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Somewhere between the musical extravaganzas that are the Liverpool Summer Pops, Liverpool Music Week and Matthew Street Festival is the little known but important Working Class Music Festival.

Now approaching its second year, it will feature some of the best radical singer/songwriters currently playing their trade at the moment and this year is timed to coincide with the T.U.C conference taking place in Liverpool.

This year will see headliners Chumbawamba come to Liverpool for the second time inside nine months after their excellent gig at the Baby Blue in March. Amongst other artist supporting them over the four days will be Liverpool’s own Amsterdam, Roy Bailey, the superb Claire Mooney and chief organiser/ musician Alun Parry.

I managed to catch up with Alun to ask him about the festival and the one thing that comes across above all else is how sincere and honest he is towards the music that he plays and how he wants to see an end to the injustice that pervades today’s society.

He explains over a coffee that good radical music is important to tell the ordinary working class man’s story that can be left out with all the other music that goes on in Liverpool. It is hard not to disagree with him, for without this music, a section of society’s voice would not be heard!

With a certain glint of irony in his eye, he goes onto say about Chumbawamba that he tried desperately to get them on the bill last year but they had already signed up for the Shipley Folk Festival, thankfully they will be playing this year!

Alun explains that there are only two political festivals currently going, the other one takes place in Bradford but goes on only every two years. Surely something that Liverpool can put right by carrying this new tradition on. It certainly deserves to be a success, as much for the hard work that Alun has put in organising it but also to show the diversity of music that this city can produce.

One of the non-musical highlights will be the appearance of Tony Benn at the Adelphi theatre, which is sure to draw a huge crowd.

The four day festival kicks off on Sunday the 13th September and all the gigs will take place at the Pickett in Liverpool. Before then you can catch organiser Alun Parry at the Casa on August 28th as he releases his new album We Can Make The World Stop.

Ian D. Hall