Draft:The Overall Brigade

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The Overall Brigade
The Overall Brigade in April 2024
The Overall Brigade in April 2024
Background information
OriginCologne + Berlin, Germany
Genres
Websiteoverallbrigade.com

The Overall Brigade is a German accoustic band that plays hobo, hillbilly, rebel workers and union songs in english and german language.

The Overall Brigade released the first Joe Hill Songs ever translated to German ("The Tramp" as "Landstreicher und Vagabunden", "The Preacher and the Slave" as "Freibier und Pastete") and other popular IWW and Hobo songs in German.[1][2]

Their style oscillates between folk punk, country, ska and blues.

The band describes their attitude as "punk with a human face" or "music with meaning played by red-blooded bindlestiffs".

As a hobo band The Overall Brigade travels by train with a very small equipment. They play on stage but also do busking on the streets and support workers on strike or political activists at demonstrations.[3]

History[edit]

Since 2024, the group has been playing as a trio with Berlin double bass player Howie What. The group began with tea chest bass player Fritz Habegger, followed by Chad Hawkins on double bass and, for a while, Marc Hieronimus on drums.

The Group was founded in 2011 out of a Cologne branch of the IWW by accordion player and singer Jessi Landlos and banjolele player and Singer Elmore Why.[4]

The Overall Brigade organised three shows in 2015 in Germany to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Joe Hill's tragic death — at the Technoseum in Mannheim, in Berlin and Potsdam — with Geigerzähler, Donald Dalton from Salt Lake City, ewo2 and others.[5][6][7][8]

Origin of the name[edit]

The Overall Brigade's name is borrowed from an Industrial Workers of the World agitation posse that traveled on trains around 1908 around Spokane, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, sometimes as far away as Chicago, promoting membership in the radical union and its goals.[9]

The historic Overall Brigade was led by James H. Walsh and Haywire Mac. This is also where Joe Hill got his start. They operated with some success among harvest, forest and dock workers.[10][11][12]

Haywire Mac became famous for the hobo anthem The Big Rock Candy Mountains. The Overall Brigade translated the lyrics into German as "In den Kandiszuckerbergen".

Discography[edit]

EPs[edit]

Albums[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kuhn, Gabriel (2023-01-05). "Joe Hill-låtar på tyska" [Joe Hill songs in German]. Syndikalisten. Archived from the original on 2023-08-23. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  2. ^ Bewernitz, Thorsten (2022-09-01). "Der erste Punk. Die Overall Brigade singt die Lieder Joe Hills erstmals deutschsprachig" (PDF). express — Zeitung für sozialistische Betriebs- und Gewerkschaftsarbeit. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  3. ^ Heinzmann, Sarah (2022-08-29). "Anarchie durch die Kehle". Radio RaBe Bern (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-09. [Anarchy through the throat]
  4. ^ "Politischer Folk-Punk aus Köln und Berlin: The Overall Brigade im Soundcheck". UZ Unsere Zeitung (in German). Communist Party of Austria. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  5. ^ Geigerzähler, Paul (2015-12-01). "Landstreicher und Vagabunden". Geigen zählen. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  6. ^ "Nächste Auftritte | Shows". 29 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Rockige Klänge im Technoseum". IG Metall Mannheim. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  8. ^ Köhler, Bernd (2015-12-01). ""I DREAMED I SAW JOE HILL LAST NIGHT"". ewo2.de. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  9. ^ Dolgoff, Sam. "Revolutionary Tendencies in American Labor – Part 2". archive.iww.org. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  10. ^ Brissenden, Paul F. (1919). The IWW: A Study of American Syndicalism (PDF). Russell & Russell. pp. 232–233.
  11. ^ Holbrook, Stewart (1992). The Wobblies Come — Wildmen, wobblies and whistle punks. Oregon State University Press. pp. 156–166. ISBN 9780870713835.
  12. ^ Johnson, Olive M. (1956). "Socialist Labor Party: 1906-1930. A 40th anniversary sketch of its early history". slp.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2024-05-09.

External links[edit]

Category:Industrial Workers of the World culture Category:German folk music groups Category:American folk music Category:Folk punk groups Category:German radicals Category:German-American culture