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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 Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...
, East London. He later lived at Dial House, which since 1967 has been a self-sustaining anarchist-pacifist
intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...
in Epping Forest, Essex; it was here where he met Penny Rimbaud, one of the founders of the Dial House project. Ignorant and Rimbaud went on to co-found the
anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an 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, ha ...
band
Crass Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...
in 1977. After Crass stopped performing in 1984, he worked with other groups including Conflict, Schwartzeneggar,
Stratford Mercenaries Stratford Mercenaries were an English punk rock band that was formed in late 1995 by Gary "Gazzer" from the punk band Dirt and Ed "Eddafed" Addley from the punk band Suicidal Supermarket Trolleys. The band was joined by Steve Ignorant from th ...
, and
Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...
as well as being an occasional solo performer. He is also a sculptor, and has worked as a traditional
Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...
performer using the name Professor Ignorant. In recent years he has developed an interest in the history of traditional London
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
performance. Ignorant is vegetarian. On 24 and 25 November 2007 he performed Crass's entire '' The Feeding of the 5000'' live at the
Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was original ...
, backed by guest musicians. Other members of Crass were not involved in these concerts. "I acknowledge and respect Steve's right to do this", Rimbaud said, "but I do regard it as a betrayal of the Crass ethos".
 Ignorant had a different view; "I don't have to justify what I do. (...) Plus, most of the lyrics are still relevant today. And remember that three-letter word, 'fun'?" He moved to the Norfolk coast in 2007 where he volunteers as a
lifeboatman A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-in ...
. In 2010 Ignorant announced plans to do a tour called "The Last Supper", performing Crass songs from the period 1977–1982 with largely the same band that performed with him at Shepherd's Bush, including Gizz Butt, Bob Butler and Spike Smith. In August 2010 Ignorant and Rimbaud took to the stage together to be interviewed by John Robb on the literacy stage at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool where they informed the large crowd that Rimbaud has now given him his blessing to perform Crass material live. In the same year
Southern Records Founded 1992 by John Loder, Southern Records is an independent record label (Loder also ran the recording facility Southern Studios). It is based in London and until 2008 had offices in the United States, France and Berlin. The label is clos ...
published ''The Rest Is Propaganda'', Ignorant's autobiography co-written with Steve Pottinger. On 19 November 2011, Ignorant performed "The Last Supper" at the Shepherd's Bush Empire where he was joined on stage by Rimbaud and Eve Libertine. This was the last time Crass songs were performed live by him until his 2020 tour. In 2019, Ignorant announced plans to tour England in 2020 with a full band performing an all-Crass set.


Slice of Life

While stranded in Sydney, Australia after a tour, Steve Ignorant, Carol Hodge and Pete Wilson came up with an idea for a new band, a more contemplative band backed by acoustic instruments. Thus Slice of Life was born. They performed for the first time at Wellingborough, UK on 25 October 2013. Lucas Martin joined the band on upright bass in 2015. Music publisher Wipeout Music says of the group, "Steve opens both heart and soul when reflecting on life and then reminds us just why we should never give up on this world or on each other with his poems and songs that make us think about the world around us and reminds us just why we should still care." In March 2022 Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life released an EP called ''The Kids Was Just Crass'' via the Stay Free Recordings label. It contains
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
cover versions. The band has recorded several albums. # Love and a Lamp Post (2014) # Live at the Forum 2015 (2016) # Don't Turn Away (2019) # Live at Ramsgate Music Hall (2020) They also released an extended single, Just Another, in 2017.


References


External links


Official home page

Stratford Mercenaries' website

Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ignorant, Steve 1957 births Anarcho-punk musicians Anti-consumerists Artists from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Crass members English anarchists English anti-fascists English male singers English punk rock singers British political music artists Living people Singers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham People from Dagenham Artists from Stoke-on-Trent Musicians from Stoke-on-Trent 21st-century anarchists