John Baine (born 21 October 1957), better known by his stage name Attila the Stockbroker, is an English punk poet, multi instrumentalist musician and songwriter. He performs solo and as the leader of the band Barnstormer 1649, who combine early music and punk. He has performed over 4000 concerts, published ten books of poems, an autobiography (which itself has 38 poems in it) and in 2021 his Collected Works spanning 40 years. He has released over forty recordings (albums and singles).

Early life

Baine grew up in Southwick, West Sussex, 5 miles west of Brighton, the port town of Shoreham Harbour. His maternal family roots there go back at least 200 years. Inspired by his father, an amateur poet who died when Baine was ten, he started writing poems and songs at primary school, did his eleven-plus a year early and won a West Sussex County Council scholarship to Christ's Hospital. In his autobiography he describes how much he hated it, going there just after his father died.

Baine attended the University of Kent, Darwin College, in Canterbury between 1975 and 1978 graduating with a 2:2 degree in French and Politics. Baine took the performing name Attila the Stockbroker during a short stint as a City stockbroker's clerk between 1980 and 1981, because a colleague accused him of having the eating habits of Attila the Hun.

Career

Having started performing in the late 1970s after being inspired by the spirit and 'do it yourself' ethos of the punk subculture, particularly The Clash's overtly socialist stance, Baine was briefly bass player in punk rock bands English Disease and Brighton Riot Squad,

In the 1980s, he was often the support act for punk bands, including The Jam, The Alarm, Newtown Neurotics, New Model Army, and performed extensively with fellow punk-inspired ranting poets, Swift Nick (Nick Swift), Kool Knotes (Richard Edwards), Porky the Poet (Phill Jupitus) and Seething Wells (Steven Wells). Manic Street Preachers supported him at a performance at Swansea University. In the 1990s, alongside many other things, he toured with John Otway as Headbutts and Halibuts,

In 2017, a short documentary, 35 Years A Punk Poet, about Attila's performance career, was produced by film maker Farouq Suleiman.

In April 2021, delayed from 2020 by the pandemic, Cherry Red Books released Heart on My Sleeve (Collected Works 1980–2020), an anthology of his life's work. June 2021 saw the release of a Dub poetry EP Dub Ranting, a collaboration with reggae producers What's Left Dub, Kingsley Salmon and Rebel Control. His latest album 40 Years in Rhyme, a dub poetry collection with the same collaborators, was released by Zorch Productions in June 2022.

His football poetry anthology, A Lifetime of Football Writing (Poems, Songs & Stories), was published in a joint project with fans of Tampere United in Finland: it was launched at a match there in July 2025.

His latest book Fiery Words For Hellish Times was published by Flapjack in March 2026.

Football support

Baine is a supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. and, for about 16 years, was heavily involved in the successful battle to save the club and secure a new stadium, after the Goldstone Ground was sold to property developers in 1997. The Seagulls finally moved to their new stadium at Falmer in August 2011. He has been the team's poet in residence since 2000, and was the stadium announcer and DJ for 14 years, first at Gillingham, where the club spent two seasons playing 'home' games, and then at the club's temporary home at Withdean Stadium. As the main member of the one-off band, Seagulls Ska, he had a single reach No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart in 2005, as part of the campaign for the new stadium. "Tom Hark (We Want Falmer)".

On 17 August 2016, just before the start of Brighton's debut in the Premier League, he appeared in a Guardian documentary, From Nowhere to the Premier League, about the fans' role in the club's survival and resurgence. On 12 August his poem on that theme, From Hereford To Here, was broadcast by BT Sport before the coverage of their first game against Manchester City. In 1989, he appeared on the Kickback segment of The Channel Four Daily, reflecting on Liverpool's 9–0 win over Crystal Palace.

Collections

The University of Kent holds an archive of material relating to Baine's career which forms part of the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive. The collection includes press coverage, publicity material, fanzines and zines, and his manifesto for election as the University of Kent's Student President.

  • 1984 Sawdust and Empire LP (Anagram)
  • 1984 Radio Rap! EP (Cherry Red)
  • 1984 Livingstone Rap! EP (Cherry Red Ken)
  • 1987 Libyan Students from Hell! LP (Plastic Head)
  • 1988 Scornflakes LP/cassette (Probe Plus)
  • 1990 (Canada) Live at the Rivoli LP/cassette (Festival)
  • 1991 Donkey's Years CD/LP/cassette (Musidisc)
  • 1991 Cheryl – a Rock Opera (Strikeback) – with John Otway
  • 1992 (Germany) This Is Free Europe CD/LP (Terz)
  • 1993 (Australia) 668-Neighbour of the Beast CD/cassette (Larrikin)
  • 1993 (Germany) Live auf St.Pauli CD (Terz)
  • 1993 Attila the Stockbroker's Greatest Hits cassette (Roundhead)
  • 1999 Poems Ancient & Modern CD (Roundhead/Mad Butcher)
  • 1999 The Pen & The Sword CD (Roundhead/Mad Butcher)
  • 2003 Live in Belfast (Roundhead)
  • 2005 Tom Hark (We Want Falmer) EP – with Seagulls Ska (Skint)
  • 2007 Live in Norway (Crispin Glover)
  • 2008 Spirit of the Age (Roundhead)
  • 2010 Disestablished 1980 (Mad Butcher)
  • 2012 "The Long Goodbye"/"Never Too Late" (Roundhead)
  • 2015 Live at the Greys (Mad Butcher)
  • 2020 Heart on My Sleeve, A Fortieth Anniversary Song Compilation – Attila The Stockbroker and Barnstormer (Hiljaiset Levyt)
  • 2021 Dub Ranting (Digital release via Bandcamp and 12 inch EP on Zorch Records))
  • 2022 40 Years in Rhyme (Zorch Productions)

Barnstormer

  • 1995 Barnstormer cassette (Roundhead Records)
  • 1995 (Germany) Sarajevo EP (Mad Butcher)
  • 1996 The Siege of Shoreham CD/cass (Roundhead Records)
  • 1998 Live in Hamburg cassette (Roundhead Records)
  • 1999 (Germany) The Siege of Shoreham CD (Puffotter Platten) and LP (East Side Records)
  • 2000 Just One Life (Roundhead Records)
  • 2004 Zero Tolerance (Roundhead Records)
  • 2004 Baghdad Ska – split single with Bomb Factory (Repeat Records)
  • 2012 Bankers & Looters CD (Mad Butcher) LP (Hupseeln Records)

Barnstormer 1649

  • 2018 Restoration Tragedy double LP and CD (Roundhead Records)

References

  • 35 Years A Punk Poet (Documentary by Farouq Suleiman)
  • Attila the Stockbroker Archive at University of Kent