Website Official site | Years active 1981–present | |
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Labels Campary Records, Ruptured Ambitions, Words of Warning, Oi! Records, Green Vomit Associated acts AberfeldyDisorderThe ExploitedKansalaistottelemattomuusKling KlangBus Station LooniesGin GoblinsNewtown GruntsDivide & ConquerMoniackIn Decades DeclineRocka Ragnarok Past members Ade (drummer)Matt Finch (guitar)Yaga (guitar)Riley Briggs (guitar)Murray Briggs (drums)Chris Willsher (drums)Goz (bass)Calum Mackenzie (bass)Brian Tipaothers Record label Ruptured Ambitions Records Members Deek Allen, Upgrade, Murray Briggs, Oigridh Albums Fuaim Catha, Total Anarchoi, Unite and Win, Ar Cànan - Ar Ceòl - Ar‑a‑mach, Fight Back! Profiles | ||
Oi polloi skinhead
Oi Polloi are a punk rock band from Scotland that formed around 1981. Starting as an Oi! band, they are now generally more associated with the anarcho-punk genre. The band has become notable for their contributions to the Scottish Gaelic punk subgenre. The name probably comes from the Greek expression "Οι πολλοί" and it is a pun on the phrase hoi polloi meaning "the masses" or "the common people".
Contents
The band has gone through about 50 members since their formation, and their only permanent member has been vocalist Deek Allen, who has also been involved in Gaelic-language television. The band has included punks and skinheads. The members have been supporters of Anti-Fascist Action and Earth First!, and they use the motto "No Compromise in Defence of Our Earth," which is an adaptation of Earth First!'s motto. They support direct action in defense of the environment, hunt sabotage, as well as resistance against racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism and imperialism.
Oi polloi let the boots do the talking
Career
After gigs in the Edinburgh area and the recording of the band's self-recorded first cassette demo, Last of the Mohicans, drummer Stu "Doccy" Dunn left to become a karate instructor. A second studio demo, Green Anarchoi and their first vinyl EP, Resist the Atomic Menace, followed.
Oi Polloi started singing in Scottish Gaelic in 1996, recording the Carson? EP, (2003), then recording and releasing the full-length LP Ar Ceòl Ar Cànan Ar-A-Mach in 2006. The band members also use Scottish Gaelic in day-to-day communications.
In 2013, they collaborated with CLÀR, a Scottish Gaelic publisher, to launch Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach, a Gaelic science fiction novel by Tim Armstrong, the singer of Mill a h-Uile Rud, at events at Elvis Shakespeare on Leith Walk and on The Cruz Boat at the shore in Leith.
12" LPs
7" EPs
DVD
Oi Polloi: The Movie
Songs
Bash the FashGuilty · 1993
Pigs for SlaughterUnite and Win · 1987
Anarcho-PieIn Defence of Our Earth · 1990