'S e còmhlan-ciùil punc a th' annain, stèidhichte ann an Dùn Eideann ann an Alba. Tha an ceathrar againn a tha a' cluich anns a' chòmhlan an-drà sta air a bhith còmhla airson barrachd na ceithir bliadha a-nis ach thòisich an còmhlan ann an 1981. Tha sinn air iomadh clà r 's turas a dhèanamh bhon uair sin agus tha sinn fhathast a' rocadh gu cruaidh - cùm sùil a-mach air ar son san sgìre agad fhèin agus thig gar faicinn aig na cuirmean-ciùil. Sìth 's saorsa!We're an anarcho-punk band based in Edinburgh in Scotland. We're interested in making rocking punk music that will hopefully make people think and inspire action to make our world a better place. Three of us have been playing together in our current incarnation for over six years now but prior to that the band has been touring and making records continuously since 1981. We're always happy to play benefit fund-raising gigs for good causes and to contribute tracks for similar fund-raising compilation LPs or CDs. We're not interested in the mainstream music business and prefer to organise our releases and tours through the underground DIY punk network. In recent years we've begun to record and release material in the indigenous Celtic language of Scotland, Gaelic (NB This has NOTHING to do with "nationalism" - it's about respect for cultural diversity and people's basic linguistic human rights - if you're confused by what we mean here then we recommend a good book on the subject like "Language Death" by David Crystal or "Spoken Here" by Mark Abley). The band name however comes from the ancient Greek phrase "Hoi Polloi" meaning "the mob, the ordinary people, the rabble". This phrase is used in the UK today by upper class rich individuals when looking down their noses at the ordinary common people. Back in 1981 it also had a link to a type of hard punk music known as "Oi!" which was characterised by shouted vocals and sing-along crowd choruses of the type that we played at the time and still often favour today. While it later came to attract a certain amount of right-wing idiots, "Oi!" music at this time in Edinburgh just meant good music for ordinary kids that was also about bringing punks and sussed skinheads and other kids together in unity. You'll see a lot of rubbish written on the web about where the term "Oi!" came from but the truth is that it was a term coined by a music journalist from the now defunct music paper "Sounds" and is an exclamation commonly used in East London (where a lot of these bands originally came from) to attract attention as in "Oi you! Listen to me, I've got something to say!". The word originally comes from slang used by the large Jewish community in the East End - the same folk that gave Mosley's fascist blackshirts a bloody nose in the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 - quite appropriate really.Although we were originally influenced by the music of some of the early Oi bands it wasn't long before we started to listen to a lot of anarcho-punk stuff, particularly bands like Icons of Filth, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Rudimentary Peni and Antisect and they all had a big effect on us - so if you like our stuff and what we have to say and haven't heard these bands then do check them out, you won't regret it. Other bands that we should recommend here are some of those that ex-members of Oi Polloi have gone on to play in. If you like heavy metallic and political hardcore then you should check out In Decade's Decline who feature three guys who used to play in the band and have an excellent CD out. If you liked our "Fuaim Catha" LP then you should also check out the split LP that Divide and Conquer made with Robotnicka. Divide and Conquer feature the same guitarist and drummer from that album and have some similar stuff - just with better vocals from a singer who can actually sing!There's no Oi Polloi discography here as it's so long we can't remember it all now but you can find most stuff through good DIY distros. Germany's Campary Records do some of our stuff for example as do Poland's Nikt Nic Nie Wie. We're always open to offers of new DIY releases and particularly to invitations to come and play in your youth centre, squat, basement, kitchen etc - look forward to seeing you at the gigs. Peace and freedom!PS When we first started to put this wee site together we noticed that some folk had already put up no less than four other different Oi Polloi pages here. Whoever they were we're very grateful that they took the time and effort to put some of our music and lyrics etc up here but we do want to point out that this page is the only one that we've done ourselves and from which we can be contacted - so if you wrote to any of the other ones and didn't get a reply now you know why. If anyone wants to contact us by snail mail you can also do that by writing to us at:- Oi Polloi c/o Antifascist Action, PO Box 421, Edinburgh EH11 1JD. SCOTLAND
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