Penny Rimbaud

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Penny Rimbaud circa 1977

Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943, Northwood, Middlesex, England), better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art group EXIT and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.

Rimbaud (so named as a tribute to poet Arthur Rimbaud, the 'Penny' being a pun on the phrase "arfer (half a) penny", referring to the long discontinued British Ha'penny coin) set up the anarchist/pacifist Dial House community in 1967 with Gee Vaucher, and, together with his friend Phil Russell (aka Wally Hope), helped to instigate the free festival movement at Windsor and later Stonehenge during the early 1970s. As documented in Rimbaud's essay Last of the Hippies [link] and his autobiography Shibboleth, Russell was arrested and incarcerated in a mental institution after having been found in possession of a small amount of LSD. He was later released, but appeared to have been seriously mentally damaged by his experiences, especially the side effects of prescription drugs that he had been administered, and subsequently died. The official verdict is that Russell committed suicide, although Rimbaud claims that he uncovered strong evidence that he was murdered. Rimbaud has claimed that it was his anger over unanswered questions surrounding his friend's death that fueled and inspired him to form Crass.

Penny Rimbaud (seated) and Gee Vaucher, 2002

Although Crass disbanded in 1984, Rimbaud continued to write and perform both as a solo artist and as a part of the Crass Collective alongside other ex members of the band such as Eve Libertine, Gee Vaucher and Steve Ignorant, as well as other artists and musicians. His works include the originally self-published Reality Asylum [link], a vitriolic attack on the myths behind Christianity which has appeared as a 2 minute track on Crass' 1978 debut album The Feeding of the 5000 (although initially the track was removed due to workers at the Irish pressing plant where the record was manufactured threatening to strike due to its allegedly 'blasphemous' content), as a longer single [link] and as a 45 minute spoken word monologue; Rocky Eyed, an extended poem attacking then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her government following the 1982 Falklands War which was recorded as the Crass album Yes Sir, I Will [link]; The Death of Imagination (a 'musical drama in 4 parts'); The Diamond Signature (published by AK Press) and Oh America, a response to the events of September 11 2001 and America's subsequent War on Terror which includes the line Give us justice which is not the searing spite of revenge, peace which is not the product of war nor dependent upon it [link].

Since 2003 he has worked as part of Crass Agenda (latterly Last Amendment), performing live and releasing material in CD format including Savage Utopia, a collaboration with Coldcut's Matt Black and other jazz musicians, and How?, a reworking of Allen Ginsberg's beat poem Howl.

During 2005 he has completed a philosophical work "This Crippled Flesh" which is expected to be a rumination on Politics, Punk and pigs. He is currently (as of 2005) working on a "Jazz Requiem" with saxophonist Ed Jones.

References and bibliography

A Series Of Shock Slogans And Mindless Token Tantrums (Exitstencil Press, 1982) (originally issued as a pamphlet with the LP Christ The Album, much of the text is now published online at [link])
Shibboleth- My Revolting Life (Penny Rimbaud, 1999, AK Press)
The Diamond Signature (Penny Rimbaud, 1999, AK Press)
An extensive interview with Rimbaud appears in issue 29 of The Idler magazine

Discography

(See also full [Crass discography]. Rimbaud plays on all albums and singles)

Christ's Reality Asylum (Crass records, 1992, spoken word cassette)
The Death of Imagination (Red Herring Records)
Savage Utopia (Babel Label, 2004, performed by Crass Agenda)
How? (Babel Label, 2004, Rimbauds interpretation of Ginsberg's Howl)
In the Beginning Was the WORD - Live DVD recorded at the Progress Bar, Tufnell Park, London, 18th November 2004, performed by Crass Agenda (Gallery Productions, 2006)

External links

Crass>

Crass

Period of activity: Formed 1977, disbanded 1984
Band members: Penny Rimbaud (drums), Gee Vaucher (artwork), Steve Ignorant (voice), N.A.Palmer (Guitar), Phil Free (Guitar), Pete Wright (Bass), Eve Libertine (Voice), Joy De Vivre (Voice), Mick Duffield (films), John Loder (engineer)
Major album releases: The Feeding of the 5000, Stations of the Crass, Penis Envy, Christ – The Album, Yes Sir, I Will, Acts of Love, Best Before 1984
See also: Crass Records, EXIT, Crass Agenda, Last Amendment, Dial House, Anarcho-punk

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