If you’re a promoter and you need a 50, 100-word biog, etc., then please email me and I’ll supply you with one ASAP! Don’t try and pull one together from the self-indulgent essay below. Ta!
2006-07 | 2007-09 | 2010-13 | 2013-15 | 2016 | 2017-18 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021-22 | 2023-24 | 2025
2006-07 | Spoken word beginnings
December 2006, a few weeks before my 18th. I’m at an impromptu jam session, at a Bromheads Jacket after-show party, in a secret underground venue in Sheffield’s red light district. Somebody had heard my early poems on MySpace and ushered me onto the mic…
From there, I began introducing bands on the Yorkshire indie scene. Before long, I had a string of regular compère slots. My breakthrough came at a Love Music Hate Racism gig in April 2007, where I first performed my early trademark ‘Nazis on the Doorstep‘ piece.
2007-09 | Skint & Demoralised success
In May 2007 I was contacted via MySpace by a Sheffield-based songwriter/producer, using the alias ‘MiNI dOG’. He started layering my poems over some electro instrumentals, which soon developed into an indie-pop songwriting partnership – Skint & Demoralised.
After 6 months, our demo Red Lipstick was played by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, and from there it snowballed. In March 2008, we signed to Universal. We recorded in Brooklyn with The Dap-Kings and completed Love, And Other Catastrophes at RAK in London.
Début single The Thrill of Thirty Seconds was Colin Murray’s Record of the Week on R1 and playlisted on 6Music. We were being hailed as “the next big thing” by the likes of The Sunday Times Culture, Q, Clash, The Times, The Guardian, and many online music sites.
2009 kicked off with a headline UK tour, before a summer release of Red Lipstick. It was Sara Cox’s Weekend Anthem on R1, but charted at #100 and saw us dropped. Despite this, we were a big hit at festivals, including Glastonbury, Latitude, Leeds/Reading, and Bestival.
2010-13 | More Skint & Demoralised, plus solo festivals
In April 2011, Skint & Demoralised signed to Heist Or Hit Records, and subsequently released three albums through the label. This included a 20-date tour of the UK in October 2011, plus some headline shows in Germany that Christmas.
In summer 2010, I returned to the UK festival circuit with far less gear to carry, performing 30-minute spoken word/comedy slots at Latitude, Leeds, and Kendal Calling. The three Skint & Demoralised albums received critical acclaim.
2013-15 | Full return to spoken word
A hat-trick of spoken word slots at Glastonbury 2013 gave me a fresh appetite for poetry, which led me to co-found a collective known as A Firm Of Poets. We had an anthology published by Ossett Observer in September 2014 and were a hit at regional festivals.
In spring 2015, I formed the spoken word record label Nymphs & Thugs. In the summer, I did a week’s run at Edinburgh Fringe, and then in autumn/winter, I co-fronted A Firm Of Poet’s 22-date UK theatre tour Ossett Observer presents: The People’s Republic of Poetry.
2016 | Projects and political activism
Throughout 2016, I was a central figure on the #JC4PM tour and performed on both nights at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. That year, I shared a stage with the likes of Sara Pascoe, Francesca Martinez, Grace Petrie, The Fall, Sleaford Mods, and Paul Weller.
I visited The Jungle refugee camp in Calais, and campaigned for several issues including homelessness, anti-racism, and the refugee crisis. My work with The Poetry Takeaway led to me starring in a national TV ad campaign for Nationwide Building Society.
2017-18 | Poetry vinyl and Two Little Ducks
Spring 2017 saw the Nymphs & Thugs LIVEwire tour, which supported the release of Salena Godden‘s album on 2LP gatefold vinyl. The album was shortlisted for the prestigious Ted Hughes Award.
I then did a full Edinburgh Fringe with my début one-man show Two Little Ducks, receiving rave reviews. After a slot at the Roundhouse’s Last Word Festival, the show embarked on a 22-date UK tour in autumn 2018. The show’s poems were published by VERVE.
2019 | Classrooms, comebacks, and commissions
My début kids’ poetry collection, A Hurricane in My Head, was published by Bloomsbury. It was one of National Poetry Day’s recommended reads, which led me to appear live on Blue Peter. This led me to establish myself as one of the UK’s leading school poetry facilitators.
Following a 6-year hiatus, my band Skint & Demoralised returned with brand new music on Fierce Panda. All four singles received plays on BBC Radio 6Music, and our fourth album, We Are Humans is out digitally and on limited edition white vinyl (purchase here).
I appeared in another national TV ad campaign for Nationwide Building Society, was commissioned to write this poem for Cancer Research UK, this poem for Leeds United FC’s centenary kit launch, and this poem for Jeremy Corbyn’s General Election campaign.
2020 | Radio show, Insta sessions, articles, and more
With the UK on lockdown, I continued with my new venture Roaring 20s Radio alongside Salena Godden and Amah-Rose Abrams, and hosting weekly Insta sessions. The Poetry Society invited me to be a patron for 2020’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.
2021-22 | #DisarmHatePoetry, residencies, and novel writing
2021 was dominated by Nymphs & Thugs‘ #DisarmHatePoetry project and a significant period of development for my début novel, VOIDS. I also appeared in cartoon form in the legendary Beano magazine!
In 2022, an artist-in-research heritage residency at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley led to my poetry being permanently displayed on-site. My better half Maria and I launched our Tubthumping night in Farsley.
2023-24 | International collaborations and LIVEwire Poetry
In 2023, I was one LEEDS 2023’s international exchange poets, being paired with world-renowned poet Titilope Sonuga at BBC Contains Strong Language Festival. I also visited an international school in the Swiss Alps and wrote poems for Mercedes-Benz and Kellogg’s.
2024 began with the launch of LIVEwire Poetry, which evolved from Nymphs & Thugs. I was also longlisted for The National Poetry Competition and had a series of poems translated into Arabic for leading Middle East newspaper The New Arab.
2025 | Substack page and second poetry collection
At the beginning of this year, I completed work on my début adult poetry collection, Peacocks Can’t Swim. This has since been picked up by Broken Sleep Books and is due for publication in January 2027!
I’m dedicating most of my online output to my Substack newsletter, The Day Job. I’ve recently added to my anthology appearances with Space (Royal Observatory Greenwich Poetry Book) and Write Out Loud’s Echoes competition anthology.
In June, my (yet to be published) début novel was shortlisted for the Sid Chaplin Award . In July, I had poems longlisted in The Plaza Prizes and in Write Out Loud’s Echoes competition. And from October to December, I was on the cohort for Screen Yorkshire’s script lab talent hub.
Matt Abbott Poet 