The cover of the album Up The Bracket has lines of riot police,
and 'Time for Heroes' talks about 'the stylish kids in the riot' and 'truncheons and shields'.
Where did those ideas come from?
I wrote 'Time for Heroes' after May Day in 2001.
At the time it was one of the most exciting days of my life.
Everyone said, 'Oh, it was rubbish, we got penned in at Oxford Circus,' but we didn't.
Quite a lot of people got penned in, but some of us made a break for it, and that was a great feeling.
It was quite a peaceful protest up until the police attacked.
But I like the fact that when the police kicked off, and it wasn't justified,
a lot of people stood their ground. And it felt quite good to be fighting for a cause.
I felt like there were so many things wrong, and I didn't know where to channel it,
and for that moment it felt like I was with a lot of people who believed in the same thing,
and we were all channelling it together.
If there had been more, we'd have gone to parliament - that was the dream.
Socialist Review,April 2004
The cover of the album Up The Bracket has lines of riot police, and 'Time for Heroes' talks about 'the stylish kids in the riot' and 'truncheons and shields'. Where did those ideas come from?
I wrote 'Time for Heroes' after May Day in 2001. At the time it was one of the most exciting days of my life. Everyone said, 'Oh, it was rubbish, we got penned in at Oxford Circus,' but we didn't. Quite a lot of people got penned in, but some of us made a break for it, and that was a great feeling. It was quite a peaceful protest up until the police attacked. But I like the fact that when the police kicked off, and it wasn't justified, a lot of people stood their ground. And it felt quite good to be fighting for a cause. I felt like there were so many things wrong, and I didn't know where to channel it, and for that moment it felt like I was with a lot of people who believed in the same thing, and we were all channelling it together. If there had been more, we'd have gone to parliament - that was the dream.