Photo Credit: Ian purple yellow / CC by 4.0
Matty Healy backs a new small gig venue music festival with over 1,000 UK venues hosting music events as part of an effort to sustain their operations.
The 1975’s Matty Healy is backing the Seed Sounds Weekender, a new festival in September in small “seed“ venues across the UK. Over 1,000 pubs, bars, and restaurants will host music events as part of the nationwide festival. It’s part of an effort to help maintain these venues and keep them from closing their doors, as Healy warns about the impact their closure would have on up-and-coming artists.
“Local venues aren’t just where bands cut their teeth, they’re the foundation of any real culture,” said Healy. “Without them, you don’t get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence.”
Organizers gave examples of seed venues including the Grapes pub in Sheffield, where the Arctic Monkeys first performed; Rayner’s Hotel in Harrow, northwest London, where Amy Winehouse made her debut; the Buffalo Bar in Cardiff, which hosted an early Adele performance; and The Castle Hotel in Manchester, where The 1975 first appeared.
However, like much of the UK’s nightlife scene—and the broader live event industry—organizers cite “unprecedented economic challenges” at these venues.
“The stark reality is that it’s a challenging time out there for the hospitality sector, and it’s a challenging time as an artist out there,” said Kit Muir-Rogers, co-founder of live music platform GigPig, which is organizing the Seed Sounds Weekender. Muir-Rogers called the event “a moment to unite and celebrate what we think is the most exciting and probably the most vital step on an artist’s journey.”
Nearly 400 pubs are expected to close this year alone, according to the British Beer and Pub Association, which puts much of the blame on high taxes and increasing bills. Dedicated grassroots venues have been very vocal about their importance to the industry and the risks they face, but many of these locations have been overlooked and underappreciated, says Muir-Rogers. That’s partially because Gen Z and younger audiences are drinking far less than previous cohorts—highlighting how social structures and have changed since the pandemic. That change impacts night life venues, which often make up their margins on alcohol sold.
“No one’s really pulled it under a banner before. It’s never really been called anything,” Muir-Rogers said. “Now it’s widely being called ‘seed music’ and ‘seed venues,’ which really does paint the picture incredibly well—you plant those first seeds to watch them grow into the Glastonbury headliners of tomorrow.”
“The erosion of funding for seed and grassroots spaces is part of a wider liberal tendency to strip away the socially democratic infrastructure that actually makes art possible,” says Healy. “What’s left is a cultural economy where only the privileged can afford to create, and where only immediately profitable art survives.”
“The Seed Sounds Weekender is a vital reminder that music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas; it starts in back rooms, pubs, basements, and independent spaces run on love, grit, and belief in something bigger,” Healy concludes.
The Seed Sounds Weekender will run from September 26 through September 28.
Live Concert Industry, Music Industry News, Pop Culture
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