Danbert Nobacon

Nigel Hunter[1] (born 16 January 1962), known as Danbert Nobacon, is an English musician, the former vocalist and occasional keyboard player in the Leeds based anarchist band Chumbawamba.

Danbert Nobacon
Nobacon at Birmingham University in 1986
Background information
Birth nameNigel Hunter
Born (1962-01-16) 16 January 1962
Burnley, England
Occupation(s)musician
Associated actsChumbawamba

Career

Nobacon has long aired his views through his music, producing cassettes in the early 1980s that featured songs exploring his views on anarchism, ecology and personal relationships. Despite being a member of Chumbawamba, the first vinyl release on their own Sky and Trees label was Nobacon's acoustic solo album, a re-recording of his scatological 'eco-concept' work The Unfairy Tale in 1985.

He released two more solo singles, "Bigger Than Jesus" in 1987, an exploration of male sexuality that featured a close up photograph of his own penis as cover artwork (the single was sold in a brown paper bag in the shops that stocked it), and "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" in 1989, a comment on the Northern Irish Troubles.

He is renowned for his extrovert behaviour in public, as recounted in fellow band member Boff Whalley's autobiography Footnote*, and was notorious for stripping naked at early solo performances. In later years he has described himself as transvestite, and has often worn a nun's habit during live performances. He gained notoriety and a great deal of press coverage by tipping an ice bucket over UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the 1998 BRIT Awards.[1]

Outside Chumbawamba

In July 2005 Nobacon played as part of a series of protest gigs against the G8 Summit that were arranged as an alternative to the official Live 8 concerts. In August 2007 he released an album, The Library Book of the World, on Chicago's Bloodshot Records label (with fellow punk-era stalwart Jon Langford's group The Pine Valley Cosmonauts as his backing band). After giving up on a book about current events, it was announced that Exterminating Angel Press would be releasing an "anarchist fairy tale" written by Nobacon and illustrated by filmmaker Alex Cox called Three Dead Princes. The release of Three Dead Princes coincided with the release of a new record entitled Woebegone in October 2010, during a U.S. tour.[2]

In February 2011 he was living in Twisp, Washington, in the United States[3] with his family and is pursuing a solo career.

Solo discography
See also: Chumbawamba discography
  • The Unfairy Tale/The War Inside Our Heads (Sky and Trees, 1984, cassette only release)
  • The Unfairy Tale (Sky and Trees, 1985, vinyl release reworked version of material on above cassette)
  • "Bigger Than Jesus" (Single, Mind Matter Records, 1987)
  • "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" (Single, Rugger Bugger Records, 1989)
  • The Unfairy Tale (GAP, 1997, CD re-issue of 1985 Sky and Trees album, with addition of songs from the other two singles)
  • The Library Book of the World (Bloodshot, 2007, with The Pine Valley Cosmonauts)
  • Woebegone (Verbal Burlesque Records, 2010, with The Bad Things)
  • Stardust to Darwinstuff (Verbal Burlesque Records, 2017, with The Axis of Dissent)
  • Woebegoner (Verbal Burlesque Records, 2018, featuring Miranda Zickler, with The Bad Things)
  • Mesmerica - Expect A Circus (double album Verbal Burlesque Records, 2020, with Kira Wood Cramer and The Axis of Dissent)

References
  1. Daily Telegraph, 11 February 1998, "The anarchist in a mini-skirt who soaked Prescott"
  2. "Danbert Nobacon 10/17/10". Archived from the original on December 27, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  3. "MVCS offers a night of gambling, acts of dare". Methow Valley News. 9 February 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
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