Matty Healy is an ambassador for a new music festival featuring more than 1,000 acts (Picture: Jim Dyson/Redferns)

Matty Healy has backed a brand new British music festival that hopes to tackle ‘cultural erasure’ with a grassroots focus.

The 1975 frontman, 36, who was last seen headlining Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, will act as an ambassador for The Seed Sounds Weekender.

The brand new UK-based music festival will see more than 2,000 gigs take place in 1,000 pubs, bars, and restaurants in a bid to celebrate the arts in Britain.

It will take place from September 26 to 28, with performances from local artists, spotlighting venues that played a crucial part in launching the careers of many of our favourite artists.

‘Local venues aren’t just where bands cut their teeth, they’re the foundation of any real culture,’ the About You hitmaker said in a statement.

‘Without them, you don’t get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence. 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.’

Matty has backed the festival, which will take place in thousands of venues across the UK (Picture: Harry Durrant/Getty Images)

The 1975 vocalist has praised the work of seed venues in launching musicians’ careers (Picture: John Phillips/Getty Images)

He went on to say that because of this, we are left with a landscape where ‘only the privileged can afford to create.’

‘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.’

Speaking ahead of the event, GigPig co-founder Kit Muir-Rogers said that seed venues in the UK are ‘where music careers are born.’

‘Collectively, this space promotes more music than any other in the live music business, yet it has gone overlooked and underappreciated,’ he continued.

The gigs will take place from September 26 to 28 (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Towns and cities taking part in Seed Music Festival

Birmingham
Bournemouth
Coventry
Edinburgh
Exeter
Glasgow
Harrogate
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Middlesbrough
Newcastle
Nottingham
Oxford
Sheffield
Southampton
Sunderland
York

‘The Seed Sounds Weekender is not just a festival; it’s a rallying point for a sector that deserves to be celebrated for its immense contribution to British music.’

Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) who are involved in the project, added: ‘Seed music venues are the incubators for the next generation of artists.

‘They’re more than venues, they’re workshops, gathering spots, testing grounds. They’re where rough ideas get sharpened, where voices find confidence, where communities come together around sound and story. If we want to keep that creative fire burning, if we want new sounds, new voices, and scenes that speak to who we really are, then we’ve got to look after the seed spaces. That’s the foundation everything else stands on.’

The bandmates first met in secondary school and have gone on to become one of Britain’s biggest indie groups, winning numerous accolades, including four Brit Awards.

They have been heavily praised by the likes of Robbie Williams and Justin Hawkins for their musical style, with the Evening Standard hailing them the ‘most compelling pop band on the planet’ in 2023.

Seed Sounds Weekender will take place in venues across the UK from September 26 to 28. More information and tickets are available here.

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