John Cooper Clarke | Godfather of Punk Poetry

INCENDIARY POET AND PERFORMER JOHN COOPER CLARKE
 - A LEGEND OF SUBVERSIVE ART -
RETURNS TO SET STAGES ON FIRE
ON HIS AMERICAN TOUR STARTING ON APRIL 30th IN LAS VEGAS…
 

John Cooper Clarke is heading to the U.S. to embark on a national tour for the first time in 30 years, kicking off in Las Vegas on April 30th at the Hard Rock.

Today John Cooper Clarke is adored across Europe as an elder statesman of subversive art; the witty, political poet of the first UK Punk movement whose blazing creativity survived a bumpy ride through the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s that took down some of his contemporaries. Now he’s back to delight America with a new tour and the download release of the DVD, Live in London, which is available on iTunes. Recorded at a legendary concert, it features performance of his sardonic, hilarious and revealing poems. He will be performing both classic and new material at nine US shows and Sony Music has re-released the CD, John Cooper Clarke: The Very Best Of  to coincide with the tour.

You may be familiar with Cooper Clarke’s dry Mancunian wit performing, “Evidently Chickentown” at the end of the, “Stage 5” episode of The Sopranos, but across Europe and among Americans in the know, John Cooper Clark is the poetic political voice of several generations. Cooper Clarke is currently enjoying a great renaissance. His late ‘70s/early ‘80s recordings on Rabid Records and CBS remain influential, but more importantly his work remains relevant. In the past two years, Cooper Clarke has been part of two worldwide # 1 albums. The Arctic Monkeys covered his poem, “I Wanna Be Yours,” on their mega-selling album, A.M. and he appeared in Ill Manors, the directorial film debut of top UK rapper Plan B, aka Ben Drew. Their duet, “Pity The Plight” appears in the film and on the soundtrack.

It’s been an intriguing journey since his wry social observation fired off in staccato rhythm, first got Cooper Clarke called a “punk poet.” He worked and toured with leaders of the movement such as: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Richard Hell and Joy Division whose producer, fellow Mancunian Martin Hannett (also of U2 fame) was musical director of Cooper-Clarke’s band, the Invisible Girls. Cooper Clarke’s poetic credentials were cemented by tours with the great American Beat poets Allen Ginsburg and Gregory Corso, effectively hailing the younger Mancunian as their successor. His work has even been added to the national English literature curriculum in the UK alongside Maya Angelou, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Shakespeare.

The much-loved cultural icon is the subject of a BBC documentary, Evidently John Cooper Clarke, and he has been awarded an honorary Arts Doctorate degree from Salford University in his native Manchester for his contributions to literature. His book of poetry, Ten Years In An Open-Neck Shirt, is one of the world’s top-sellers.

John Cooper Clarke has defined incisive poetry and humor for generations of British comedians, poets and musicians. With the American dream circling the drain in this era of post financial collapse, now is the time for America to discover and appreciate John Cooper Clarke’s gallows humor and wicked, social insight.

Ten Years in An Open Necked Shirt by Clarke, John Cooper (2012) Paperback