Credit: Cooking Vinyl

The insomniacs sword in Billy Braggs hand is not that of a cock rocker - NO! it represents the seemingly never ending enthusiasm and energy this man has for his music and his beliefs. The second part of his Anthology is released this week and Music Towers got a chance to catch up with the man that has been an inspiration to Bobs and Bonos of this world.

Bills mission to enlighten continues to be ernest, prolific and poetic. Anthology And so late one evening as the candle burnt down to its last, the man himself picked up his pen once more to answer our questions....

Who have you most enjoyed collaborating with and why?
My most enjoyable collaboration has been the opportunity to write music for the lyrics of Woody Guthrie. To work with the artist many consider to be the founder of the political pop tradition, to be given access to his archive and to choose the songs myself was a great privilege.
 
Given that most of your more political work is a grass roots level, do you ever feel the urge to do a higher profile campaigning of the Bono or Geldof type, and how much real value is there in that - (bearing in mind jarvis cockers new single 'running the world' - about the lack of real change to world poverty) – do you think people get the impression they are effecting change but in actuality not a lot really happens?
It is hard to measure what difference campaigning pop stars make ­ we have
no real power and cannot effect change. What we can do is change the perspective of our audience. That is what I aspire to and I'm sure Bono and Bob are the same, although they work in much grander projects. I respect artist who takes that challenge on, be it at grass-roots or at the UN.
 
Did your early experiences in the army and with red wedge spur you on to continue your political work or did you have a political conscience before then?
The politics I had before I joined the Army in 1981 came from punk ­ specifically from Rock Against Racism. However, my conscience was not so developed to stop me from joining up. The Army taught me about class politics all the officers were upper class and had very few shared experience with their working class charges. It took Margaret Thatcher to turn me into a fully fledged  socialist and the 1984 Miners Strike to turn my songwriting into a more ideological manifestation of my political beliefs.
 
Do you seek a balance between your musical work and campaign work or does it reach its own level that you're happy with?
I do what I can, given the time I have. When I’m busy with making records and touring, the politics has to fit around the job. When I’m off the road, I have more time to devote to campaigning. Some times I am asked to do very worthy events, but just can’t get involved due to over commitment on my part.
 
Given the optimism that we had on that night in 1997 when we all so elated the Labour government finally took power - how surprised are you at what has transpired since or was the writing on the wall?
No the writing was not on the wall and things were moving in the right direction until 11th September 2001. That day has distorted our politics and led Tony Blair down the path to his own destruction.