Video: Hackney musician’s ‘alternative’ royal wedding anthem

Hackney may not be going crazy for street parties – but one local musician has produced a royal wedding tribute that is proving rather popular.

Joe Pollution – so called “because I open my mouth and rubbish comes out” – uploaded a song called ‘Queen’s Speech’ to YouTube in February, and the video has received nearly 500 views.

“I’ve not been invited to the wedding and I’m quite annoyed about that,” says Pollution, real surname Poulton, of Dunlace Road, Clapton.

“We’re all paying for it. I think we should all be going.”

Pollution’s band Public Speech filmed the video outside Buckingham Palace – attracting unwanted police attention. “How come I can’t film outside the royal household?” he says. “We pay for it.”

Pollution, 32, says the song isn’t anti-royal – but he hopes it will get people thinking. “There’s a lot of history and they do good things, but they take the mickey,” he says. “They won’t give us a chance to say whether we still want them. We’re supposed to be a democracy.”

Public Speech will be on tour on the big day – but Pollution, who sees the song as a natural successor to the Sex Pistols’ 1977 classic ‘God Save the Queen’, says he wouldn’t mind staying behind to bask in the glory of his new-found fame.

“The hits are going up pretty quickly,” he says. “I’m hoping it goes viral.”