A really impressive rebellion against the enclosure of the commons in England took place in Norfolk in 1549.  This is my rendition of a song written by lyricist Gareth Calway and musician Tim Chipping.

Ballad Of Kett's Rebellion

A trilogy. The opening piece 'March of the Levellers' was the first Renaissance tune I wrote:  in its original form it was the opening track on my second album 'Sawdust and Empire' in 1983. Then the words of the first English Socialist, Gerrard Winstanley, leader of the Diggers, in 1649, set to an old traditional tune, and finally a version of Leon Rosselson's great song about the Diggers - the latter pair are the only covers we do. This and the other tracks on this page are all from the first Barnstormer album, 'The Siege of Shoreham' released in 1996 and still available from www.attilathestockbroker.com . In the late 90s we did quite a few gigs around the UK playing this kind of stuff. Then our lineup changed... 
We became a band who toured extensively in mainland Europe and hardly at all in the UK (I did my solo stuff here) playing melodic Clashy punk with the odd medieval tinge and releasing three more albums: 'Just One Life' (2000) 'Zero Tolerance' (2004) and 'Bankers & Looters' (2012) 
But now the band has reverted to what I always intended it to be - a punk band playing (home made) Renaissance and Baroque music. Touring the UK as of March 2018. 
It truly is the Renaissance of Barnstormer in ever sense of the word.
Now inspired both instrumentally and lyrically by the incredible, radical period of the English Revolution of 1649, we are currently rehearsing 11 new pieces I have written (songs and instrumentals) for a new album 'Restoration Tragedy' which will be released later in the year.

The Siege Of Shoreham

March Of The Levellers/The Diggers Song/The World Turned Upside Down

NEW ALBUM 'RESTORATION TRAGEDY' out now on CD and double vinyl LP and available from http://www.attilathestockbroker.com/merch.php
Barnstormer 1649 aim to do with early music & punk what the Pogues did with Irish music & punk - but with a strong historical and political message.  Leader, poet and multi-instrumentalist Attila the Stockbroker, describes their sound as ‘Roundhead Renaissancecore and Baroque ‘n’ Roll’.

Attila has always loved early music and plays a lot of the instruments – crumhorn, cornemuse, shawm, bombarde and five different recorders as well as violin, viola , mandola and mandocello. A lifelong socialist and activist, he has always been fascinated by the radical movements which exploded at the end of the English Civil War and the execution of Charles 1 - radicals who can be described as the first English socialists. And his songs are inspired both musically and lyrically by the events of that tumultuous time. So instruments and ideas fit together: they are from the same period.

The songs are mostly based around the time at the end of the war, after the King was beheaded and, in the words of a ballad of the time, the world turned upside down. Previously marginal ideas of social justice and equality spread across the land. Barnstormer’s songs are about the Diggers, the Levellers, the Ranters and their leader Abiezer Coppe, the radical factions of the New Model Army and their confrontation with Cromwell’s grandees. There is an epic piece about the narrow escape of Charles 11 after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 in a coal boat which sailed from the spot where Attila has fished all his life  in Shoreham Port, 400 yards from his front door.  (If he’d been caught, we’d probably be spending more money on the NHS now instead of the Royal Family!)There are some earlier references to Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt as well.

And all with an eye on what‘s happening now, which is essential. Attila has written a couple of very modern early music songs too. One’s about a visionary with a beard and the initials JC!

History is mainly presented as the story of kings, queens and nobles but real history is about us and our battles for justice. As our country becomes more and more divided along class and generational lines, and the extremes of wealth and poverty become even more sharply defined, we can learn a lot from the events of the past.

Although their politics are similar, there’s one very important difference between Barnstormer and the Roundheads though. Some Roundheads, apparently, thought drinking beer, dancing and having fun was evil. Attila and Barnstormer think it should be obligatory.

BARNSTORMER are
M.M.McGHEE – drums
COOKIE – bass, backing vocals
JASON PEGG – guitar, backing vocals
TIM O’TAY - recorders
ATTILA – vocals, mandola, mandocello, violin, viola, recorders, crumhorn, cornemuse, shawm

March Of The Levellers/The Diggers Song/The World Turned Upside Down

BARNSTORMER 1649

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