You only have to spend a weekend in Bristol to see: the local underground scene is thriving. Musicians, artists, writers, it seems everyone in this city is inspired by each other and working on some genre-defying project.
Someone who has seen this first-hand, and likely played a pivotal role in making it all happen, is Below the Belt productions. The group of creatives based in Bristol offer all services one could think an underground band might need: they promote, they film music videos, they even print merch on a screen printer squeezed into their office in Hotwells.
They say they want to help Bristol’s scene in any way they can and keep things local. In a world where money seems to gravitate towards London and the rest of the UK has to fend for itself, Below the Belt wants to help underground artists to survive – and even thrive.
I sat down with Will, Jono, Beth and Ruby to chat about what they do and why they do it.
So, what is Below the Belt?
Jono: It’s a strange beast to be honest with you but it’s the culmination of four different people. Will had all the screen printing stuff under his bed for three years, waiting for a space to appear so we could use it. The merch thing was a big one because for bands at our level and artists in a broad sense, stand up poetry to digital art, to musicians. The main way they make money now is to have merch and the best way to support it is to go buy that T-Shirt and that totebag. That’s really hard to reach for people in Bristol, things can be really expensive or scary. We try to make things entry level. People can come in and have a chat. We want to make things happen for them. It’s really nice facilitating that.
Where does the focus on the music scene come from?
Beth: It’s because we started by promoting gigs. Will was in a squat and said I can put on a gig in here. And then we did. We made a poster overnight and had a week to put something on. We kept doing small gigs like that and that’s how we started. There’s a memory I have of being at the Social around a round table and we said: we’re going to start this thing. We didn’t know what to call it but we said: we’re all good at these things. So we’re just going to make it up. I came up with the name.
Jono: We thought, if we completely bypass all of these promoters who are taking all the money, then we could just give it straight back to the band and use it to make merch and make tours accessible.
Will: All the UK’s wealth is based in London. With that lack of industry, there’s so much talent and artists, including musicians but also graphic designers and film makers.You need to industrialise and work together. If you want to stay in this city we call home, you’ve got to find that tipping point of: we are going to try to release and do a tour. Know your worth.
Jono: That ties into the merch stuff. If you want merch for bands in Bristol, you’re buying from Southampton or other places where there’s vast areas of warehouses. It takes it out of the city. Instead, this is a love letter to Bristol, keep it here instead. It makes you happy and proud of what you do. It’s a really long answer though, when your mum asks you what you do.
Beth: I used to find it really hard to explain what Below the Belt is.
Do you finance it by doing jobs outside of this? And is your plan to ever do this full time?
Beth: Our plan is to be a million dollar corporation.
Jono: We’d like to ride into work on jet skis.
Beth: I feel really optimistic. We’ve been going for five years. I’m going to be overjoyed if one day I can take a fiver home from a gig.
Jono: You get used to it. We’ve always been funding it with hospitality. In the arts, you get so lucky to be able to do it full time. If nobody gives you a seat at the table, make your own seat at the table.
Beth: It’s very tiring dragging chairs to tables.
You touched on it already. What’s the situation like for smaller bands in Bristol? On the one hand, there seem to be a lot of them but on the other hand, a lot of venues are clsoing. What’s your view on it as insiders?
Beth: I think there’s so much good music right now in Bristol. This is the best position Bristol has been in ever. I know there’s been Massive Attack but this is the most rich and genre bending. There’s a ridiculous amount of Bristol bands on the Greenman lineup.
Jono: Without touching too much on Covid, there was a big gap left in arts. But you step out of it and the old industry no longer exists. TikTok had taken it by the reins, short form content, playing the social media game. Artistic people were purist, nobody wants to do that because Joni Mitchell never had to. After a little bit of time, I feel like we’re in a nice renaissance period right now. People are moving from all over the south west and choosing Bristol, not London.
//Words: Clara Bullock//