Founded in Warwick in 1968, the Edgar Broughton Band came to embody a distinct facet of the British counterculture. Their intense songs often dealt in socio-political issues, earning them a reputation as a confrontational bunch with a happy habit of extending the middle finger to authority.
Led by singer/guitarist Rob ‘Edgar’ Broughton, with brother Steve on drums and bassist Arthur Grant, their music was just as uncompromising. Psychedelia, heavy rock, beardy prog and experimental folk were locked in an uneasy embrace, usually crowned by the kind of low vocal rasp that saw Broughton routinely compared to Captain Beefheart.
Signed to Harvest, the progressive arm of EMI, they quickly became known as a ‘people’s band’, playing free festivals and a steady stream of benefit gigs for any number of worthy causes. Arrests, fines and court appearances were not uncommon during the Edgar Broughton Band’s 70s heyday, though nothing appeared to dissuade them from their objectives. Their fanbase only became more committed, while the anthemic Out Demons Out (inspired by The Fugs’ mock exorcism of the Pentagon) sought to unite the disaffected in a way that was both cathartic and convivial.
They issued a string of ambitious studio albums along the way, from 1969’s deeply weird Wasa Wasa to the strings-enhanced sophistication of 1971’s Edgar Broughton Band and on through the more expansive terrain of Oora (1973) and Bandages (1976). The band finally bowed out in 1982 with Superchip, a mostly synth-led concept piece about sinister governmental control.
Broughton spent much of his subsequent time as a youth and community worker in south London, reviving the EBB only occasionally for live gigs. They reformed in earnest in 2006, with Broughton’s son Luke as an extra player, prompting a steady run of shows that lasted another four years.
