Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament - The Violence (Expanded Edition) (2026)

Darren Hayman (Hefner / New Starts / The French) launches a series of releases and reissues with ‘The Violence’ (Expanded Edition) via Audio Antihero and his own Belka imprint. A highly ambitious and beautifully layered Folk album about the 17th-century English Civil Wars and the East Anglian Witch Trials with a huge ensemble lineup. Tragically still relevant in how society vilifies marginalised people, the original 2012 release was praised by The Quietus, Stewart Lee (The Sunday Times), The Line of Best Fit, Q Magazine, Mojo, NME, the BBC, and many more. As part of a wider effort to fill the holes in his catalogue, this expanded album is accompanied by its companion EP, ‘The Four Queens,’ also made available again for the first time in years.

Tragically still relevant in how society vilifies marginalised people, the original 2012 release was praised by The Quietus, Stewart Lee (The Sunday Times), The Line of Best Fit, Q Magazine, Mojo, NME, the BBC, and many more. As hinted at by the recent 'Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee' reissue, this expanded edition of 'The Violence' represents a wider effort to fill the holes in his catalogue.

"My digital back catalogue has been in a mess for some time, partly due to many records being released under different names, lineups, and labels. I'm very relieved to be having some help with the process now and can make one of my most important records available for streaming. It's so important to me to have this record available again. It's the hardest I've ever worked, and I believe it sounds like nothing else in my back catalogue. The Violence is a double album about the English Civil War and the East Anglian Witch Trials in the 17th century. I'm also pleased to include several previously unreleased tracks, which increase the scope of the work." – Darren Hayman (he/him)