"It's in a Cabaret Voltaire video for a track called Sensoria, made in 1984.It seems to me just a part of the process of turning Sheffield into just another place like anywhere else. But there's not much you can do about it when there's a big corporate company in charge."

Kirk's not content with passivity when it comes to social injustice. So, when Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon McClure asked him to perform at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival this weekend at Magna in Rotherham, Kirk happily obliged.

The festival was instigated by McClure and organised in collaboration with Love Music Hate Racism and the trade union Unite. Its line-up includes local bands The Pirouettes, The Regulars, Fugitives Online, The Delicateers, The Venkman Heist, Weekend at Bukowskis, Karen Mulcahey, Kaiser Chiefs, The Courteeners, Reverend and the Makers and Alvarez Kings.

"I can't stand racism and it needs to have attention drawn to it," says Kirk, "That's how it started in Nazi Germany. I went on a march in Rotherham in the 70s against the National Front – they were the same as the British National Party (BNP)."

Kirk's set for Saturday has yet to be kicked into shape. "I'm not sure what they want me to play, or for how long they want me to play it. The set might well be of dub /reggae-influenced material. I'll probably stick out like a sore thumb looking at the other acts like Kaiser Chiefs, who play rockier stuff," he laughs.

Kirk has been producing solo work for more than two decades, increasing his output in the mid-nineties following the dissolution of Cabaret Voltaire, one of Sheffield's most seminal electronic bands.

Kirk has pursued his musical career with a low profile. "I've been releasing material online and not working with a record label. I'm off the radar – though, saying that, I've just recorded the new Reverend and the Makers single," he laughs, realising his latest project is not so esoteric.

Speaking of Jon McClure, Kirk says: "We're both big fans of Bob Marley and I was taken by a lot of things Jon said in interviews – not many young artists are willing to speak up. It seems like younger folks don't care too much. But Jon's not afraid to speak out."

McClure's outspokenness in his opposition to racism drove him to organising the Magna festival after the BNP won two seats in Rotherham. "Rotherham's got two BNP councillors – I went in a pub the other day and said that we're organising an anti- BNP rally and they said, 'Don't you think there should be other people you should be getting rid of first – you know, them lot'.

"The problems in our society aren't caused by immigration, they're caused primarily by the government's foreign and economic policy."

His message is reaching the masses: "We have sold zillions of tickets – we've been trying to get Magna to do something so we can get even more people in. It's good, man.



"We've got local MPs and the local mayor and all these kind of people coming out – it's good that they are turning out but it's also good for the people voting for them. The MPs are making themselves clear that they don't really want that kind of thing going on – it's not a good being a bigoted racist."

But Magna has its advantages beyond socio-political reform. The carnival has provided a platform for many of South Yorkshire's unsigned bands, including Fugitives Online.

"Getting gigs like this is not an everyday experience – there'll be at least 3,500 people watching," says Gareth Shaw (bass/vocals/guitars), who describes the band's repertoire as one ranging from lively indie-pop to historically-based ponderings.

Their song Canary Girls, Shaw explains, makes references to "the women during the war who made bombs and whose skin would turn yellow from the powder." Bevin Boys is a real tale of his grandma becoming pregnant by a Bevin Boy after the war.

Shaw says: "The festival brings the issue of race back. It brings it the forefront of people's minds but it's ridiculous we are having this festival in 2008. I don't think it's going to change. The world has to work on a class system and people still get their information from the Daily Mail and the Sun."

McClure summarises: "It should be pretty good, although I had a slightly dark experience the other day – the BNP have befriended me on MySpace," he laughs.

Love Music Hate Racism Carnival starts at 2pm Saturday (September 6) at Magna.

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