Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba comes to Orlando to read from his new memoir

For a time in the halcyon 1990s, Chumbawamba founding member and guitarist Boff Whalley was both an anarcho-punk firebrand and a worldwide pop star … and lived to tell the tale. That tale, and a lifetime of others, are in the mix of Whalley’s new memoir But: Life Isn’t Like That, Is It?

Whalley is currently living three more improbabilities: No. 1: He’s on a book tour with a “suitcase of books and an old guitar.” No. 2, he’s traveling America at a very tenuous time for our country; and No. 3, he’ll be making his sole Florida stop in Orlando at Park Ave CDs Sunday. Whalley promises to read from his book — while offering “jokes to fill the silences” — play a song or two from Chumbawamba, answer questions and sign books. It’s a free event from this agit-punk icon and it’s perfect way to pry yourself away from your phone and maybe even give you a tiny bit of hope before another week begins.

We’re digressing, sorry. But is perfect fodder for a public reading: not a traditionally linear memoir, but a collection of autobiographical fragments and stories “punctuated by disruption, derailment and digression.” And Whalley has certainly lived one hell of a life.

He co-founded radical U.K. punk collective Chumbawamba in 1982, a band who weren’t afraid to be loud and upfront about class politics, worker solidarity, anarchist principles and anti-fascism — but welded to hummable harmonies and a catchy tune or two. In 1997 they rocketed to accidental international fame on the back of a working-class elegy with a beat, “Tubthumping.” (Y’know, “I get knocked down / but I get up again / You’re never going to keep me down.”) Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people, honestly.

When the Chumbawamba ride ended, Whalley branched out into diverse new avenues: writing, theater and founding the Commoners Choir, an ensemble that “combines political activism with singing.” Whalley as a creative force has always foregrounded activism and political critique in his work, but he never bores or harangues because he realizes “it’s entertainment, first and foremost.”

In lieu of the usual interview, we turned to Orlando raconteur, musician and bingo-master Nadeem Khan to pepper Whalley with oblique questions on our behalf. After all, Khan — himself an old-line U.K. punk in his misspent youth and a longtime friend of Whalley — appears in the pages of this book. “There’s a thread that’s connected us that can’t be unravelled,” Khan tells Orlando Weekly.

When in the book’s writing process does the title come?

Right at the very end. Like making an album. The book was called “Erm” for a while.

Do you think you’ll ever write a fiction book?

Yes, certainly. I’ve written various plays and musicals, so I should have a go at writing a novel. If you have any ideas for what it could be about, let me know.

Can anything really be translated from one language to another without the meaning being changed?

Well, it’s down to the translator, isn’t it? I’ve read and watched a lot of plays by Berthold Brecht, all originally in German but translated in different ways by both the translators and the directors and actors. Once it’s down on paper, then it’s up for grabs by people to do what they want, isn’t it?

Point in case: Pat Boone’s version of “Tutti Frutti” versus Little Richard’s. Also I love how rap and hip-hop have done versions of old 1960s and ’70s stuff and messed with it, transformed it and ripped it apart and put it back together again.

Try to explain poetry to me.

Poetry is just playing with words to take them somewhere else. Giving them rhythm and rhyme. This by Chuck Berry is poetry: “It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well / You could see that Pierre / Did truly love the mademoiselle / And now the young monsieur / And madame have rung the chapel bell. / ‘C’est la vie,’ say the old folks, / It goes to show you never can tell …”

After having lit a fire under someone’s arse do you walk away, or do you come back with more kindling?

If it’s someone who is selling electric cars and throwing Nazi salutes, then you keep coming back with kindling until the blaze really gets going.

Sunday’s event may be free but Park Ave CDs recommends you RSVP in advance through their website to guarantee your spot. And if we might offer similar preparatory advice, blast Chumbawamba’s “The Day the Nazi Died” to pregame more than a few times on Saturday. (And “Tubthumping” on Friday night, natch.)

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2025.