Former Chumbawumba singer Dunstan Bruce shocked passers-by as he murdered the Dolly Parton classic Jolene while busking by the Brighton war memorial last week.
Dunstan was raising money and awareness for his latest project to make a film chronicling the success of the anarchist band and its unexpected rise to fame during the Britpop years.
As well as the country standard, he also performed the band’s biggest hit, Tubthumping, after which his film I Get Knocked Down is named, during Saturday’s ten minute gig.
Here he is! 11am this morning – despite having lost his voice! Please help us get our target quickly – otherwise he might do it again ;)Go here to pledge: http://kck.st/1I5PdXE
Posted by I Get Knocked Down on Saturday, July 18, 2015
This is a heartfelt apology and a genuine plea from Dunstanhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dunstanbruce/i-get-knocked-down-the-untold-story-of-chumbawamba
Posted by I Get Knocked Down on Monday, July 20, 2015
Dunstan, who moved to Brighton 12 years ago, joked: “It was absolutely terrible. I put up a post on Facebook afterwards apologising.”
But he’s hoping it will help spread the word about the film, which he has been planning since the band (which he left in 2005) disbanded in 2012.
He said: “The initial idea of the film was about what we can achieve as a political band going into the mainstream. We suddenly found ourselves in the midst of all this madness, and having a platform.
“I think we managed to cause quite a bit of a stir. We used a lot of the money for good causes and we got a lot of press for various things. We did a lot in the short time we were in the spotlight.
“The film’s also about how different people reacted differently, and that sort of fame doesn’t last too long.”
Speaking about the band’s most famous political moment, when they poured water over John Prescott at the 1998 Brit Awards, Dunstan says: “It wasn’t as random as it sounds. It was about a Liverpool dockers dispute, and we had a docker there at the Brits.
“As the night wore on, we thought we should do something about that. At the time we got a lot of stick for it because people were still in the New Labour honeymoon.”
He has already raised more than £34,000 of his £40,000 goal, mostly from about 1,000 supporters, but also £5,000 from one fan who decided to donate after bumping into Dunstan’s former bandmates Jude and Nail in a supermarket in Wakefield.
He said: “The response has been amazing. Chumbawumba fans aren’t rich, but they’re passionate. Once we raise the money, we start filming, which involves doing interviews with various band members, and going to America which is where we had our main success.
“Then hopefully we’ll be able to afford to get an editor. We will have to raise money more money to pay for archive footage but this is a very good start indeed.”
To donate towards the project, click on the I Get Knocked Down Kickstarter page here, and follow its progress on the Facebook page here.
