#saveourvenues

On Tuesday I finished painting this mural at Bedford Esquires my home towns best Live music club. Like every concert venue during 2020 Esquires has hit hard times. I was asked to paint this mural to say a big thank you to people who have contributed to a recent crowdfunding campaign.

So on the mural is 350 names of some very generous Bedford Esquires fans who gave donations to the club. Bedford Esquires means a lot to me personally as it was the place I saw my first proper gig (it was a band called ‘Octopus’ in 1996). I also played in my first gig there ( it was during the Hastingsbury Upper School Summer Ball. The school rented out the club for the night. We were called ‘The Calabashes’)

I also saw so many great bands there in the late 90s/ early 00’s.I even sometimes get to go there more recently to see bands, even though I’m now no longer quite so young and so cool. Most importantly of course is that Bedford Esquires is where I first met the lovely lady who would become Mrs Litchfield just before Christmas in 2006.

So i have a lot to thank Esquires for. It was an honour to be asked to contribute to this cause. I can’t wait to see Esquires back up on its feet again & Im sure that I will be rocking out (ie, standing at the back nodding along approvingly) to live music there again soon.

#saveourvenues

Written: 21.12.2020

As this year draws to a close 24 venues remained on a ‘red list of venues in imminent danger of permanent closure,’ which lead to music venue trust generating £230,000 worth of funding. 

This happened after their #saveourvenues campaign raised over £80m for 400 venues to keep up their payments after the closure of the live music sector. This money was collated from both the government and public donations. 

This weekend the prime minster introduced a new tier to the system, tier 4, too much of England in the race to try and reduced transmission rates after a new covid strain was detected. Many Christmas plans have been ruined this year but lets all remain hopeful that this little sacrifice will save many lives and put an end to coronavirus once and for all. 

So, I grew up in a small town and went to this small theatre on the weekends to learn acting. It wasnt pretty, bunch of teens poorly speaking lines but I lived it. Made me fall in love with being creative.

Well, it's been a pretty tough pandemic for them, made even worse by the fact they're not "culturally significant" enough to qualify for the pitiful Arts Rescue Package the chancellor set out.

And when the government fails, its up to us to help fix it.

I know money is tight for most of us right now but if you can send anything thier way, please do. It'd be an absolute shame for this place to close down and I don't want to see that happen.

#letthemusicplay #saveourvenues

This photo by Jake Owens Photography was taken at Damnation Festival, Leeds 2019. This was one of last shows that we performed at before the pandemic forced all venues to close, which led to several of our tours being cancelled.

Here are the facts:

- The live music industry added £4.5bn to the economy in 2019 and supporting 210,000 jobs across the country

- Up to 50% of the live music industry's workforce is facing unemployment leading to a catastrophic loss of skills

- The UK live music industry is the second biggest in the world but is at risk of falling behind. Following COVID-19 the German government has provided €150 million to its live music industry.

- Music festivals support 85,000 jobs, but with the entire summer cancelled, many are currently facing collapse.

- 90% of grassroots music venues are under threat of closure. They need £50 million cash injection to ensure they do not go out of business