Interview Cops and Robbers
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Interview: Cops and Robbers
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We already lost it once and now we have the worry of losing Cops and Robbers for the second time. If you don’t know what Cops and Robbers are about, they are strong supporters of the DIY music scene in Leeds who provide a monthly guide listing DIY music events in the city boyh online and on paper.
DIY gigs, in short, are the ones run for the love of it, usually at a loss and giving great new bands the exposure necessary to grow and develop. It was these kind of gigs that helped promoters to bring great, now established bands like Deerhoof and Kid 606 to Leeds for the very first time. DIY promoters champion the ever evolving and exciting underworld of music in Leeds - something that has made the city to stand out amongst its contemporaries.
“The paper edition provides an interesting and immediate way for people to find out about gigs they would not normally come across,” says Cops and Robbers volunteer Claire. “And, since it is distributed to record shops, practice rooms, pubs and shops around the city, it’s a lot more hands-on and immediate than a website - something we think is important.”
It’s not just about music though, more recently they’ve started to showcase local artists, with a different illustrator for each issue. “The aim was to bring the art and music communities together and give Cops and Robbers another angle during its new lease of life,” says Claire. “We’ve heard nothing but good feedback about the brilliant illustrators who have helped us reach a new audience, because shops like OK Comics are now keener than ever to stock it.”
Unfortunately, times can be hard even for a cheap to maintain, not-for-profit group trying to support the not-for-profit creative community. ‘The magazine has always been funded by donations and benefit gigs, and is run entirely by volunteers. We were lucky enough to have a really good response to the 10th anniversary gig in January - which has kept us going financially for the first half of 2009. We are now reaching a stage where we need to urgently appeal for any donations or to organise our own fundraising gigs to fund future printing and website costs.”
And so for the second time, the music scene needs to rally round to help support Cops and Robbers in order to help continue Leeds’ current reign as the music capital of Yorkshire.
Fundraising gig, 5 September, Rock & Roll Circus, 44 Canal Road, Armley, LS12 2PL, 0113 231 9326. Donate via PayPal at http://www.copsandrobbers.net/donate or post a cheque or POs payable to “M Dixon” to Cops and Robbers, Box 999, Oblong, 2 Beulah Mount, Leeds, LS6 2JZ
Posted on Friday 10th July 2009
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