My band got big thanks to the UK’s small venues. We can’t let them die out

theguardian.com:

W hat we’re doing is super simple. One pound from every ticket to our forthcoming arena tour is going to the Music Venue Trust (MVT) to distribute to grassroots venues who are otherwise completely unsupported and are really struggling.

In the UK we’re currently losing one small venue every week, which is shocking. Meanwhile, at least eight new arenas are in various stages of development or construction. So while there’s all this investment at the top of the music industry the rest is being left to wither and die. But where will the next generation of arena headliners come from if they’re not able to come up through smaller venues?

As patrons of MVT, we’ve been very aware of what’s been happening to venues, with Covid, gentrification and then rocketing energy prices and other costs. Obviously the pandemic made it very difficult for the whole music industry but [smaller] venues were already struggling and it’s accelerating. Printworks in London closed this week – we did our one of our recent music videos there. Whenever we do smaller shows in towns that aren’t on the regular touring circuit we come face to face with the sad realisation that a lot of the venues we came up in have been lost – they’re now blocks of flats or whatever. Two of the first places we ever played, the Marquee in Hertford and the Square in Harlow – which also once hosted Blur, Oasis and Coldplay – are both gone. We’ve lost so many others – including the Roadhouse in Manchester, the Jailhouse in Coventry, the Cockpit in Leeds, Fibbers in York and Studio 24 in Edinburgh. Even Sheffield Leadmill — an amazing place — is currently under threat. We just can’t keep losing all these venues.

We played our very first gig in the Pioneer youth club and skate park