The million dollar question is, is this Crass? It’s something nobody seems to want to answer, and of course, there’s no good answer anyway. As a lad I wasted my college tuition on a philosophy major, and so, I recognize the problem to be outlined in the thought experiment Ship of Theseus. The fact is, there’s no set in stone point at which you can say, ‘No, that’s no longer Crass.’ If the band is calling itself Crass, but the rest of the former bandmates see it as un-Crass, then it’s anybodies guess. We could perhaps get into a big intellectual discussion about who’s right is it to carry on the Crass flag, and ought the motives of the current lineup in question be taken into account. It might even be a fun thing to think about. Whatever.
In my mind, the real question is, is the maybe Crass tour worth seeing? Tickets are $20, which isn’t quite as bad as they could be, I suppose, but that does seem like a lot of money, especially considering I didn’t see anything about the proceeds going to a noble cause. Now THAT is very un-Crass like.
I will not go to this. As you said, the whole thing seems very “un-Crasslike.” I’m pretty sure Steve Ignorant is the only member who did much musically after Crass broke up (doing some stuff with Conflict and his own band Schwarzenegger), and I doubt the other members would be interested in touring (they didn’t even participate in the one-off show in London a couple years ago). I guess the Crass name and ethos is kind of bigger than any one person involved in the band — Crass is its own beast, so to speak. I don’t want to say this tour is about making money, but it’s hard to not think about it in those terms. Still a Crass tour will make a lot of people happy.
“No one wants to answer”? I think this question has been answered many times over by Steve himself, and by Penny Rimbaud as well. And by the people at Southern. There is no ambiguity or confusion on the part of anyone, it seems, apart from greedy promoters or lazy folk who can’t be bothered. As Ryan says, the only ex-Crass members active musically over the last 10 years have been Ignorant, Rimbaud and Libertine. The last two aren’t interested in playing Crass songs anymore but have given Steve their blessing, as did the rest of the band, before he did the Feeding of the Five Thousand gigs in 2007. Why can’t the bloke who started the band celebrate their work one final time?
http://steveignorant.co.uk/2010/12/about-a-new-show-in-atlanta-singers-and-not-being-crass/
http://steveignorant.co.uk/the-last-supper-tour-dates/
http://www.facebook.com/crass
Pingback: Quick Kix 3/7/2011 | Ve