Ahead of the release of his EP ‘Dead Forever’, the enigmatic, genre-bending alt rock/metal artist, Kid Brunswick, will embark on the inaugural MVT Cohorts tour, coming to Rebellion in Manchester on August 11th. The fourteen-date tour will also include gigs at Grassroots Music Venues in Dundee, Stoke-on-Trent, Huddersfield, Swansea and Southampton before ending at Camden’s Underworld on August 21st.

The MVT Cohorts tour, organised by the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT), 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 touring artists; music fans are no longer able to see their favourite artists, or discover new ones, without travelling to the major cities.

The MVT Cohorts project will underwrite the costs of the shows, ensuring that both the artists and venues receive a guaranteed fee, removing the financial uncertainty that comes with extending tours in the UK to reach secondary and tertiary markets, thereby allowing the artists to diversify their tours and play outside the major cities and the venues to programme diverse and varied gigs.

Speaking about the tour Kid Brunswick said “These days, the high costs of everything make it challenging to plan tours beyond major cities, which is really frustrating. Musicians should have the chance to perform nationwide, and fans should be able to enjoy live music without travelling long distances to major cities. Thanks to Music Venue Trust, I’ve been able to perform in smaller towns I wouldn’t have reached otherwise. This tour is amazing, I’m extremely grateful to have this opportunity to play nationwide.”

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 underserved. 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.

Mark Davyd, CEO and Founder Music Venue Trust, said “Everyone in the grassroots sector is talking about the huge decline in artist touring. This is the essential lifeblood of grassroots music venues, and Music Venue Trust is determined to show that the enthusiasm for live music, especially new and original live music, is still as strong as ever. We’ve got to fight back against the concept that live music will only be available in major cities in huge arenas at prices out of reach to most music fans. I’m often asked what music fans can do to support the campaign to keep music live in our communities. Here’s the answer: Get out and see an MVT Cohorts show and let’s prove to the music industry that live music still belongs to all of us.”

MVT Cohorts x Kid Brunswick tour dates:
5/8 Beat Generator, Dundee
6/8 Ivory Blacks, Glasgow
7/8 The Cluny 2, Newcastle
8/8 Bootleg Social, Blackpool
10/8 Key Club, Leeds
11/8 Rebellion, Manchester
12/8 Exchange, Bristol
13/8 Parish, Huddersfield
15/8 Sugarmill, Stoke
16/8 Sin City, Swansea
17/8 The Horn, St Albans
18/8 The Joiners, Southampton
20/8 The Forum, Tunbridge Wells
21/8 The Underworld, London