I’ve made a slight alteration to previously announced release schedules and plans for 2019 so I thought I’d update you on what happens next.

At the turn of the year I originally planned to return to my First World War songs with ‘Postcards From Potter’s Field’ updating some of the older material from 10 years ago, and adding some new songs written for the forthcoming Armistice Tour in November.

Then the muse struck and I wrote and recorded an entire album in 32 days.

These new songs told the story of Hull’s fishing fleet, or rather that of the Triple Trawler Tragedy of 1968 and the Headscarf Revolutionaries who campaigned for safer working practices at sea. It was a story deserving of telling in songs and the 50 year anniversary, followed by my reading Brian W. Lavery‘s excellent book on the subject, inspired me to put pencil to paper.

This will now be the next Joe Solo album.

‘Headscarves & Hurricanes‘ has the fiddle added courtesy of the amazing Rebekah Findlay early next month and is scheduled for mastering on November 26th with a view to a January release.

I can hear a collected sigh of apathy about an album on such a niche subject when so much is happening in the world, and I get that honest.

That’s why, on top of ‘Headscarves & Hurricanes’, an extended EP of more topical material will arrive hot on its heels in the Spring. The EP is called ‘The Past Won’t Last Forever’, and will contain 6 new songs, some bang up to date and some using history as a mirror to the present as per.

Both will be available on CD and download.

The EP will include the new Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade song ‘Rise Up!’ which will be available to download before Christmas.

It will also contain ‘Land Fit For Heroes’, one of the songs written for ‘Postcards From Potter’s Field’ which I’m sad to say has now been shelved indefinitely. If truth be known, I came to realise I’d said all I had to say 10 years ago and captured the voices in my head as well as I could have done. There seemed little point in going over old ground when so much is happening in the now. Aside from ‘Land Fit For Heroes’ there were two more songs written for this album- ‘The Ballad of Charlie and Molly’ and ‘When You Were Away At The War’– both of which will feature on future releases as stand-alone songs.

Oh, and my recently recorded unreleased cover of Bob Dylan‘s ‘Chimes Of Freedom’ will soon see the light of day on ‘Bad Dylan Vol II’ a compilation CD raising funds to help Palestinian children find some normality through the medium of the skateboard.

I’ll blog when that is released.

If all that is confusing, imagine living in my head!

And don’t worry. After these two releases I won’t be putting out an album until at least Autumn 2020.

Even I need a rest sometimes.

Delighted to announce the new single by Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade will be recorded on Sunday 21st October at Central Club in Stainforth from 12pm.

For the last two Christmases we have got together to raise money for the DN7 Hardship Fund. This is something we set up to help people struggling to make ends meet in the former pit villages of South Yorkshire.

Our song for 2018 is called ‘Rise Up!’ and we can’t wait to get it out there for you.

The recording session itself is part of this year’s We Shall Overcome campaign and we’ll be collecting food, warm clothing and toiletries on the day. All are welcome regardless of ability, and it’s always great fun so please pop the date in your diaries and get yourselves along.

It’s here! The We Shall Overcome t-shirt for #WSO2018 is now available via the good people at Philosophy Football and we could not be happier with the design. From the amazing ‘loudhaler’ logo by Marcus Henfrey, it looks cracking on a classic black tee and we can’t wait to see you out there wearing it.

There are three ways to get your hands on one.

First up you need this link:

https://www.philosophyfootball.com/we-shall-overcome-2018.html

From there you have three options.

1. STANDARD PRICE You pay the Philosophy Football standard price of £22.99 plus postage and 10% goes to fighting austerity through WSO causes.
2. SOLIDARITY PRICE You choose the ‘Solidarity’ option and your shirt costs £29.99 but £10 then goes to our causes.
3. ARTISTS AND ORGANISERS DISCOUNT If you are an artist, an organiser, or are helping in any way, large or small, to run a WSO event then there is a discount code on all orders of two or more shirts which reduces the price to 50% making it effectively a 2 for 1. To get the code just email me at joesolomusic@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll message you back asap.

We hope that somewhere in there is an option which will help you wear our 2018 shirt with pride.

We can’t wait to see the selfies landing.

GO GET EM!!!

Proud as punch to announce I’ve been handed the Gerrard Winstanley Gold Spade Award 2018 for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Socialism’.

This is an incredible honour, especially given the list of previous winners, which is basically Tony Benn, much-missed hero to the movement; the peerless Maxine Peake, who can never do anything wrong in my eyes; and two legends of the screen in Jimmy McGovern and the incredible Ken Loach. To see my name added to that list is a little surreal, but maybe it’s a victory for Socialism that a washing machine engineer with a maraca stuffed in his shoe gets to stand on that same stage.

Either that or if I pinch myself hard enough I’ll wake up.

I’ll receive the award on Saturday September 8th at Wigan Diggers Festival, and it would be great to see some of you there to cheer me on. I’m singing too, on a cracking bill which includes Commoners Choir, Attila the Stockbroker’s band Barnstormer 1649, the rousing anthems of local heroes Merry Hell, and The Blockheads will finish the night in style. It would be amazing to share the moment with comrades whose love and support and solidarity fire me up every single day and make me try ever harder, so if you can make it, it would be brilliant to see you.

Please be aware though, our brothers and sisters in the RMT are striking on Northern Rail that day, so much as I would love to see you, on no account cross a picket line to do that. LET’S KEEP THE GUARD ON OUR TRAINS AND THE PASSENGERS SAFE!!!

Wigan Diggers Festival is one of THE days of the year, with the finest of music, fringe events and stalls and is well worth the trip.

 

Had an absolute barnstormer of a night at the #LoveGlasgowHateRacism night last Sunday. The event was organised by Glasgow St Pauli to help raise funds for United Glasgow FC and Scottish Refugee Council.

It was my first ever gig in Scotland. Thirty one years on the road and I’d never had the pleasure. The Wakes asked me a couple of years back, but I’d already agreed to play an International Brigade Memorial Trust event in Hull that night and reluctantly had to say no, but this time nothing was going to get in the way.

It was a blinding night start to finish, with cracking sets from Mick Hargan and The Exiles kicking things off, before I got to shout and stamp a lot in that way of mine.

The night was still young though and The Wakes knew just what to do with it. On home turf they absolutely blew the roof off, with songs like ‘Within These Towns’, ‘Never Again’ and ‘These Hands’ finding a whole new resonance with an antifa crowd and the sorry state of our streets right now; but it was their thunderous version of ‘Bella Ciao’ which defined the night, and their reclaiming of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to finish, a genuinely poignant moment on a night of solidarity with refugees.

There was no-one to follow that. Well, not unless you count the incredible Los Fastidios whose genre-busting set brought us to the close in style. Not had the pleasure of seeing them before, but they were SUPERB and a nicer set of lads you could not hope to meet.

It was great to catch up with comrades from up and down the land and meet a whole new bunch of friends too. Far and away my favourite night of the year so far, and it will take some topping.

So a massive thank you to all at Glasgow St Pauli for asking me to play and making my year, and to the Glasgow crowd for raising their voices and singing me home. Hopefully it will be the first of many trips north of the border to support the cause and stand at their shoulder.

Great night.

Unforgettable.

Right folks, important ask of you.

Many of you will know that alongside We Shall Overcome I run #SocksAppeal during the winter months, collecting warm socks, hats, gloves and scarves which are distributed among the street homeless of Greater Manchester during the worst of the weather.

Well I want to ask your help with another campaign.

I have been appalled by some of the stories reaching me of #PeriodPoverty and the desperate attempts not only street homeless women are forced to go to, but those sanctioned by the State or in work with poverty wages, when their bodies call.

This is a national shame and I want to try to help.

So from today ALL Joe Solo gigs will become collection points for sanitary products. I want everyone to feel totally free to pass me a carrier bag of sanitary towels in much the same way as you would pass me warm clothing in the winter.

I will distribute these according to where there is need. Pauline Town has posted movingly on this subject before so I will start there, and once Pauline has enough I will look to make drops elsewhere.

If that is too much for you and you’d rather donate cash, I will see to it that this is spent on what is needed most, but I will say I’m hoping this ridiculous taboo around something which affects, and in many cases genuinely afflicts, 50% of the population can be broken, and that no-one will feel embarrassed or ashamed to help this appeal.

Let’s use my gigs to help alleviate #PeriodPoverty for as many people as we can.

It’s a big ask and such a small one all at the same time.

Thanks folks, I appreciate you reading.

Let’s do this.

#WeShallOvercome #FoodBankBritain #NotOnOurWatch #WSO2018

Cracking day at Durham Miner’s Gala with my comrades in the Hatfield Brigade. Always a very special weekend of sun, solidarity and Socialism and one I look forward to very much.

The new stage and PA set-up didn’t disappoint and the speeches were universally excellent, from the opening broadcast by Bernie Sanders right up to the headline act, one Jeremy Corbyn, who stormed it!

I hunted high and low for a photograph which did the turnout some justice, and this one taken backstage and tweeted by Kevin Maguire of the Daily Mirror is the best I’ve seen.

I’m somewhere around 50 yards from the front over on the right there…..

There were many impassioned words on that stage, from the FBU‘s Matt Wrack through to the legendary Dennis Skinner, but one of the most striking for me was Ibrahim Dogus speaking on behalf of the Free Abdullah Ocalan Campaign.

The Kurds have been fighting the invisible war on fascism, risking their lives and their homes in the struggle against ISIS. Not only that, but they do it against a backdrop of brutal injustice from the Turkish government and a betrayal by the West. Ocalan was imprisoned 18 years ago on Imrali Island, in total isolation and in inhumane conditions, yet his writings offer hope for his people and the wider world, and a future of peace, democracy, tolerance and inclusion. He has been described as a 21st Century Mandela, and it is time his story was known.

It was great to see so many comrades from up and down the land and beyond, and to hook up with the good people of Scarborough and Whitby Labour Party for a quick photo in the late afternoon sun.

But my lasting memory of the day will be Billy Bragg‘s set to close the event, especially ‘Between The Wars’, as spine-tinglingly brilliant as ever, and sadly perhaps more relevant than it has ever been.

Anyway. With batteries charged next stop is Rotherham Trades Club on Thursday for a Labour Party fundraiser; then I’m back on We Shall Overcome duties for two consecutive Saturday’s, firstly at The Station in Ashton-under-Lyne for Pauline Town‘s 50th Birthday Event and then Hull Adelphi on the 28th to open for Country Joe & The Fish legend Bruce Barthol.

Be good to see you out there x

 

Today’s Morning Star contains a new poem I wrote especially for their ‘Picket Lines’ section.

It’s called ‘Never’ and is about fighting on no matter what the odds.

The page is here:

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never

A massive thank you to the crew at Poetry On The Picket Line for their support.

Great stuff.