From International Times: At the vanguard of the massive 20 June protests against the British government’s austerity agenda, stood one commercially successful musician. Charlotte Church lent her voice to the rally, energising the crowd with her presence. Why are popular musicians like Church not fired with enthusiasm to produce anti-austerity protest music for the cause?

The most insightful pieces have come from independent artists impelled to populate the social media with their expletive driven bluster. A reasoned critique from Kingpin, suggests we “F**k the government.” Robin Grey’s advice for politicians is: “F**k off back to Eton.” Rocking against the cuts, the Cabinet of Millionaires chant: “Bulls*t lies / Revolting, revolting!”

With a soundtrack like this, who could doubt the effectiveness of protests? Songs are memorable and can galvanise people around an issue.

[Read full column on International Times website…]

From Noisey: Leeds has its fair share of issues with gentrification, mass unemployment and vacant buildings that come hand in hand with nationwide austerity measures. We’ve seen swathes of our beloved music venues shut down beneath the shadows of corporate arenas and aggressive city centre redevelopment, all of this against a backdrop of historic arts cuts. Leeds City Council recently announced plans to save £76.1m over the next financial year (good luck with that), which involves a whopping 20% drop in funding for arts organisations.

With the lack of money-making opportunities for creatives with insufficient individual wealth, it’s those core DIY principles that are currently powering us through the grim fog of austerity. Making it on your own, together, seems to be the only way to cut through the fog and put an end to this twenty-first century lonerism.

Leeds’ emphatic embrace of the underground has made the city a hotbed for artistic pluralism and experimentation, and the conscious acceptance of art for art’s sake has definitely been a coping mechanism for austerity. That philosophy can be found thumping away at the heart of new DIY collectives like Chunk, who describe themselves as “independent” and “not for profit”, running on “love and noise”.

[Read full article on Noisey website…]

From Londonist: Chancellor, you’re not the only one, who swings around his axe for fun.
I have been known to wield my own, and I am quite…accident prone.

Library closures, austerity living and the veiled suggestion of taking a hatchet to George Osborne, all wrapped in a catchy ditty and some London eye-candy.

Welcome to Austerity is the first track from Doyle & The Fourfathers‘ forthcoming Olympics Critical EP.

[Read full article on Londonist…]