Speaking to NME about the organisation’s goals in 2019, Music Declares Emergency founder and Savages’ drummer Fay Milton said: “There’s such a short period of time to make the changes we need to make, and to make people wake up and realise that there isn’t time for everyone to change everything they do. Music festivals have to evolve; they can’t stand still,” Reading & Leeds boss Melvin Benn told Sounds Like A Plan. “The most important things are audience travel, the power, and what’s left behind and recycled.” 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. For more information on the Music Declares Emergency Turn Up The Volume campaign and this week’s events visit here.

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.MDE co-founder and former Savages drummer Fay Milton, soon to launch new solo music under the name Goddess, explained to NME what set R&L apart in the fight for sustainability. 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.

If you are a record label or Artist manager you can encourage and support your artists to get involved with this important campaign 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. 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.” 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.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.” 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. The fan response to artists who have already supported our message has been overwhelmingly positive. With national and international studies showing that the vast majority of the public support action on climate, and with the opportunity for governments to direct post-covid recovery funds into green jobs and infrastructure, there has never been a better or more effective time to speak out on climate… and the stakes couldn’t be higher. READ MORE Savages’ drummer and Music Declares Emergency co-founder Fay Milton on climate change – “Music needs to get real” Whether with Radiohead, or across projects like his ongoing work for Glastonbury, the linocut graphic novel Bad Island , JG Ballard book covers or large-scale installation, his work is frequently disquieting in the best possible way. The same goes for this t-shirt design; but then again, the climate emergency is pretty unnerving.

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. We caught up with Luke to discuss his approach to designing these shirts and his wider work. The softly spoken Midland-born artist also took time to show off his latest vinyl acquisitions – including a brace of Kerbdog reissues (“I love that band, they should’ve been huge!” he enthuses) and a copy of Paradise Lost’s Draconian Times – as well as talking about the state of metal as a whole. 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. 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.

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.”