In 1977, alongside Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud co-founded seminal anarchist punk band Crass, who disbanded in 1984. Up until 2000 he devoted himself almost entirely to writing, returning to the public platform in 2001 as a performance poet working alongside a wide variety of jazz musicians. In 2003, together with Crass vocalist Eve Libertine, he founded what was at first known as 'The Crass Collective', then 'The Crass Agenda', then 'The Last Amendment’ and finally 'L’Académie des Vanités' – a loose collective of jazz musicians, artists and filmmakers who shared Rimbaud's lifelong interest in progressive, improvisational art.