this blog because the whole concept of this still hasn’t really sunk in. Trouble is, the longer I delay, the more it appears as if the enormity of it has passed me by and, the opposite being the case, I better try and make sense of it.

On Saturday September 8th I was presented with the Gerrard Winstanley Gold Spade Award by the committee of Wigan Diggers Festival. This is given in recognition of outstanding contribution to Socialism, or in the words of the man who gave it the name, in making the world a common treasury for all.

The only previous winners of this award were the late Tony Benn, Maxine Peake, Jimmy McGovern and Ken Loach…..so you can see keeping that kind of company isn’t an easy thing to grasp.

I suppose the best way of explaining my feelings toward this amazing thing, and the politics which inspired it and will drive me on from here, is to give you my acceptance speech.

So here goes:

“This award really comes off the back of We Shall Overcome and the work I do for that and the various causes aligned to it, and it wouldn’t be right to receive this without acknowledging the people who make it happen- Stephen Goodall, Jamie Bramwell, Matt Hill, Tony Peter Wright, Val Colvin, Pete Yen, Steve White and of course Pauline Town. Without them We Shall Overcome wouldn’t happen at all. And when you add to that the thousands of musicians, poets, writers, artists, organisers and activists who make those events happen on the ground up and down this land and beyond, then what you have is a genuine grassroots movement for change; fighting Tory Austerity and trying to help ease the burden of its worst excesses on the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

Grassroots movements are needed now more than ever. It is great to have a Socialist leader of the Labour Party, but that isn’t enough on its own. Socialism is not leaders or institutions; Socialism is you and me and what we can achieve if we pull together and become greater than the sum of our parts.

No politician can walk into No.10 and flick a switch, suddenly making this country more caring and compassionate, suddenly making our society a more fair and just place to live and raise our children. Only WE can do that.

We are not powerless. No-one is. We are just brainwashed from birth, brainwashed into surrendering our power as people; but We Shall Overcome proves that no-one is insignificant, no gesture is meaningless. That bag of groceries, that pocket emptied of change, that donated pair of socks- they may seem like insignificant gestures, but when added together they become something very significant indeed.

I can remember this festival three years ago, because that was the day Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party. Anyone who was there will remember there was a crackle in the air, a newfound hope, an excitement that we may at last be able to change the future. And over that three years it is fair to say most of us will have been inspired by Jeremy Corbyn on one level or another.

Mr Corbyn’s greatest victory is to take politics away from the plastic soundbites of the Westminster Bubble and put it back on street corners. He has given politics back to the people. He has empowered us. He has told us to raise our voices and demand better of our leaders, and this is what we must do. We must pull together here at the grassroots and use the power he has given us to change this country for the better.

The future can go one of two ways, this is either Socialism’s last stand, or it’s Socialism’s finest hour. And I know which one I’m working towards.

I do not want to look back on this time and say ‘We were inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’. I want to look back on this time and say we rose up, we raised our voices, we raised our fists and we brought down a stinking Tory government; that we put an end to in-work poverty; that we put an end to zero hours contracts; that we put and end to the Bedroom Tax, to the Housing Crisis, to homelessness; that we put and end to the disgraceful way this country treats asylum seekers and refugees; and that we rose up and put fascism back in its box, nailed down the lid, and consigned it to the dustbin of history forever.

I do not want to look back on this time and say ‘We were inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’. I want to look back on this time and say, ‘Jeremy Corbyn was inspired by US!'”

Now I vow to live up to it.

Finally had chance to catch myself back up after a frantic 10 days like no other. Life has been on fast forward for a couple of weeks now, so it’s time to breathe deep and take stock.

It all started on Thursday September 6th when I returned north of the border at the request of my old musical comrade Billy Liar, who kindly asked if I’d open for another of my old musical comrades, the legend that is TV Smith.

Never having had boots on the ground in the Scottish capital I made a day of it, and with Billy as my tour guide I took in all the stuff you really need to know (“This is as close as you can get to the castle for free. That’s my favourite boozer. They used to herd cows down here. This church is magnificent inside. That is the Heart of Midlothian. This part of town was abandoned during the plague. This is the venue.” Top man.)

The gig was ace and opening act Paper Rifles, superb. Look out for them! TV was launching his new album ‘Land Of The Overdose’ and played a number of instant classics from it. Always a pleasure to spend a bit of time with Tim. Consistently brilliant songwriter for decade after decade, and an inspirational live performer.

Had to stop off at 107 Cowgate to honour the birthplace of James Connolly. Wouldn’t be a Socialist in Edinburgh if I hadn’t!

I hauled back overnight because Rebekah Findlay was making her annual trip to Scarborough in order to sprinkle magic dust on the forthcoming ‘Headscarves & Hurricanes’ album. And boy did she! Rattling six songs off more or less first take, she has made a set of songs I’m very proud of into something very special and I can’t wait to get that mastered and out into the world.

Soon as the recorder was switched off I was back on the road and heading for Bolton Socialist Club for the postponed ‘Political Desert Island Discs’ night. Scrubbed due to a sustained blizzard back in March, I finally got to gas on about the eight songs which had the biggest impact on my politics over the years. You had to be there for the reasons, but in case you’re wondering they were:

Stiff Little Fingers- Roots, Radicals, Rockers & Reggae
The Men They Couldn’t Hang- Ghosts Of Cable Street
Grace Petrie- They Shall Not Pass
The Pogues- Thousands Are Sailing
The Wailers- Get Up, Stand Up
Merry Hell- We Need Each Other Now
Billy Bragg- Between The Wars
The Clash- Spanish Bombs

Cracking night in damn fine company.

I hauled back overnight, then straight back out again in the morning for Wigan Diggers Festival. I will post a separate blog about the Gerrard Winstanley Gold Spade Award presented to me in the afternoon, but aside from that my overriding memory of a truly incredible day was looking up from the stage and seeing an empty square as the audience huddled in the beer tent out of the torrential rain, and thinking to myself, ‘this is going to be a tough gig playing to an empty space’, then hearing my name announced, looking up, and seeing hundreds of faces braving the weather to support me. It was a genuinely moving moment. AND we made the rain stop!

I also got to join the fantastic Commoners Choir onstage to sing with them. One of my favourite moments this year.

Aside from that the support and the solidarity, the handshakes and the hugs, made me truly feel a part of something very special. Just a wonderful day.

So I hauled home again, then out once more.

This time to the Battle Of  Stockton commemoration event marking 85 years since the locals drove Mosley’s Blackshirts out of the north east in short order. A flagstone was laid on the High Street and I joined a terrific bill at the Georgian Theatre to mark the day.

This is where I’m most at home. Remembering the past and using it to inspire the future from out of a present so desperately in need of change.

That’s my role in The Struggle.

I know that. And I’m good for it.

But I didn’t half need a kip after all that.

Delighted to announce that Next Thursday, September 13th, I’ll be the special guest of the brilliant Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott at a VERY special acoustic show at Hatfield Main Pit Club.

Paul supported the Hatfield Brigade through the 1984/85 Strike, and they have never forgotten his support and solidarity through those times.

I know this will be one of THOSE gigs, and it would have been incredible enough to just be in the room, but to be part of the bill too is just amazing.

Massive thanks to all involved in putting my name on that poster. You know who you are, and I won’t forget it.

I reckon you might have to be pretty quick for tickets……

They go on sale at 10am on Friday on this link:
https://www.gigsandtours.com/event/stripped-back-acoustic-show/hatfield-main-pit-club/1261079