Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba is a Leeds based English anarchist music group. It evolved from its punk roots, through pop, techno, and various other styles, to the folk group which it is now. The band is known for its polyphony and its non-conformant lyrics. The band was formed in 1982 from two other bands based in Yorkshire, The Passion Killers and Chimp Eats Banana. They released a series of albums (such as Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records) and singles on their own Agit-Pop label before moving to One Little Indian in the early 90s.

On One Little Indian, Chumbawamba released three albums, Slap!, Shhh, and Anarchy, in a period in which they were influenced by the techno music and dance culture. The music had turned into a more popular sound, which they emphasized was to spread the message more effectively. The last album released on One Little Indian was Anarchy (1994).

Anarchy or not, the band signed to EMI by 1997. At EMI, Chumbawamba had brief mainstream success, with the singles Tubthumping and Amnesia, taken from Tubthumper. Like Slap! and Shhh, the album was noticeably influenced by techno music.

By 2000, the album WYSIWYG, was released, being entirely different from previous work: a 22-track soundscape, comprising rock, folk, country and pop music. It includes a cover of the Bee Gees song New York mining disaster.

In 2002, Chumbawamba formed their own label again, now naming it Mutt Records. On this record label, they released Readymades and the world music influenced Un (2004). These two albums brought Chumbawamba to what it is now: a folk group.

Since 2005, the band decided it would be better to turn into an acoustic band. The line-up has changed to: Boff Whalley, Lou Watts, Jude Abbot and Neil Ferguson. It was this line-up that released the fully acoustic album A Singsong and a Scrap on the small UK Folk and Folk-Rock label NoMasters by 2006. The album uses more traditional instruments and features English Folk artists such as Coope, Boyes & Simpson and Andy Cutting. In 2007 followed by the live album Get On With It.

In 2008, another No Masters, The Boy Bands Have Won, has been released. It contains 25 tracks of new acoustic material, some derived from traditional folk, such as Charlie. It also has guest performances by, amongst others, the Oysterband on Hull or Hell and Roy Bailey on Word Bomber.

In 1998 scottish punkband Oi Polloi put together a 7 band compilation EP with other bands like Riot/Clone and Bus Station Loonies among others, the name of the record being "Bare faced hypocrisy sells records(The anti chumbawamba ep)" in response to various actions commited by chumbawamba, like signing on EMI and doing beer commercials.

However, in a recent magazine article Chumawamba claimed that their shift toward music for profit was done in order to gain funds for donation to anarchist organizations.