FORMER teacher at Burnholme Community College and now CEO of Tang Hall SMART, Sue Williamson, has formed a post-Punk band with three members who have been homeless or struggling with addiction.

Named Resistance - as the majority of the band are resisting temptation - the band has grown from the Musication group that her company runs for people with multiple problems.

The line up is djembe player Sinbad, who is homeless and battling health issues, drummer The Offender, who also has a career as a rapper: D-Ni-L), bass player and Polymorph, who has experienced long-term homelessness and addiction.

The guitarist is The Capacitator, who Sue married in the 1980s.

She said: “I am inspired that these guys have come out of this with awesome musicianship intact.

“If there was ever going to be a good reason for me doing something I had always wanted to do, well it is these guys, because these are people I would want to be in a band with.

“So something I had started wanting to do in my early 20s, and ‘put away’ when I became a respectable teacher, has been re-ignited. I am resisting gender and age stereotypes; there is a lot of nonsense around the subject of what women can do and how they look, and the music industry is riddled with images of incredibly beautiful and polished looking girls all looking similar.

“There are not so many older women around – and I say to them, and people of all ages, be who you are, and it you want to make music and get out there and do it, well do so.”

Of the music influences and the band’s future, she said: “The lyrics and vocals are written by me and reflect my angry feminist side, and the music is a group effort.

“I am inspired by various punk and indie artists as well as some of the great female singers such as Sandy Denny and Tracy Thorn.

“There is even a song written to sum up my feelings about Burnholme Community College being demolished too.

“We have an EP coming out in early September on our in-house record label, Musication.

“When Tang Hall SMART CIC takes over the Barbican on November 11, we will do a set there. The main thing at the moment though is to just have a lot of fun with this.”