How do artists decide what to say when everything from grassroots music to the climate is in crisis?
Backstage at Reading Festival, Drowned in Sound’s Sean Adams and Emma Wilkes sat down with Rou Reynolds, the frontman of Enter Shikari, one of the UK's most politically engaged bands. We discuss a range of topics including the St Albans music scene and how they pioneered the grassroots music venue levy - adding £1 to arena tickets to support small venues.
With 20 years of activism and seven albums under the band’s belt, Rou’s learned that having a platform means constantly choosing which crisis at a time or polycrisis deserves the spotlight. And we chat a lot about the interconnected issues and the need for system change.
Chapters:
03:00 – How the £1 venue levy actually works in practice 05:00 – Why supporting grassroots is community organizing, not charity 07:00 – How St Albans scene prepared Enter Shikari for mainstream success 09:00 – The neoliberal isolation crisis and music's role as antidote 11:00 – Connecting Gaza, climate crisis, and music industry exploitation 12:30 – Climate speech: "430 parts per million" and the season finale 16:00 – The impossible choice: which crisis gets the platform tonight? 22:00 – Reading Festival Gaza speech: "This is not a tragedy, it's a war crime"
"To be silent in times of atrocity is to assist in maintaining that atrocity"
Continue the Conversation:
- Email sean@drownedinsound.org with your platform responsibility experiences
- Join the discussion about choosing battles in poly-crisis times
- Subscribe to DiS newsletter for weekly insights on building alternatives
Links:
- Enter Shikari Official
- Music Venue Trust
- Rou chats from COP in Glasgow on the Sounds Like A Plan podcast
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