The 1975’s Matt Healy isn’t always making headlines for chill reasons, but this one I definitely have to give him respect for. The singer is advocating strongly for the preservation of small, local venues, which he says are “the foundation of any real culture.”
According to NME, Healy made his stand in support of the Seed Sounds Weekender festival, a nationwide, multi-venue festival in the United Kingdown, which runs Sept. 26 – 28. The fest is desgined to support “seed venues,” which historically have support up-and-coming artists in their early days, like Healy’s multi-Grammy-nominated band.
Healy is the Seed Sounds Weekender ambassador this year, and added in his statment that “local venues aren’t just where bands cut their teeth, they’re the foundation of any real culture. Without them, you don’t get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence.”
The singer went on to day that “the erosion of funding for seed and grassroots spaces is part of a wider liberal tendency to strip away the socially democratic infrastructure that actually makes art possible. What’s left is a cultural economy where only the privileged can afford to create, and where only immediately profitable art survives.”
Finalyl, Healy added that this festival in particualr is “a vital reminder that music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas; it starts in back rooms, pubs, basements, and independent spaces run on love, grit, and belief in something bigger.”
In addition to healy’s statement, Micheal Kill — founder of the Night Time Industries Association — added: “Seed music venues are the incubators for the next generation of artists. They’re more than venues , they’re workshops, gathering spots, testing grounds. They’re where rough ideas get sharpened, where voices find confidence, where communities come together around sound and story.”
“Music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas, it starts in back rooms…”
“Events like the Seed Sounds Weekender don’t just celebrate that energy, they help sustain it,” he continued. “They remind us that music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas. It starts in back rooms, pubs, basements, and independent spaces run on love, grit, and belief in something bigger.
“If we want to keep that creative fire burning, if we want new sounds, new voices, and scenes that speak to who we really are — then we’ve got to look after the seed spaces,” Kill concluded. “That’s the foundation everything else stands on.”
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