John Baine (born 21 October 1957), better known by his stage name Attila the Stockbroker,[1] is an English punk poet, multi instrumentalist musician and songwriter.

Having started performing in the late 1970s after being inspired by the spirit and 'do it yourself' ethos of the punk subculture, particularly The Clash's overtly socialist stance, Baine was briefly bass player in punk bands English Disease and Brighton Riot Squad,[5] and spent some time in 1979 in Brussels playing bass in Belgian band Contingent before going solo.

[6] In the 1980s, he was often the support act for punk bands, including The Jam, The Alarm, Newtown Neurotics, New Model Army, and performed extensively with fellow punk-inspired ranting poets, Swift Nick (Nick Swift), Kool Knotes (Richard Edwards), Porky the Poet (Phill Jupitus) and Seething Wells (Steven Wells).

In the 1990s, alongside many other things, he toured with John Otway as Headbutts and Halibuts,[5] and together they wrote a surreal rock opera called Cheryl, a tale of Satanism, trainspotting, drug abuse and unrequited love.

He puts on an annual beer and music festival 'Glastonwick', currently held at Coombes Farm, near Shoreham though originally in Southwick, his home town nearby.

Attila the Stockbroker formed the band Barnstormer in 1994, with the initial aim of combining punk rock and early music, which they did to an extent on their debut album, The Siege of Shoreham, in 1996.

Then Barnstormer's line up changed: they turned into a melodic punk band and for the next 22 years performed regularly across Europe, doing over 500 gigs and releasing three further albums, Just One Life (2000) Zero Tolerance (2004) and Bankers and Looters (2012).

In 2018, Attila, who has always been interested in the history of the radical movements spawned in the aftermath of the English Civil War, wrote and recorded an album, Restoration Tragedy on that theme, combining early music and punk.

8 September 2015, the 35th anniversary of his first gig, saw the publication of his autobiography, Arguments Yard (35 Years of Ranting Verse and Thrash Mandola) by Cherry Red Books.

and, for about 16 years, was heavily involved in the successful battle to save the club and secure a new stadium, after the Goldstone Ground was sold to property developers in 1997.

[14][15] The collection includes press coverage, publicity material, fanzines and zines, and his manifesto for election as the University of Kent's Student President.