Meffs promote local gigs atthe Piper
Known for their raw energy and unyielding punk ethos, electrifying post punk duo The Meffs have taken a significant step in supporting the live music community by becoming Music Venue Trust Patrons. The Meffs will be playing a special show at The Piper in Hastings on 29 August, to celebrate becoming patrons of Music Venue Trust (MVT), the charity that represents hundreds of UK Grassroots Music Venues. The band joins an ever-expanding list of musicians – including Paul McCartney, Frank Turner and KT Tunstall – who support the work of the charity. They are supported by North London Singer-Songwriter Ben Brown.
Meffs
The Meffs write: “Grassroots venues are why we’ve been able to gig so much. Some that we played when starting out have shut down. We’ve seen first-hand the funding put into the music industries of other countries, and the impact of this funding. As a band, we will continue to fight to keep venues open and live music alive in the UK. With MVT around, there’s hope.”
To celebrate becoming patrons, the band has announced a nine date MVT Cohorts tour predominantly in cities and towns where they have never headlined or played. The tour will include the gig in The Piper and go on through Plymouth, Bournemouth, Bathgate, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stowmarket, and Milton Keynes.
Mark Davyd, CEO and Founder Music Venue Trust, said “MVT is determined to tackle the decline in the number of live tours and to ensure that the very best new music can be celebrated right across the country. The Meffs are electrifying audiences wherever they play, and we are determined to show that artists like this really should be playing everywhere, for everybody. That’s how we build audiences and it’s how we build communities.”
Ben Brown
MVT Cohorts, organised by Music Venue Trust, is a new initiative aiming to combat the shrinking tour circuit. Increased costs of touring, including fuel, accommodation and transport, and uncertainty about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on ticket sales, are forcing artists, agents, and managers to reduce the financial risks associated with playing extensive nationwide tours. As a result, tours are focusing on major cities and missing out grassroots music venues in hundreds of towns, rural areas and smaller cities across the country. Established grassroots venues are no longer being offered; music fans are no longer able to see their favourite artists, or discover new ones, without travelling to the major cities.
For future tours MVT will organise Grassroots Music Venues into ‘Cohorts’ – networks of venues each with its own distinctive identity, facility or approach but which all share a common theme and goal to support touring artists and development. A ‘Cohort’ might denote a group of venues that specialise in certain musical genres, reflect venues with a unique production style, such as seated atmospheric or small capacity, or have specific audience demographics that are under served. Each ‘Cohort’ will form a preset and agreed touring opportunity which artists, agents, managers and promoters can tap into to support tours reaching those areas currently being left behind, helping to prioritise places and communities most in need of cultural investment.
The Meffs play at The Piper on 29 August 2024. Tickets available now at themeffs.com/live-dates/
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