Last Amendment, formerly known as The Crass Collective and Crass Agenda, is the working title of a series of collaborations by ex-members of the

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...

band

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestylism, way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the ...

and others. Although Crass had formally split up in 1984,

Penny Rimbaud Penny Lapsang Rimbaud (born Jeremy John Ratter, 1943) is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Fes ...

Gee Vaucher Gee Vaucher (born 1945 in Dagenham, Essex, England) is a visual artist. Biography Vaucher met her long-lasting creative partner Penny Rimbaud in the early 1960s when both were attending the South-East Essex Technical College and School of Ar ...

Eve Libertine Eve Libertine (born Bronwyn Lloyd Jones; 1949) is an English singer. She was one of the vocalists who worked with English anarcho-punk band Crass. Her works with the band include the single "Reality Asylum", as well as performing most of the ...

Steve Ignorant Steve Ignorant (born Steven Williams in 1957) is a singer and artist. Career Steve Ignorant was born in Stoke-on-Trent but grew up in Dagenham, East London. He later lived at Dial House, which since 1967 has been a self-sustaining anarchist ...

Andy Palmer Andrew Charles Palmer (born 30 June 1963) is an English automotive executive and engineer. He has been described as the 'Godfather of EVs' due to his work launching the Nissan Leaf in 2010 whilst COO at the Japanese company. Palmer is also k ...

and Pete Wright came together in November 2002 to put on a concert at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The Q ...

in opposition to the at that time proposed

War on Iraq {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Although they did not all appear on the stage at the same time, most of the ex-members of Crass participated in the event under the name of The Crass Collective, along with other performers such as

Ian MacKaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...

Goldblade Goldblade are an English punk rock band from Manchester, England. The band formed in early 1995 when ex Membranes frontman, John Robb, put the band together with Wayne Simmons and former Membranes and A Witness vocalist Keith Curtis on bas ...

, the English Chamber Choir, Fun Da Mental, and

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, among others. The Crass Collective continued to put on gigs and performances, usually of a collaborative nature, on a regular basis throughout 2003 at the

Vortex Club The Vortex Jazz Club is a music venue in London, England. It was founded by David Mossman in the 1988. Background The Vortex started as a jazz club in 1988 and was located in Stoke Newington Church Street, north London. But after the acquisit ...

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

, London. In October of that year however they changed the name of the project to Crass Agenda. Works by the collective have included

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

cabaret, an interpretation of

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

's poem '' Howl'', Crass' '' Yes Sir I Will'' and an update of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Und ...

' play ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...

'', in which property developers move into the mythical

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

village of

Llareggub ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation o ...

. Others that have worked as part of Crass Collective/Crass Agenda include

disability rights The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...

advocate and actor

, violinist and pianist

Dylan Bates Dylan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer and songwriter ** ''Dylan'' (1973 album), a 1973 album by Bob Dylan ** ''Dylan'' (2007 album), a 2007 compilation album by Bob Dylan * Dylan (musician), profes ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

player

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildh ...

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, Julian Siegel,

Gene Calderazzo Gene Calderazzo (born 23 April 1961 in New York City) is an American jazz drummer residing in the United Kingdom, where he is a visiting tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity and the Guildhall. He also drums fo ...

, Kate Shortt, guitarist and bass player

Jennifer Maidman Jennifer Maidman (formerly Ian Maidman, born 24 January 1958) is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actor and author who has collaborated extensively with many internationally well known groups and artists. Her work appears on hu ...

, Ed Jones, A-Soma and others. During 2004 Crass Agenda were at the forefront of a campaign against the closure of the

Vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in ...

jazz club, which has now relocated to Hackney. In June 2005 the project was renamed Last Amendment, with their website,Southern.com
declaring the name Crass Agenda as being "no more". Their first live performance using this incarnation was on 30 June at the New Vortex club in Hackney, east London.

Discography

* ''Savage Utopia'' – featuring Eve Libertine, Christine Tobin, A-Soma, Louise Elliot,

Kevin Davy Kevin G. Davy (born 29 October 1961, Nottingham, UK) is a British jazz trumpeter/flugelhorn player, composer, arranger and bandleader. He has recorded with and toured with Finley Quaye, Lamb, Adam F and Lemn Sissay's Secret Society. He has le ...

, Phil Robson, Liam Noble, Davide Mantovani, Matt Black (of

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

) performing work by Penny Rimbaud (

Babel Label Babel Label is a jazz record label founded in 1994 by Oliver Weindling. It released more than 130 recordings in its first 20 years, two of which were nominated for the Mercury Prize. Formation Weindling was a banker in England in the 1980s wh ...

/ Exitstencil, 2004) * ''Penny Rimbaud's How?'' – poetry based around

's '' Howl'', recorded live at the Vortex Club. (Babel Label/Exitstencil, 2004) * ''In the Beginning Was the WORD'' – Live DVD recorded at the Progress Bar, Tufnell Park, London, 18 November 2004 (Gallery gallery Productions @ Le Chaos Factory, 2006)

References

External links

Last Amendment upcoming events

Video of Rimbaud/Elliott – Last Amendment – at Gavin Brown Passerby NYC on Nov 8 2006. {{Authority control Crass Free improvisation ensembles British jazz ensembles