The Menstrual Cramps explain The Great Escape boycott: “The silence is deafening”
The Great Escape in Brighton is an annual celebration of new music, with hundreds of acts heading to the south coast every May in a bid to enhance their career prospects and earn new fans. However, this year’s event is clouded in controversy due to The Great Escape being sponsored by Barclays, who have financially supported Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Since October 7th, when Palestinian terrorist group Hamas brutally killed over 1,100 Israelis including many who attended a musical festival, Israel has launched a sustained military attack on Gaza. According to recent figures, over 34,000 people have died in Gaza, and over two million have been displaced from their homes.
Despite calls for a ceasefire from international leaders, that outcome doesn’t seem likely in the near future. Now, the musical community is making its collective voice heard by disassociating itself from any company that is supporting the Israeli regime’s blitz on Gaza.
Last month, many artists chose to boycott SXSW in America after it emerged the festival was sponsored by the US Army, who are aiding the Israeli assault. While Bristol punk band The Menstrual Cramps weren’t set to play the Texan event, the SXSW debacle was a major wake-up call which opened their eyes to the corporate affiliations that fund festivals.
In collaboration with How To Catch A Pig, The Menstrual Cramps launched a petition asking The Great Escape to stop their partnership with Barclays, as well as pulling out of the event. According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the bank holds over £1 billion in shares in military companies funding the Israeli army, and also allegedly has handed out £3 billion in loans to nine companies such as General Dynamics, who produce gun systems used in the conflict.
Since then, over 300 acts have signed the open letter, and more names have also removed themselves from the line-up, including Cherym, Mui Zyu, Zheani, Rett Madison, Sarah Crean, LVRA, Hongza, Van Zon, Ideal Living, Borough Council, COMRAD, Other Half, and Lambrini Girls.
Speaking exclusively with Far Out, singer Emilia Elfrida explains how The Menstrual Cramps spearheaded the revolt. Upon learning about Barclays’ involvement with The Great Escape, the band first went to their label, Alcopop! Records, who informed the festival that they wouldn’t play unless the festival disassociated themselves from Barclays.
“Those conversations were happening between me, my label and The Great Escape for nine or ten days before The Menstrual Cramps posted our statement,” Elfrida reveals. “And the day that I was posting my statement, I was speaking to my friend Liv Wynter, who is the organiser of How To Catch A Pig to ask for advice on how to word things properly,” they added.
Upon sharing the statement, Elfrida says they became aware “this is a wider issue than just The Menstrual Cramps saying something, it’s bigger than that, and it needs to be bigger than that.”
Since then, Elfrida and Wynter have worked tirelessly on the campaign alongside the Peace and Justice Project. The singer has around “25 spreadsheets” currently on the go, and is spending time on the crusade against Barclays for 16 hours a day, from 8am until midnight.
Over 20 acts have now pulled out of The Great Escape, and the figure is only set to rise as the event draws nearer. Additionally, over half of the artists on the line-up have signed the open letter, illustrating the strength of the musical community’s support for the Palestinian people.
Although The Great Escape are yet to address the boycott, or withdraw their partnership with Barclays, Elfrida confidently believes, “Music festivals can’t go ahead without musicians, and so musicians are the ones who have the power, even though a lot of time, it doesn’t feel like that.”
SXSW was a lightbulb moment for Elfrida, who admits that The Menstrual Cramps always ensured to “research promoters and other bands if we want to work with them and labels”. However, the band previously didn’t consider “sponsors and partners” of events, which they now concede is “one of the most important things.”
Elfrida also makes it clear that Barclays are the target of the boycott, and The Great Escape is merely the first festival of the summer season that has a partnership with the international bank. “We’ve started some new spreadsheets for some other festivals,” the singer explains before adding, “Obviously, the boycott target is Barclays, The Great Escape is just the first thing that’s coming up to do with Barclays. So anything else that is funded by Barclays in the music industry, we’re coming for them as well.”
Other major festivals set to be targeted in the future include Isle of Wight and Latitude, who are both also affiliated with Barclays.
Although The Menstrual Cramps are yet to be successful in their mission — The Great Escape are still affiliated with Barclays, and the event is still set to go ahead as planned — Elfrida is proud of their achievement so far, and is confident their message will only get louder as the event edges closer.
“We’ve already made quite a lot of waves and The Great Escape are not responding. They’re deleting comments when anyone on social media makes a comment about it or asks them about it, so that’s interesting. I think that comes across to us as if they’re worried and they don’t know what to say,” the singer speculates.
Elfrida continues: “The silence is deafening. We are confident in what we’re doing and in our demands of them. We don’t think they’re unreasonable, we think they’re tangible. They’re strategic. It’s not, wild, unattainable things for them to do. The ball is in their court.”
The full list of names that have signed the petition asking The Great Escape to stop their partnership with Barclays is available here.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.