A zine... about Goths... in Nature
What connections: Chris Packham, bird watching, and a gothic disco radio show?
When I saw a colleague from my time working at BBC 6 Music post about a goth fanzine created by the Agency for Nature, featuring a piece by broadcaster, nature campaigner, and climate justice activist Chris Packham, I was immediately intrigued.
Then a copy turned up in the mail and, without hesitation, I invited them onto the DiS podcast for a natter about nature, music, and much more.
The mag is beautifully designed and is a short but fun read. The wider concept behind it dovetails perfectly with this year's Drowned in Sound podcast theme, where I'm meeting change-makers and pioneers to try to help me map out potential futures for music, culture, and the planet.
If you're yet to tune in, the big question I'm asking is: How do we, as music fans, avert the world being a dystopia by 2050? My guests so far have discussed the importance of youth clubs, festivals, local government (that episode was like discussing how to play SimCity but irl), and using data to overcome gender disparity.
The sub-question this series is pondering is whether there will there still be music released and toured by 2050 - and what will that look like? How can it be fairer and more equitable? In asking these questions, I'm also exploring how we could - through community and resistance - set a new course toward a utopia.
Every Sunday on your podcast app of choice, I'm sharing my conversations with a mixture of people 'doing the work'. This includes expert guests from a range of interconnected fields and of course I'll be catching up with lots of the musicians who have shaped (and disfigured) music in the 21st century.
Originally this was a slightly ambitious podcast theme - it was a bit of blue sky thinking to do a year-long research project to mark 25 years of DiS but with the huge shifts that are taking place in the world, with the rise of both extremism backed by billionaires and extreme weather events driven by climate change, this theme is far more on the nose than originally intended. I could of course lean out and do something more escapist, but nah...
With Earth Hour yesterday, Earth Day coming up, and spring in the air in the English countryside, this week's podcast discussing music's role in forging human connections, the joy of nature and its benefits to our mental health, couldn't be more timely.
I explain all of this and more in the intro but if you're reading this and not able to listen, I urge you to take a look at the work that the Agency for Nature (run by Purpose Disruptors) is doing. This group of over 5,000 creatives - mostly from the advertising world - are working to rewire the systems that got us here. Their work is, in part, a reaction to the over consumption driven by the trillion dollar industry often described as the architects of desire.
So far, the Agency for Nature has run campaigns with grassroots football, drag queens, and used AI to allow people to speak to a tree. Fresh Hell magazine and the special Gothic Disco radio show from Walthamstow Wetlands by musician & poet Freya Beer (highly recommend finding an hour to listen to her show on Mixcloud), is their first foray into music.
The magazine reminds me of the high quality fanzines I used to order online. The concept has shaken a lot of ideas inside of me and from speaking to my guests, it has inspired a lot of people within their non-profit and beyond. I really like how the ambition for the project was simply to help young people fall in love with nature.
🖤 You can download a free PDF of Fresh Hell here - maybe share it with the young people in your life, or send it to the lovely goths you know.
I'll leave you with the words of Chris Packham:
"Nature has always been a space for self-expression and liberation. As a former punk, I found freedom in the wild, and now it’s time to show that nature belongs to everyone — goths included. This project connects subcultures with the natural world, reminding us all of the deep bond we share with the planet."
p.s. I'm just finishing an edit for our YouTube channel, so if you subscribe on there, you'll get a notification soon.