Steve Ignorant

Steve talks about why some of the gigs on his tour are advertised as Crass, the reissue of Crass albums in an expanded format, and more about his reasons for doing The Last Supper tour. And a special announcement about the final time he will sing Crass songs.

Thanks.
Allison

At last!! We all got our visas confirmed yesyerday so the tour is back on. We had to go to the American Embassy at 8 in the morning to be asked such searching questions like 'what do you do in the band?' and 'have you been to the states before?' But the best was when I was asked 'have you seen Leone?' I said no, who's Leone - the question was in fact have you ever been to Sierra Leone. Carol got asked if she'd ever been to Toga. All this fuss for that. Ah well at least we've got the bloody things now and it looks like we'll over your side in April. Thanks for you patience and support, I know a lot of you lost money and stuff over this, again I'm really sorry about that, I'll try and make it up by doing the best fucking sets I can. Bring it on!

Here are the rescheduled dates
April 20 Brooklyn, NY @ Europa
April 21 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda - SOLD OUT
April 22 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
April 23 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
April 26 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
April 27 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
April 29 Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
April 30 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
May 3 Austin, TX @ Emo's
May 6 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
May 7 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
May 8 New York, NY @ Santo's - SOLD OUT

So here it is then - the final date for the final gig, it's so weird looking at it knowing it's going to be the last time I ever perform Crass songs live on stage. I know that was the idea behind this Last Supper tour, but to see it in black and white in front of you like this really makes it final. I know that every gig I do is special and that me and the band put 1000% into every performance, but I have to admit to you all, this one will be special.
If you're thinking of coming, bring some tissues - it's gonna be emotional.

The Last Supper
O2 Shepherds Bush Academy
London
Saturday 19th November.  Doors 7pm
Special guests: The Cravats
(more to be announced.  and probably some unannounced ones too.)

Tickets £20, on sale tomorrow (17 Feb) from Ticketweb or the Southern web shop - UK tickets or if you live in Europe, use this link.

Thanks. Steve.

We filmed a little video interview while we were rehearsing recently in Peterborough, to answer some of the questions people ask quite regularly when I do interviews. Thought it might be a change to let you hear it from the horse's mouth.  Feels a bit weird watching myself but thankfully I only had to do that once.

Check back here for a big announcement tomorrow by the way.

Thanks. Steve.

Hello folks.  You may have seen me post previously, asking people to send in photographs of themselves for us to use in The Last Supper tour.  The visuals for the tour are a really important part of it for us.  They are a bit different every night, and it's a bit like an old fashioned slide show, made up of photos from my personal collection, the collection of Gee Vaucher and Dial House, the band and some close friends, and some general Crass archive stuff, and a few surprises.  But the part that we really enjoy the most is all the photos that Crass fans have sent in of themselves.  If this tour is about a celebration of Crass and  what that band was about, then it's also got to be a celebration of all the people who were fans of the band, who came to the shows, bought the records, or who were somehow influenced or touched by what Crass was about.   A few of the photos we have used in previous shows are included here.

Now that we're about to embark on the USA and Canadian tour, we really want to spread the word and get some new photos in, especially from the places we will be going.

So, where were you in 1977?  or 1984?  Whatever the year, we want everyone to be a part of The Last Supper, celebrating a time we all remember so fondly.  Mohawks? Crazy colour?  Skinheads?  Bondage trousers? Dr. Marten's boots? Homemade t-shirts?  Tattoos?  All dressed in black?  Or did you rebel by not conforming to the punk dress code?  Where were you when you first heard "Do They Owe Us A Living" or "Bata Motel"?  Send us your photos!

Please submit your photos to us by email to [email protected].  (It goes without saying that by submitting photos you are giving us permission to use them in the show.)

Thanks.

Steve.

I would really appreciate anyone who can help us out by spreading the word on this. Please re-post, link, whatever.

Singer urgently needed.  We are looking for a female singer to join The Last Supper tour.  Unfortunately Beki has decided that she cannot continue to tour with us due to family commitments.  We are absolutely gutted, but determined not to let this set-back get us down.  So we are currently seeking a strong female vocalist who is capable of joining our little family, and of representing the Crass material with the heart and spirt it deserves (particularly the material from Penis Envy).  She must be available for an immediate audition, plus rehearsals in London or Peterborough in January and February, and then for our USA/Canadian tour (3 weeks in March), Australia/NZ tour (3-4 weeks in April & May), possibly Japan or a few others during the summer, and our finale show in London late 2011.  Obviously a clean passport/record will be required for visas etc.   Interested parties should please submit the following to [email protected]: (1) one mp3 track featuring your vocals (2) short bio (3) photo (4) name, address, contact email & phone numbers (5) any links to extra music, info etc that you'd like us to consider.

Thanks

Steve

Testing 1-2-3. America, are you receiving?

Well after an enormous amount of planning and work by the folks behind the scenes, I am really pleased to announce that we will be taking The Last Supper tour to the USA and Canada next year.

2011
Thursday MARCH 10 New York, NY @ Santo's Party House
Friday MARCH 11 Montreal, QC @ Le National
Saturday MARCH 12 Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
Sunday MARCH 13 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
Wednesday MARCH 16 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
Thursday MARCH 17 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
Friday MARCH 18 Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
Tuesday March 22 Austin, TX @ Emo's
Friday March 25 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar

Me and the band are really looking forward to this.  Being able to the play the Crass songs in places where Crass was never able to go will be an honour, and a huge amount of fun as well.  Hope to see some of you there.

Cheers

Steve

We couldn't have chosen a better venue for the last gig of our set of European dates. One of the few gigs Crass did outside the UK was at the Vera in 1980, and Petr who runs the venue was there! The Vera is really special - they treat you like royalty.  We had a lovely meal of Dutch Chinese food (I know I go on about food a lot, but on tour, it's something you really look forward to - a nice hot meal really makes the day).  They have a lovely "band hotel" upstairs which is just gorgeous, and they served us a huge breakfast at 7am the next morning before we set off.

Now we just have to hope a few people turn up to the gig....

Bob is amused by the "ex-Crass plays Crass" banner at the Vera.

Allison tried to figure out how to get into the venue.

It's a very important part of the tour manager's job, that is.

Check out the hand-screened posters that Vera made for our gig.  Not many venues bother with that sort of stuff anymore, it's lovely to see.

Gizz can play guitar and sing at the same time!

Very skilled that boy.

Me getting shouty.

Bob at work, with Beki looking over his shoulder.

One Allison took from the lighting desk during "Big Man"

We didn't need to worry - look at all the great people who turned up!

The crowd at the Vera were just as lovely as the staff.

Bob, Beki & Gizz during the encore - Shaved Women.

Thanks again to everyone at Vera for looking after us, and everyone who came out to make the last night special.  We were really tired, but as soon as we hit the stage, you woke us up!  We couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off the European leg of The Last Supper.

Cheers

Steve

We didn't do such a good job of getting these posted while we were on tour, but here they are now.

Loading in at Hafenklang

Getting into Hamburg was quite a surprise for a few of us who have been there before but not for years.  Allison didn't recognise the whole area down by the docks where Hafenklang is located.  It's all been developed - a bit like Canary Wharf or something - lots of expensive flats, shops and offices.  In the middle of it Hafenklang still stands though - bloody amazing they managed to keep the venue on the same site despite everything.  I think they basically just built a whole new building around it.

And away we go

The stage at Hafenklang is only a few inches above the rest of the venue and I reckon you might call it "intimate".

Spike working hard

The crowd in Hamburg were one of the wildest on the tour.

This is why we did the tour. Those beautiful faces at the end of the night.

More smiling faces.

Pardon my finger there in the photo.

Thanks to everyone who rammed into the Hafenklang that night to have The Last Supper with us.  Also thanks to Daniel and everyone at the venue for treating us so well.  They served us an excellent home-cooked meal which is always appreciated by the band and crew.

More European posts coming soon.

Thanks. Steve.