For my friends.
NTROduction
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here has been constant debate as to whether or not the independent music scene is fading regarding certain genres. After exploring both primary and secondary sources in a research report in January 2018, the results showed that over 50% of participants of the online questionnaire had a stronger knowledge on the independent music scene than most others. Enough research throughout the report was gathered in order for myself to understand the different thoughts and views of the hardcore music scene from the 1980’s onwards. Socio-economic factors such as lack of public interest, the economy, licensing laws, increased property values and aggressive development proved to be the issues relating back to the decline of the music scene as a whole in the research that I conducted both primarily and secondary. There was also a suggestion made
throughout the report that there could be a possible argument against a ‘decline’ as such, but just less interest being shown since the 1980’s. Technology and social media were also big influences throughout the research. This was made clear due to amount of effort that went into the inductry and the thoughts shown towards the scenes in the UK compared from then to now. Now that technology has caught up and people are able to listen to an artist on their phones, this can give people more of an experience than going to local shows due to the high demand for variety. The ese and availability to access the internet should mean that the music scene is stronger, but that isn’t the case. I stated in my research report that it is clear that more advertising, stronger marketing and more variety in the scene in Leeds needs to be put into place to prevent smaller venues from struggling, as Leeds holds a vast amount of student interest for music, yet it lacks advertisement for a variety of genres.
A quick overview...
* ÂŁ200 million * * spent directly by music tourists
Yorkshire & The Humber
*
* 849,000 * music tourists
Live music audiences that are music tourists
sourced from google images
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* * 4,189 full time jobs sustained by music tourism *
UK as a whole UK as a whole UK as a whole UK as a whole
sourced from UKmusic
temple - of boom l
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Temple of Boom is one of the most talked about d.i.y music venues in Leeds throughout the emo / hardcore scene. With two main rooms for gigs, the recently refurbished and newly opened ‘VegeTable Cafe’ is also a popular space for djing, wrestling events and movie nightsmaking it possible for this venue to hold three events on at a time. hold 3 events at the same time. Being located on Millwright Street in Leeds, Temple of Boom is now a neighboring business to the Victoria Gate shopping centre- more commonly known for it’s inclusion of John Lewis. With this being built within the arts quarter, it put a lot of pressure on, not only Temple of Boom, but other surrounding arts and entertainment venues. Bands that have played at Temple of Boom are both local and well known across the globe- usually travelling from somewhere within the United States. Harley Flannagan, ex Cro-Mags frontman played the venue late in 2017 and said it “reminded him so much of ceebeegeebee’s” which, to Si and Leckythe owners of Temple of Boom, was an “absolute priveladge.”.
Temple of Boom is a vanue that supports more of the ‘heavier’ genres of music due to the interior, exterior and purely due to the interest of the people who support the venue - ‘punks’, ‘hardcore kids’ and ‘metal heads’. ‘The Meatlocker’ is the smallest of the event rooms available at T.O.B- yet has seen hardcore bands as big as Backtrack play in there- to a room full of only 80 people.
Outbreak festival 16-17 june 2018
This year, Outbreak Festival has collaborated with the UK rock magazine Kerrang! The fest has beenincluded in the magazine several times, and is due to have a front page spot in the coming weeks to promote the event even further. With one of Kerrang’s hottest bands of 2018 being one of the festival headlines, Turnstile, it only makes sense that the collaboration was a step in the right direction for Jordan Pryke and Jordan Coupland- the boys behind the heavy-hitting festival.
Outbreak is known as the biggst UK hardcore festival. Each year, the festival promotors book some of the biggest names in hardcore to play a no barrier show at Canal Mills in Leeds. This year, Grammy award nominated Code Orange and Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile are due to headline the festival over the weekend. Coupland began the festival at a community hall in Sheffield, UK back Over the years, Canal Mills has seem in 2011 when he was 14 years old. bands such as Terror, Trapped Under Since then, the festical headliners Ice, Incendiary, Gorilla Biscuits, Ti- have become bigger and better, leavtle Fight and Basement play the fes- ing Coupland with a lot of work to tival all under the same roof over the do each year by improving the headspan of two days per year. In 2017, liners each time. Since 2015, Jordan Turning Point were due to headline Pryke has been on-board with the the festival on Sunday as a tribute planning and organisation of the fesperformance for their late front-man tival,. Since then, the event has rockSkip. However due to unforseen etted on social media platforms and circumstances that were out of the has had interest shown from Kerrang, hands of the promoters, the headlin- local DIY magazines- and has also er pulled out of the festival leaving been nominated for Best Festival at Cro-Mags to headline in their place. the Heavy Music Awards this year.
The pair also book and promote shows in and around Leeds- more specifically at Temple of Boom and Brudenell Social Club. The guys have booked shows for bands such as backtrack, Harley Cro-mags Flannagan and Negative Approach. “Although we are a hardcore festival and focus around that specific genre for the festival and the shows we do, we still like to have a variety of bands playing. We have super heavy bands and softer hardcore bands that we like, and we want to broaden our audience as much as we can whilst sticking to this specific genre.” says Jordan Coupland, original founder of Outbreak. “It’s surreal that this year everything is happening for us and the fest. Being involved with Kerrang! magazine and being nominated for an award is the best feeling, I guess it proves that me and Pryke are finally doing something right!” This years festival will be taking place at it’s usual venue- Canal Mills on 16th and 17th June. Weekend tickets are priced at £60 each and day tickets are due on sale soon.
Vegan Straight Edge
“I’m just a person like you But I’ve got better things to do Than sit around and funk my head Hang out with me the living dead Snort white sh*t up my nose Pass out at the shows I don’t even think about speed That’s something I don’t need” “Straight Edge’ by Minor Threat is the origin of the saying. Iam McKay, frontman of Minor Threat began this movement around 1980-1981 with the release of the song. At the time of it’s release, there was a lot of drinking and drug use stemming from the ‘punks’ of the era because of how ‘trendy’ it seemed to be at the time. Wanting to rebel against the general trends, McKay started to stand up for himself, kept a clear mind and decided to provide the punk scene with something useful. To do this, he began the genre of hardcore, making this movement more serious than originally thought. Generically, straight edge means ‘poison free’, keeping both your mind and body freee of any bad substances. Towards that back end of the 1980’s, the NYHC (New York Hardcore) scene introduced the vegan and vegetarian idea to link in with the straight edge movement, and due to a lot of people suggesting that you shouldn’t poison your body with milk, ehhs and meat, this caused many individuals to become a lot more involved with political issues, more specifically the environment and animal rights. Recognising people who choose to follow the straight edge lifestyle is quite simple. Back when the movement originated by McKay, if there was an ‘any age’ gig, to stop underage people from drinking, security would mark under 21’s hands with a large ‘X’- so as a sign of solidarity, straight edge people would also put ‘X’s’ on their hands. They also like tat toos- there are hundreds upon thousands of people in the hardcore scene all over the world with straight edge and vegan tattoos. As well as a movement that rejects substance and alcohol abuse, straight edge also rejects actions such as sexual promiscuity, no real involvement, no hope for the future and relationships with no feeling. This ideology clearly shows that people who choose to involve themselves in this movement show a lot of respect towards eachother.
women in
hardcore
There’s women in every industry, but there seems to be less judgement in the creative workplace, and in such a diverse industry, minds tend to be more open to the fact that women are in a position of equality. The sub-culture of hardcore is generally very accepting. People preach against sexism, homophobia and racism, so as a whole, the scene is a very welcoming place for individuals. However, although the scene tends to be much more male dominated, this isn’t a result of anything specific that is happening in the present moment, and the involvement of women in hardcore is on the rise more and more. Over the past year or so, it’s become more apparent that more females are starting bands, creating zines with the involvment of hardcore bands and putting on shows in local d.i.y venues. Bands in the U.S such as Krimewatch, No Right and Lowest Priority standing up for women and transgender people in the scene has been a heavy influence for this in the UK.
As a woman, the hardcore scene, at times, can seem intimidating due to the high levels of male dominance, especially at shows with ‘pits’ often consisting of males swinging their ligaments and kicking people. However, viewing this as a sign for females not to get involved is a negative way of looking at the scene, as there’s nothing saying that women can’t do the same. With the hardcore scene being somewhere for people to not only enjoy the music and see their friends, but to express their political and ethical views, it is clear that women and men stand equal, and it is clear that if an individual acted otherwise, people would speak up about it without second guessing the outcome. The issue that females often stumble across within the music industry is that they are sexualised more often than not. Madonna, for example, dresses and acts like she is apart of the younger generation, but goes about it the complete wrong way.
Because of her age, she is viewed in the spotlight as being desperate for the attention of younger people, and this gives off bad ‘vibes’ to other women in the industry. Because this is more of a creative field of work, some people are able to look past the issues such as the sexualisation of women, but it still counts the same as it would in any other industry. Relating this to the hardcore scene, it is a lot easier to be accepted, no matter your age, sex, religion or ethnicity. This is why the scene should not be viewed as such an aggressive male dominated scene, but an accepting and understanding one, especially for females.
a little bit of research... Back in the 18th century, Mabgae was originally home to a series of woolen mills. It was a community full of industry potential and houses for the workers. However, similar to many other locations, increased overseas competition in the industrial sector slowly saw it’s decline. Inclusive of art galleries, studios, gig venues and event spaces, the inventive and the ambitious have swooped through to take full advantage of theavailable, low rent spaces. These businesses have brought the DIY attitude along with transforming the area into such ahistorically cultural destination. Music and Arts Production (Map) is a charity that provides young people with access to a range of courses surrounding arts and music. Being loacted in the arts quarter, ‘Map’ has an unconventional fundraising strategy, but it works, however, for how much longer?
With Mabgate also known as ‘Leeds arts quarter’, it has become a home to a huge variety of artists, musicians, photographers and writers who are all attracted by the sense of freedom that the location offers. Leeds has recently seen the introduction of it’s newest shopping centre, Victoria Gate, located near our beloved, gritty Mabgate. Complete with a casino and highend stores, including the new John Lewis department, it’s an economic statement that holds the power to change it’s surrounding areas. As the shopping centre prepared for opening, property developers began circling the area and snooping out what they could invest in. Because very few people in the arts quarter own the land and buildings that they are inhabbiting, they are completly powerless when it comes to resisting new possible plans
for the surrounding areas. “We found out through tricking one of the surveyors, by telling him we knew about the plans for the area,” Si (temple of boom co-owner) stated. “We got him to show us a front elevation for this area. The place we’re sat in now was completely flattened.” Over the years, every individual living and working in these buildings has personally funded the maintenence of the workspaces, making it the heart of the arts quarter. Hundreds of people have put coutless hours into making this part of Leeds theirs- but they choose to share it with the public. Without these people influencing people who stumble across their venues, less and less interest will be shown, meaning more closures and leaving no-where for people to find their influences at.
and a little more...
major closures in the last 5 years... 1 - Bierkeller, bristol (1980s-2018)
forced to close due to refurbishment.
2 - Rainbow venues, birmingham (2000s-2017
the company brought in over 2 million into the local economy each year, yet all 11 venues had their license revoked after a drug related death.
3 - Sound control, manchester (2009-2017)
demolished to make way for student accomodation. venue was played by the 1875, tame impala and two door cinema club.
4 - the cockpit, leeds (1994-2014)
the venue has been closed and vacant for almost 4 years. played by feeder, embrace and placebo.
Music and Arts Production (MAP) is a charity that privides young people who are risk of exclusion from mainstream education with first hand experience within the creative industries. Offering qualifications, insiration and a creative ecosystem, this helps transform younf poeple into the creators of tomorrow. Registering as a charity back in 2008, the programme is now able to provide BTEC qualifications in Creative Media, Art & Design, alongside qualifications in Maths and English to 11-16 year olds. “The creative ecosystem” ‘MAP’ have a unique and ground-breaking approach to their work, offering the creative space and support towards creative businesses and in return, provide students on the education project with support, inspiration and the opportunity to apply the skills they’re taught. The partners of MAP help the students understand how to become professionals
in graphics, design, woodwork, metalwork, screen printing, pottery, photography, audio engineering, horticulture, catering and many more creative sectors. There will soon be apprenticeships on offer to people aged 16+ which extends the support system of the charity altogether.
“Hope Foundry”, The vision- Hope Foundry is a 16,500sqft Grade 2 listed building in the area of Mabgate in Leeds, and has been home to MAP since 2008. However, the lease ends in 2019, and if the charity are unable to raise £2.4 million to take back ownership, there are plans to redevelop the building into luxury flats. Hope Foundry will be a place to attend art exhibitions, gigs and club nights, workshops, classes and it will also offer a
cafe and retail space open to the entire public. Although, if the charity is unable to take ownership when the lease renews, they say they will be investing all funds in finding a new location where they can realise their vision. How will £2.4 million be spent? These funds will help the charity deepen the rick learning experience that is already on offer to young people, and create more career paths for them to join withih the creative business community. The first phase of the fundraising campaign will be the attempt of raising £50,000 in order to grow the development team and support running costs for the project this year. All of the above information is due to the newest addition within Leeds’ shopping circle- Victoria Gate. Because this has been built on the doorstep of Mabgate, developers are circling around the building in awe to build more properties and destory the creative shadow of Leeds. Donate and save our creative circle by visiting mapcharity.org.
Support your scene. Support your local bands. Support independent venues. Do it yourself.