Traditionally, rock ‘n’ roll introduced within the huge bucks. Rat-arsed rockstars used to stay frivolously, smashing up their guitars and trashing resort rooms.

Nevertheless, the fashionable state of the rock scene is way much less glamorous. Because the cost-of-living crunches down on the trade, increasingly more impartial music venues shut their doorways.

In 2023, the Music Venue Belief’s annual report discovered that rising residing prices and lease spikes pressured 125 impartial venues to shut their doorways in 2023. The report additionally discovered that 38% of the remaining 835 impartial venues made a loss in income. One significantly vital closure got here within the type of Tub’s Moles – the venue that aided the likes of Radiohead, Oasis, The Killers and Ed Sheeran on their roads to success, but couldn’t be saved.

Whereas acts like Enter Shikari are continually striving to help grassroots venues, notably donating £1 from each ticket offered on their latest area tour, it’s unclear whether or not 2024 will see much more venues having to close their doorways. If a change doesn’t occur quickly, extra venues will fall – one instance being Leeds’ hardcore haven BOOM, the venue at present within the thick of a year-long run of fundraising gigs to keep away from closure.

In gentle of the music trade’s struggling, former Longpigs and Pulp guitarist Richard Hawley has instructed that the center class have allowed grassroots venue to battle. With smaller venues closing in much less prosperous areas, there’s far much less likelihood for working class musicians to search out their ft. “The hazard dealing with small venues is a catastrophe ready to occur as a result of it simply implies that ‘Tarquin & The Quentoids’ would be the subsequent wave of rock’n’roll – not Dave, Linda and Barry,” he says in a latest NME interview.

“Rock ‘n ‘roll could be very a lot a middle-class factor now – it does piss me off,” he asserts.

Hawley even notes how “scary” it’s that moderate-sized venues like Sheffield’s iconic Leadmill are additionally being threatened. With out these venues, Hawley would by no means have been in a position to forge a profitable profession in music “I’ve been in that place [of struggling to make ends meet] – I used to be in that place for 10 years, from 16 to 26, and I don’t neglect it,” he says. “It’s simply not straightforward.”

Whereas the Music Venue Belief welcomed a £5 million funding from the federal government final June, in addition to the December introduction of the Pipeline Funding Fund grant (PIF), there’s a protracted battle forward.

For those who’re desperate to help grassroots venues, you’ll be able to donate by way of Music Venue Belief web site.