Danbert Nobacon
Encyclopedia
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
based anarchist band Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
. He is currently living in Twisp, Washington
Twisp, Washington
Twisp is a town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. The population was 938 at the 2000 census and decreased to 919 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Twisp is located at ....
in the United States with his family and is pursuing a solo career.
Nobacon has long aired his views through his music, producing cassettes
Cassette culture
Cassette culture, or the cassette underground , refers to the practices surrounding amateur production and distribution of recorded music that emerged in the late 1970s via home-made audio cassettes...
in the early 1980s that featured songs exploring his views on anarchism, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and personal relationships. Despite being a member of Chumbawamba, the first vinyl release on their own Sky and Trees
Sky and Trees Records
Sky and Trees Records is a record label set up by United Kingdom band Chumbawamba in 1983. The band used the label to release and distribute a number of cassettes and booklets by themselves , including their early demo recordings Be Happy Despite It All , Another Year Of The same Old Shit and the...
label was Nobacon's acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
solo album, a re-recording of his scatological 'eco-concept' work The Unfairy Tale in 1985.
He released two more solo singles, "Bigger Than Jesus" in 1987, an exploration of male sexuality
Human male sexuality
Human male sexuality covers physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and political aspects of the human male sexual response and related phenomenon...
that featured a close up photograph of his own penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
as cover artwork (the single was sold in a brown paper bag in the shops that stocked it), and "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" in 1989, a comment on the Irish Troubles.
He is renowned for his extrovert behaviour in public, as recounted in fellow band member Boff Whalley
Boff Whalley
Allan Mark "Boff" Whalley is the lead guitarist for the band Chumbawamba.-Early life and education:Whalley was born Allan Mark Whalley in 1961 in Burnley, Lancashire...
's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Footnote*, and was notorious for stripping naked at early solo performances. In later years he has described himself as transvestite, and has often worn a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
's habit during live performances. He gained notoriety and a great deal of press coverage by tipping an ice bucket over UK Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices...
John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
at the 1998 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
.
In July 2005 Nobacon played as part of a series of protest gigs against the G8 Summit that were arranged as an alternative to the official Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concerts. In August 2007 he released an album, The Library Book of the World, on Chicago's Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in roots-inflected indie rock, punk blues, and a Chicago brand of outlaw country...
label (with fellow punk-era stalwart Jon Langford
Jon Langford
Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport, Monmouthshire is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford...
's group The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Pine Valley Cosmonauts
-History:The group was initiated by Jon Langford as a covers group, with a constantly shifting repertory and cast of backing members. The name was first used for Langford's 1995 album of Johnny Cash cover songs...
as his backing band). After giving up on a book about current events, it was announced that Exterminating Angel Press would be releasing an "anarchist fairy tale" written by Nobacon and illustrated by filmmaker Alex Cox
Alex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
called Three Dead Princes. The release of Three Dead Princes coincided with the release of a new Danbert Nobacon record entitled Woebegone (recorded with backing band, The Bad Things, and released on Verbal Burlesque Records) in October 2010.
Solo discography
- The Unfairy Tale/The War Inside Our Heads (Sky and Trees, 1984, cassette only release)
- The Unfairy Tale (Sky and Trees, 1985, vinyl release reworked version of material on above cassette)
- "Bigger Than Jesus" (Single, Mind Matter Records, 1987)
- "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" (Single, Rugger Bugger Records, 1989)
- The Unfairy Tale (GAP, 1997, CD re-issue of 1985 Sky and Trees album, with addition of songs from the other two singles)
- The Library Book of the World (Bloodshot, 2007, with The Pine Valley CosmonautsPine Valley Cosmonauts-History:The group was initiated by Jon Langford as a covers group, with a constantly shifting repertory and cast of backing members. The name was first used for Langford's 1995 album of Johnny Cash cover songs...
) - Woebegone (Verbal Burlesque Records, 2010, with The Bad Things)