- Title: UK: CHUMBAWAMBA TALK ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM "TUBTHUMPER"
- Date: 14th October 1997
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 14, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) DUNSTAN (DUNCAN BRUCE) SAYING, "LOTS OF PEOPLE ASK US THAT ABOUT THE MONEY. TO BE HONEST WE'RE NOT GOING TO SEE ANY MONEY FOR SIX MONTHS TO A YEAR ANYWAY. IT'S A BIT OF A RED HERRING REALLY. WE JUST KEEP ON GETTING TOLD HOW RICH WE ARE. WE HAVEN'T ACTUALLY SEEN ANY. BUT I THINK THE P
- Embargoed: 29th October 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA448JNEV41WEWEL4KGM913QY5M
- Story Text: Six months ago, few could admit to being familiar with Chumbawamba's tunes but after almost 13 years in the musical wilderness, their fortunes have changed with the release of "Tubthumping".
The song is the first single to be taken from the group's ninth album "Tubthumper".
The catchy tune describes the virtues of drinking whiskey, vodka, lager and cider. It was an instant hit with radio listeners and entered the UK charts at number 2, selling 100,000 singles in a week.
It has remained in the charts for 11 weeks. Its success has postponed the release of the second single, "Amnesia", until after Christmas.
The pop group's success came after a disc jockey on a British national radio station, announced "Tubthumping" as his record of the week.
Big in Eastern Europe yet reviled by the UK's trendy music press, the vegan, eight-piece, self-named anarchist group's luck changed when it was signed to EMI Germany last year. This came after more than a decade of lying on the fringes of mainstream music, signed to independent record labels.
Now Chumbawamba is sitting on the brink of stardom and wealth thanks to the success of "Tubthumping".
Although the band has yet to see any of the financial rewards from the success of the single, Dunstan (Duncan Bruce), the group's lead singer, maintains that when they do, the money will be spent wisely and with everyone's consent.
"I think we're sensible and organised enough to not just go out and blow it all on a mountain of cocaine and a crate load of champagne... We want to use use the money constructively and we'll all get together and talk about how we're gonna use that money," he said.
Chumbawamba operate very differently from most bands in that they each hold a role of equal importance and no band member earns more money than the other. This idea of equality is fundamentally important to the band's being and is expressed in their music.
The band openly admit their music is deeply political and were disappointed by the decision to delay the release of "Amnesia" until the New Year. They had hoped to release it for the start of the New Labour Party conference in October.
"Amnesia" lyrics talk about memory loss and the group believe that in the song they describe what has occurred with the evolution of the Labour Party. It no longer represents the people whose rights it set out to defend.
"It has nothing to do with what the traditional Labour Party stood for... they are obviously a middle class party now and proud of it....the song is saying we don't think that Tony Blair is any sort of alternative for us", Dunstan said.
Chumbawamba is a group with a very interesting history. It originated in the northern city of Leeds in the early eighties and was born out of failed musical enterprises, unemployment and political discontent.
For five years, most of the band members lived in a squat with initally no gas or electricity and where cooking occurred over open fires.
Nowadays although most of the members have remained in Leeds, communal living in basic conditions has given way to a more 'normal' manner of existing however, they have stayed true to their earlier political beliefs.
Renowned for their anarchistic antics publicity stunts and anti-establishement attitude the band is not surprised by the recent attack on their single's apparent reference to binge drinking which is said to be irresponsible.
The band is no stranger to controversy. Past antics include a record-shop ban on an album of theirs which featured a woman giving birth on the front cover and the release of an anti-Live Aid album entitled "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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