Their second albumUp The Workers! or, Capitalism is Good For Corporations That's Why You've Been Told Socialism is Bad All Your Life[11] was described by the Daily Mirror as "Power-packed garage rock 'n' soul underlined by a defiantly political edge."[6] The title track featured Ivan Chandler (The Echoes) on piano.[11] The album was rated 7/10 byDrowned in Sound who praised it as "a lot of fun, undeniably stirring. Thee Faction write showstoppers" but also criticised the music as "entertaining in a very conventional way".[12]
The band's third albumSinging Down The Government, or, The War of Position and How We're Winning It,[13] was released in 2012, and introduced all-female horn section Brass Kapital.[14] The album was promoted by headlining appearances at the Marxism Festival[15] andTolpuddle Martyrs festival and included contributions byRichard Archer fromHard-Fi and rapper Clencha.[13][16] Free download-onlysingles for tracks 'Soapbox'[17] and 'Sausage Machine'[18] were accompanied by promotional videos.[19]Q Magazine praised the album as "a critique of societal hegemony on the back of a grimy blues'n’b twang, rife with the contagious energy of people who know they're right",[20] and it was rated 7/10 byMick Farren inClassic Rock Blues magazine.[21]
Thee Faction released fourth albumGood Politics: Your Role As An Active Citizen Within Civil Society[20][22] in 2013, preceded by single 'Better Than Wages',[23] remixed from the album byAndy Lewis. The album featured (on one track each) guest vocals from writerFrancis Wheen[24] and saxophone fromCrayola Lectern, and was rated 8/10 in Classic Rock[25] and 4/5 in The Independent[26] andMojo[27] who called it "wildly galvanising, blisteringly angry, insanely entertaining blue-collar rock'n'roll".
Thee Faction released fifth albumReading Writing Revolution: The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall in June 2015,[28] preceded by a track on double-CD fundraising albumOrgreave Justice[29][30] and free download single "Choose Your Enemy", released on 29 March with accompanying video.[31][32] A second free download single "(You've Got The) Numbers (Why Don't You Use It)" accompanied the release. The album received 5/5 in theMorning Star,[33] 9/10 at MaximumVolumeMusic,[34] and a positive review inSocialist Standard,[35] while R*E*P*E*A*T zine called it "highly enjoyable, dangerously tuneful, subversively catchy and dialectically danceable, as well as being (as the title implies) properly educational - thought provoking and agitational."[36] The band announced a number of summer festival dates, includingGlastonbury,[37] and a return to Tolpuddle[38] and the Matchwomens Festival.[39]
Thee Faction guitarist Babyface, under cadre name "Chris Fox", won theBeard Liberation Front's 'St David's Day Beard of Wales' title in 2015, 2017 and 2018.[40][41] He was runner-up in 2016.[42]
Thee Faction keyboard player and vocalist Kassandra Krossing, akaCassie Fox, started theLoud Women organisation and festival in 2015. She also now plays bass in "mummycore" bandI, Doris, along with Thee Faction trombonist Nineteen Nineteen.[43]
Thee Faction's most recent gig to date was a 2017 benefit show for the anti-Haringey Development Vehicle campaign. The band has not officially confirmed a hiatus, although a slogan on one of their web-pages, "R&Bsui generis",[44] may indicate that, like other left-wing groups, they have gone into theLabour Party.
Songs to Remind the Class of the Glorious Victory to Come and the Work That Must Be Done to Get There CDEP (Soviet Beret, 2013) [ft. Attila The Stockbroker andJudy Dyble]
