Steve Ignorant Brings The Last Supper To NZ

Steve Ignorant of 70s English punk band Crass is bringing his Last Supper tour to NZ for two dates in June:

Saturday 18th June - Bodega, Wellington
Sunday 19th June - The Kings Arms, Auckland

The tour showcases Crass material from 1977 - 1984 performed by a stellar line-up including:  Gizz Butt (guitar – Destructors, English Dogs, Janus Stark, The Prodigy, The More I See), Bob Butler (bass – The Tone, Schwartzneggar), Spike T Smith (drums – The Damned, Conflict, Killing Joke, Morrissey), Carol Hodge (vocals - Bad Taste Barbies, Synco, Electraglide) and of course Steve Ignorant (vocals) - full details below.

Tickets on sale now from here at UTR and Real Groovy Auckland.

Press Release:

STEVE IGNORANT PRESENTS THE LAST SUPPER
(CRASS SONGS 1977-1984)

Wellington, Saturday 18th June @ Bodega, Doors 8pm , show starts at 9pm Auckland, Sunday 19th June @ The Kings Arms, Doors 6pm, (Early show - Steve Ignorant on stage 8pm sharp)

All shows R18, Advance tickets $40 NZ + b/fee from www.undertheradar.co.nz and Real Groovy Records (Auckland)

www.steveignorant.co.uk

In 2007, Steve Ignorant gathered some friends together and put on two shows at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, England. Called The Feeding Of 5000, the show was a celebration of the Crass album of the same name, which was performed in its entirety.

It most certainly was not a CRASS reunion, and never sought to be.

The Last Supper tour, which began in the UK in September 2010, answered the calls that came from around the globe in response to the Shepherd’s Bush gigs. This June, Steve and his band will be coming to New Zealand, celebrating the period of Crass’ work with which he feels most closely aligned – the period when he feels the band were at their strongest, most productive and most hopeful.

Steve will be performing with a full band (not the other members of Crass) and as well as featuring Crass songs there will be some rather special visuals. The touring line up includes Gizz Butt (guitar – Destructors, English Dogs, Janus Stark, The Prodigy, The More I See), Bob Butler (bass – The Tone, Schwartzneggar), Spike T Smith (drums – The Damned, Conflict, Killing Joke, Morrissey), Carol Hodge (vocals - Bad Taste Barbies, Synco, Electraglide) and of course Steve Ignorant (vocals).

Steve has also just published his autobiography, The Rest Is Propaganda, which tells the story of his upbringing in the wilds of East London, and how he escaped a life on the factory floor, formed Crass with Penny Rimbaud, and how Stephen Williams became Steve Ignorant.

Having started in London in 2007, this new expanded show will soon visit the USA, Canada, Australia & New Zealand before a FINALE in London on 19 November 2011. At which point the door will be firmly closed.

"Me and the band are really looking forward to this. Being able to the play the Crass songs in places where Crass was never able to go will be an honour, and a huge amount of fun as well. Hope to see some of you there." - STEVE IGNORANT

Steve recently recorded a number of interviews answering commonly asked questions about the Last Supper Tour, these can be viewed on the Southern Records Youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/southernrecords

CRASS - A CONTEXT

Formed in 1977 by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud, Crass were an English punk band, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism. The band both utilised and advocated a "Do It Yourself" approach, producing sound collages, graphics, albums and films, and running their own record label.

Crass also criticised and attempted to subvert the dominant culture with messages promoting feminism, anti-racism, anti-war, and anti- globalisation.

Crass disbanded in 1984, just as their cryptic catalogue numbers suggested they might. Before doing so, they altered the course of history. Without Crass, would "D.I.Y" have meant what it did to the record industry? (They were the first band to form their own label to retain complete artistic control, as well as political and legal responsibility for their work, and to print the price ("pay no more than") on the sleeve to prevent record stores from cashing in.) Would Banksy mean the same in the art world? (Crass used stencil art to decorate the streets and tube stations of London with though-provoking agit-propagandist work.) Would anti-globilisation protests be what they are? (Crass were lynchpins of the Stop The City demonstrations of 1983 and 1984.) Crass had their phones tapped, were raised as a question of national security in Parliament, conned a teen magazine into distributing their subversive message as a cover-mounted flexi-disc.

Despite all of this, and having sold over a million and a half records, Crass are routinely written out of the rose-coloured nostalgia afforded to punk, rock, and their musical peers. Thirty years on, are people still afraid to look Crass in the eye?

Though Crass only played a minute number of shows out of the UK, the Crass message has reached people on a global scale and continues to do so now.