Thee Faction

Thee Faction
Background information
Origin	Surrey, UK
Genres	garage punk, punk rock, rock
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Soviet Beret[1]
Associated acts	Thee Concerned Citizens
Website	theefaction.org
Members	Billy Brentford Nylons Babyface Dai Nasty Kassandra Krossing Thee Citizen Red Scare 1919 Higgins
Past members	The G.A. Horace Hardman

Thee Faction are a rock/garage punk band from Surrey, UK, noted for their explicit Socialist agenda.^[2] They refer to their music, which incorporates elements of garage rock, pop and rhythm and blues^[3] as "Socialist RnB".^[4][5] Their album Up The Workers! was rated one of the Daily Mirror's top twenty albums of 2011.^[6]

Biography

Thee Faction's debut album At Ebbw Vale was released in 2010.^[7] Dubbed 'rhythm and booze' and 'timely'^[8] by Simon Price in The Independent it was rated 8/10 in Vive Le Rock.^[9] Is This Music? praised the record, comparing the band to Dr. Feelgood.^[10]

Second album Up The Workers! or, Capitalism is Good For Corporations That's Why You've Been Told Socialism is Bad All Your Life^[11] was described by the Daily Mirror as "Power-packed garage rock 'n' soul underlined by a defiantly political edge."^[6] The title track featured Ivan Chandler (The Echoes) on piano.^[11] The album was rated 7/10 by Drowned in Sound who praised it as "a lot of fun, undeniably stirring.. Thee Faction write showstoppers" but also criticised the music as "entertaining in a very conventional way".^[12]

Poster for a 2014 Thee Faction-curated gig in aid of the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign.

Thee Faction's third album Singing Down The Government, or, The War of Position and How We're Winning It,^[13] was released in 2012, and introduced all-female horn section Brass Capital.^[14] The album was promoted by headlining appearances at the Marxism Festival^[15] and Tolpuddle Martyrs festival and included contributions by Richard Archer from Hard-Fi and rapper Clencha.^[13][16] Free download-only singles for tracks 'Soapbox'^[17] and 'Sausage Machine'^[18] were accompanied by promotional videos.^[19] Q Magazine praised the album as "a critique of societal hegemony on the back of a grimy blues'n’b twang, rife with the contagious energy of people who know they're right",^[20] and it was rated 7/10 by Mick Farren in Classic Rock Blues magazine.^[21]

Thee Faction released their latest album Good Politics: Your Role As An Active Citizen Within Civil Society^[20][22] in 2013, preceded by single 'Better Than Wages',^[23] remixed from the album by Andy Lewis. The album featured (on one track each) guest vocals from writer Francis Wheen^[24] and saxophone from Crayola Lectern, and was rated 8/10 in Classic Rock^[25] and 4/5 in The Independent^[26] and Mojo^[27] who called it "wildly galvanising, blisteringly angry, insanely entertaining blue-collar rock'n'roll".

In March 2015 Thee Faction announced the completion of their fifth album Reading Writing Revolution: The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall, to be released in June,^[28] preceded by a track previewed on Soundcloud to coincide with International Women's Day,^[29] a track on double-CD fundraising album Orgreave Justice,^[30][31] and free download single "Choose Your Enemy", released on March 29th with accompanying video.^[32][33]

Politics

The band have performed with, and for, various artists and organisations of the broad Left including Attila the Stockbroker, Robb Johnson, Chris T-T, Grace Petrie, Mark Steel, Josie Long, the SWP and the Welsh Communist Party.^[34] The band appear to be unaligned with any particular organisation or tradition but are noted for promoting ideas associated with guild socialism, classical Marxism and left communism, while supporting a range of left-wing and trade union causes.^[35][36][37] Notwithstanding the band's use of Ostalgic tropes and apparent (possibly parodic) anti-revisionism, in a 2013 interview they declared themselves "libertarian socialists of one kind or another".^[38] Thee Faction have however attracted criticism for their political views; notably, a 2012 gig review by Ruth Dudley Edwards for The Daily Telegraph angered the newspaper's Conservative readership.^[39]

Discography

Albums

• At Ebbw Vale LP/CD (Soviet Beret, 2010)
• Up The Workers! or, Capitalism is Good For Corporations That's Why You've Been Told Socialism is Bad All Your Life CD (Soviet Beret, 2011)
• Singing Down The Government, or, The War of Position and How We're Winning It CD (Soviet Beret, 2012)
• Good Politics: Your Role as an Active Citizen in Civil Society CD (Soviet Beret, 2013)
• Reading Writing Revolution: The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall CD (Soviet Beret, 2015)

Singles/EPs

• Better Than Wages (remix) CD [promo single]
• Songs To Remind the Class of the Glorious Victory to Come and the Work That Must Be Done to Get There CD EP (Soviet Beret, 2013) [ft. Attila The Stockbroker and Judy Dyble]

Current band line-up

• Billy Brentford: vocals
• Dai Nasty: drums
• Nylons: face-melting guitar
• Babyface: guitar and polemic
• Kassandra Krossing: vocals, organ of truth
• Thee Citizen: bass and superstructure
• Red Scare: trumpet
• 1919: trombone
• Higgins: Welsh harp

External links

• Thee Faction website
• Thee Faction bandcamp
• At Ebbw Vale review
• Rock n Reel interview
• Louder Than War review
• Up The Workers review
• Singing Down The Government review
• Morning Star review
• Louder Than War interview
• Morning Star live review
• God Is In The TV live review
• Jack Monroe interview
• ISN interview
• Thee Faction on class

References