This week is Independent Venue Week – the 12th annual celebration of our grassroots community and indie venues on both sides of the Atlantic. As it kicks off in earnest, we speak to the artists, promoters and IVW organisers to find out why these small spaces are so vital to the future of alternative music...
Independent venues are the lifeblood of our scene. Those small, sweaty rooms you find in pretty much every pocket of the world are where the greatest memories are made, where fans can find an escape from the outside world, and where bands perfect their craft on their way to bigger things. They are spaces of connection, where fanbases grow, where friends for life are made. Virtually every band you encounter owe something to those rooms.
“The grassroots venue circuit was how we cut our teeth, rehearsed, honed our sound, experienced everything that could go wrong and bettered ourselves as musicians and performers,” adds Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds, who is a patron of the Music Venue Trust (the band donated a pound from every ticket sold on their February 2024 UK tour to the charity). “Without a thriving grassroots circuit we’d have probably never got past our first EP. It taught us about the importance of community in a diverse locality. It was a space for experimentation in so many ways. It gave us not just a zest for music but for life itself.”
This is why Independent Venue Week exists – to celebrate grassroots music culture, and encourage fans to support their local scenes. Now in its 12th year, hundreds of venues are taking part, hosting special events across the week in the UK and United States from January 27 to February 2
“Independent venues come in all shapes and sizes, and they play a really important role in keeping these communities alive – which is precisely why we take this week to celebrate them,” says Independent Venue Week founder Sybil Bell. “When the show confirmations start to come in for IVW, you really start to appreciate the astonishing depth and diversity of the UK's music scene, and particularly those genres that don't necessarily show up on the mainstream charts and listings. As underground subcultures, rock and metal are both very much in that bracket.”
Independent Venue Week caters to a broad church, but for heavy and alternative music, these venues take on an increased significance. The Music Venue Trust often refers to independent venues as the ‘research and development’ arm of the music industry, nurturing the arena fillers and festival headliners of the future. But not every heavy band can be, say, Bring Me The Horizon or Sleep Token and break that glass ceiling. For bands in more niche corners of our scene, grassroots venues act as a base for countless experimental and boundary-pushing acts, and not necessarily a stepping stone to anything else.
Indeed, heavy music thrives in more specialist, independent spaces where there’s a better understanding of the culture.
“We understand the hardcore scene, we understand crowd surfing, we understand moshing, and we embrace that in a way that's safe,” says Reece Ritchie from Rebellion in Manchester, who are hosting a black metal all-dayer during Independent Venue Week. “We look out for the crowd so they can look out for each other. I've spent hours of my life – when the artists don't necessarily have as many crew as they'd like – catching people and making sure they’re safe. Because we're an independent venue, we don't necessarily have to follow the larger umbrella of corporate policy, which is why we can do that.”
Beyond that, independent venues also offer emerging artists a crucial opportunity to grab onto the first rung of the ladder and establish themselves. They can be the training ground for artists to sharpen their talents and find a fanbase, to put the hours in on a stage and grow.
“To think of myself as a frontwoman at my first show compared to how I am now, it is a real good job that I had those baby shows to get me warmed up and get me ready for doing these massive 1000-cap rooms,” says Beth Curtis of As December Falls, who are DJing at Nottingham’s Saltbox during independent Venue Week, and played a grassroots venue tour last year.
While music communities rallied round grassroots venues when the pandemic threatened their longevity, the threat to these venues hasn’t gone away. The subsequent cost-of-living crisis has squeezed venue's margins, costs have soared, and fans have less disposable income than they used to. Not to mention the risks posed by nearby planning developments or exploitative landlords.
“It's really hard for all music venues right now. The April budget is really, really rough – the fact that business rates have now being raised back up is really, really tricky,” Reece explains. “We're not in immediate danger, but every music venue is two months’ worth of bad shows away from going out of business.”
Other venues haven’t been so lucky. In 2023, 125 grassroots venues permanently closed and while fewer were lost in 2024, there have recently been some high-profile casualties. In November, beloved Cardiff venue The Moon announced it was closing with immediate effect. Boom, the Leeds venue that’s been instrumental to the growth of Kerrang! favourites including Static Dress, Higher Power and Pest Control is closing at the end of March after facing numerous threats for the last few years. As more venues close, the entire circuit takes a hit, making tours less viable – especially for overseas acts – and severely hinders the opportunities for newer acts to break through.
“Without those venues, the future of music is going to be rich kids that can afford to just not worry about money and make music or those bands that just blow up super quickly, get very big very quickly and can skip the grassroots venues. There's not going to be anyone else,” says As December Falls guitarist Ande Hunter. “If that's the future of music I'm going to be very depressed about that.”
Put simply, it’s a case of use it or lose it. Your favourite artists are nothing without these venues, so vote with your feet, buy a ticket, buy merch or a drink at the bar, and keep them alive.
Independent Venue Week runs from January 27 to February 2. Check out a gig near you.
Read this next:
