No Music On A Dead Planet Climate Support T-Shirt

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While Reid’s hardly rested on his laurels since, it’s little surprise that his design for Music Declares Emergency’s ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’ T-shirt range draws on that instantly recognisable punk aesthetic. There ’ s the nostalgia trip, but there is a new breed of heavy bands that have really come into their own in the last few years. I’ve also worked on the Tony Hawk game recently, which is great. All of these things just come out of the blue. ‘Would you like to work on a Tony Hawk game?’ ‘Oh, alright then!’ That was just two skateboards that I designed that were put in game, but then they kindly sent me versions of the physical boards that are hanging in my studio. But Luke’s work extends far beyond music. His illustrations grace innumerable video games – including in-game elements for the Gears Of War franchise as well as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. His artwork has also appeared on Santa Cruz skateboards and in 2000 AD – the iconic comic where Luke started out as a graphic designer some 15 years ago. Not even NFTs (non-fungible tokens) escape this debate. These pieces of one-of-a-kind digital content – everyone from Slipknot to Mike Shinoda to Poppy have got in on the act – also have a negative impact on the environment. The cryptocurrencies used to buy and sell them create planet-heating emissions – one piece of analysis, reported by The Verge, estimated the average NFT has a carbon footprint equivalent to a month’s worth of electricity usage for a standard person in the EU.

We believe that greening the music industry is a necessary part of creating a fertile environment for artists to speak out and create their own work around climate. We work with our partner organisation, Julie’s Bicycle, to coordinate and activate change within our own industry. I had a look at all the other designs they’d done previously and the No Music On A Dead Planet slogan was the kind of thing that dominated. So I did the first design based around the text. I asked myself, ‘What would be a metal way to the message across?’ The idea of a globe burning was the idea that came to mind. Then I thought, ‘Let’s make it a skull with the globe burning in the forehead because that way you’re marrying the human element with the idea of the world.’ Basically, it just needed to say, ‘If we don’t sort this shit out, we won’t be in a particularly good state.’ Then I got to work with Metallica on posters and T-shirts, which has been a real honour. In 2019 I was on the guestlist when they played Manchester and it was surreal to see my artwork on their shirts behind on the merch stand. My wife was like, ‘Oh, my god, look there’s a person wearing one of your shirts! And there’s another one! And another!’ It all culminated in that really, because they’re one of my favourite bands and they’re the band that really got me into metal.” For more information on the Music Declares Emergency Turn Up The Volume campaign and this week’s events visit here. At the time of its formation, independent group Music Declares set about organising an industry wide declaration of Climate and Ecological Emergency signed by leading artists including Thom Yorke, Stanley Donwood, Jamie Reid, Paul Cook, and Anthony Burrill as well as businesses within the UK music industry, calling for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and pledging industry action on environmental sustainability. At the heart of its work is the belief that “the music community can drive forward public understanding and pressure government to take immediate action on climate and biodiversity loss.” This goal is currently being bolstered by a line of t-shirts that raise awareness and funds for the organization, created by big names whose work has frequently married visual art and music, including Jamie Reid and Anthony Burrill.Yeah. I started there around 2004 and I worked there for about nine years whilst playing in bands. I was commuting from Birmingham to Oxford every day and then playing gigs at night, and not really sleeping. This was when I was a lot younger and I still had energy! I was always into the metal scene and I wanted to tap into that still by doing gig posters. Then I left 2000 AD and started working in video games. I did bits of concept art for video games while continuing with my own art. Every artist’s goal is to be able to do what they want to do. Now I’ve got to a point where I am able to do that. The music industry is very childish,” she added. “We run around thinking we’re special, we make a mess and someone else clears it up. We think that the rules don’t apply to us. In certain areas, that’s fun because it leads to creativity. When it comes to impact on the planet, it’s just not OK because the people you’re impacting are your audience. They have to act responsibly and the more pressure we can put on them to do that, the better. We need a safer, fairer, greener world.” Maisie Peters added that it was “important that people do as much as they can, but this is a global issue for which governments have to be responsible.”

To use Greta Thunberg’s analogy, the house is on fire, and there isn’t time for whoever started the fire with their cigarette to quit smoking before saying the house is on fire – it’s on fire now, and we need to fix this. Let’s change our lifestyles, let’s fly less, let’s use less plastic – but ultimately what’s needed is a governmental response.”I started doing illustration and art from a very young age and most artists will probably say that. When I left school I played guitar and I always wanted to be in a band. I think it’s a common theme among artists, they play an instrument as well. I was in lots of really shitty bands and I realised that being in a band was really hard. I always did artwork, for friend’s bands and stuff.

READ MORE: Savages’ drummer and Music Declares Emergency co-founder Fay Milton on climate change: “Music needs to get real” Nigel also points to other areas in which production of vinyl can be more sustainable. “There’s no proof that heavier vinyl weight affects sound quality in any way, so just changing from 200/180gm to 140gm saves on emissions,” he recommends. “We can do without shrinkwrap, or go for a longer lasting bag so it’s not single use. Make sure the card in the LP sleeves is recycled, and the pressing plants are using non-toxic inks. The nice thing about Festival Republic, and Reading & Leeds in particular, is that they recognise what an important role music can play in being a cultural influencer to create change,” Milton told NME. “They’re doing great stuff in terms of sustainability, but also recognising the power that they hold as a communicator. Music Declares Emergency founder Fay Milton of Savages in a new No Music On A Dead Planet t-shirt. Credit: Press While it might seem odd for a climate crisis organisation to be making anything physical at all, we’re assured that all the shirts are made through a process that’s “sustainable and circular,” using natural materials and renewable energy. People are also encouraged to send shirts that are “at the end of their life” to online retailer Teemill to be reincorporated into the manufacturing process and go round the cycle again.

Recycled’ vinyl is available quite commonly – it’s the offcuts from the process of making LPs,” explains Nigel Adams from independent label Full Time Hobby. “It isn’t massively more expensive and is cheaper than some of the colour variants – plus, you can get random colour-ways.”

Music can do a lot of things. According to Madonna, it makes the people come together ; for Missy Elliot it makes you lose control ; for Julie Andrews, it’s the very thing that makes the hills alive . ABBA? They’re just bloody grateful for it. And as Hot Chip’ synth botherer Joe Goddard would have it, music is the answer . But the question on everyone’s lips, possibly, is: can music and the music industry “drive forward public understanding of the climate emergency and pressure governments to take immediate action on climate and biodiversity loss?” Foals attend the Hyundai Mercury Prize: Albums of the Year at Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on September 19, 2019 in London (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

That’s what we lose if we continue on this current trajectory,” added Chapman. “We’re trying to be positive. There is time to turn it around.” Considering all this, it's no wonder the voice of the music community is once again growing louder on the issue. This time it feels different – more defiant. Enter Music Declares Emergency, a grassroots collective co-founded by Fay Milton from punk band Savages. They witnessed the work being done by activist group Extinction Rebellion in 2019 and decided it was time to create a space where their friends and colleagues in the music industry could unite in action on climate. Their striking motto stands also a warning: ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’. Their mission is clear, too. They urge governments and media to tell the truth about the scale and severity of the problem, call on governments to have net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and encourage people to recognise the injustices in society that’ve led to the climate and ecological emergency. Spotlighting the artists who have been involved, Milton pointed to Billie Eilish – who was been very vocal in the #NoMusicOnADeadPlanet campaign and will next week also return to London with her OVERHEATED climate event. It was the afternoon of the BRIT Awards, I was recording a podcast with him expecting to hear about what outrageous suit he’d be wearing to the ceremony in London that evening. Instead, conversation turned to the existential danger posed by the climate and ecological emergency. It was exactly the type of conversation – a mix of desperate frustration and stubborn optimism – I’ve had with numerous musicians recently. Summing things up, Simon said: “Things have changed, and we need to wake up… We need to do so much more. Me and my band need to figure out ways so that we’re not contributing anything to that.”