Words by Naz Toorabally

T: @naztoorabally // IG: @naztoorabally

I love Pinkshift and cannot wait to see that South Asian representation in person.

Back in November 2021, Slam Dunk Festival announced more acts on their 2022 line up and it was an exciting day for many South Asian punks.

Among the latest acts to be announced is self-described “rat city rock nerds” Pinkshift who burst onto the scene in 2020 with their single ‘On Thin Ice’ and have been killing it ever since. In fact, they were recently listed on the NME 100 list of essential emerging artists for 2022. The US-based band from Baltimore, Maryland will be crossing the pond in 2022 to perform their first ever shows in the UK.

“The second announcement for the lineup got me the most hyped up for 2022,” says Tiv, 19, who is based in London and will be attending in Hatfield. “I’m so happy to see bands with such diversity. I love Pinkshift and cannot wait to see that South Asian representation in person.”

Whenever I feel nervous about the outfits and then I get off stage and there's like one brown kid that's like “I loved seeing that,” I’m like OK it's worth it!

Ashrita Kumar, 24, singer of Pinkshift who we interviewed in our latest print issue, is both excited and nervous to perform in the UK for the first time. “We've never played a festival where people choose to come and see you out of all the people they could see, so I’m a little nervous about that,” admits Ashrita who goes on to say that they’re “excited ‘cause I know there are at least 10 people who are stoked to have us there and that's all I need!” We’re sure they’re going to draw a sizeable crowd and there’s definitely going to be more than 10 people excited to see their set.

Ashrita has also become known for representing South Asian culture when performing with Pinkshift. “I don't want to be a caricature of my culture but I do wanna represent it. Even if white people don't appreciate it, they can respect. That's probably overthinking it ‘cause I should be able to do what I want but it is a thing ‘cause I know people are racist out here,” says Ashrita. “Whenever I feel nervous about the outfits and then I get off stage and there's like one brown kid that's like I loved seeing that, I’m like OK it's worth it!” 

South Asian representation at Slam Dunk Festival is also coming from Sum 41 and their guitarist Dave Brownsound, who was featured in WEIRDO’s hall of fame in The Music Issue. The Canadian punk rock band grew to prominence following the release of their first full-length album ‘All Killer, No Filler’ in 2001 which features popular tracks ‘Fat Lip’ and ‘In Too Deep’, and we’re very excited for their set.

Seeing South Asian people performing at festivals like Slam Dunk is a big deal for many people from our community as we are under-represented in these scenes – on stage, behind the scenes and in the crowd. Of course, cultural and family expectations within South Asian communities play a role in this. Many young South Asian people from strict households have the shared experience of having to wait until they leave home to attend events like festivals, gigs and club nights. “This year I was finally able to take independence and control of my life and going to slammy was one of my dreams,” says Tiv who is excited by the freedom attending university will offer. “So many of my friends meet up there and I cannot wait to see them there!” 

Artists also feel the weight of not seeing themselves on stage – it can make you feel alone, the experience of performing more daunting and even make it harder for us to convince our parents that a career in the music industry is something people who look like us can succeed at. “When we started blowing up I didn't know anyone else, and that's why I started looking for people,” says Ashrita who fronts Pinkshift. “I already knew about Nadia Javed from The Tuts, and I tried to find more people because [I thought] I cannot be the only one ‘cause that's gonna drive me insane, and knowing I could be the only one. Turns out there's a good amount of us, there's like fifty, and before I thought it could be zero.” 

Slam Dunk is an annual UK pop-punk, emo, metal, and alternative music festival. The festival is held across two days with the same lineup on both days. Slam Dunk North in Leeds will be held on Friday 3 June 2022 and Slam Dunk South in Hatfield will happen the following day. Slam Dunk is an independent festival run by a small team of four with roots in the DIY scene, and the festival has grown since its 2006 debut, with a loyal following.

“In the early days of the festival, it was one of the only festivals in the UK that I felt was putting on the music that I listened to and it was always a weekend where I would see my friends,” says Francesca, 34, from Nottingham who has attended the annual festival around seven times since 2008. “There were always people I knew going, so it was kind of a big party, seeing my friends, meeting new people, just experiencing music that I really love.”

There was only cis white men on stage, there wasn’t many visibly queer bands, not much diversity in the lineup and I was really starting to feel like we can’t justify this anymore.

However, Francesca says they’re on the fence about attending Slam Dunk Festival this year due to a historical lack of diversity on the festival’s lineup. “The last time I went was 2018 – great lineup. I went with my friends and had an amazing time but there were things under the surface I was becoming uncomfortable with,” she says. “Only cis white men on stage, there wasn’t many visibly queer bands, not much diversity in the lineup and I was really starting to feel like we can’t justify this anymore.”

But that’s not all that’s keeping this longtime fan of Slam Dunk Festival hesitant to purchase a ticket this year. “I was also struggling to see bands with sexual assault allegations against them,” says Francesca, who was disappointed to see Moose Blood remain on the 2018 festival lineup, despite allegations against vocalist Eddy Brewerton from a fan who accused him of stealing nude photos from her phone and sharing them with other band members. “I could choose not to see them, but my ticket money is still going to support these bands who are taking advantage of young fans.”

We took a closer look at the gender and racial diversity of the 2022 lineup and it appears that 18 out of the 29 acts announced so far are white male acts which is disappointing, but unsurprising. The majority of bands (23 out of 29) do not have a musician of colour in the band. Women are also poorly represented: only 7 out of 29 acts feature at least one woman, with only 2 out of 7 being women of colour. Slam Dunk Festival promises over 40 acts across multiple stages, so we’re hoping the remaining acts to be announced will make up for the lack of racial and gender diversity in the lineup so far.

It’s important to note, though, that this year’s lineup is a significant improvement on 2021 with regards to gender and racial diversity, suggesting that Slam Dunk Festival is listening to music fans in this scene. A spokesperson for Slam Dunk Festival confirmed that seven acts on the 2021 lineup featured at least one female member, so with seven announced already and more acts yet to be announced for 2022, we’re hopeful that more women and gender-diverse people will join the lineup. They also confirmed that only two acts on the final 2021 lineup included people of colour (POC), so with six acts with POC members announced so far for 2022, this is a huge and welcomed improvement. In terms of acts who openly identify as LGBTQ+, last year’s lineup had one trans person, one person who uses they/them pronouns and one bisexual person; information on acts with LGBTQ+ members on this year’s lineup was not available at the time of writing this article.

“Sometimes you have to go looking,” says Francesca, who puts on their own gigs. She admits to us that even she has been guilty in the past of explaining away the lack of diversity in the scene by accepting the status quo. “I'm not expecting everyone to instantly know every single band and have a diverse circle of people around them, but it's so easy to find that it's embarrassing at this point if people haven't even done one Google search.” 

You don’t wanna reward people for the bare minimum, but they are starting to put on bands that are exciting and it's where the scene is going and it's positive that they are getting this platform.

With collectives and organisations such as Decolonise Fest, Diversify Your Scene and LOUD WOMEN in existence, festivals and promoters are running out of excuses for lineups of mostly white and male artists. In fact, some of these collectives work with festival promoters to address these issues. For example, Decolonise Fest announced last year that they are collaborating with Supersonic Festival to guest curate part of their 2022 lineup. Ultimately, though, many of us are hoping for and working towards a society where these collectives and organisations are no longer needed.

“I was talking to my friend about it and we were like this is the first time I will go to Slam Dunk and see someone who looks like me on the stage,” says Francesca who wants to attend this year to support bands like Pinkshift and Meet Me @ the Altar. “So even though it's the bare minimum, it still felt like wow, there's actually something – a crumb of something. You don’t wanna reward people for the bare minimum, but they are starting to put on bands that are exciting and it's where the scene is going and it's positive that they are getting this platform.”

Slam Dunk Festival is not the only festival with issues with its lineup. Festival organisers continue to be called out for their lack of gender diversity, including Bloodstock, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Parklife, Latitude and more. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 the music industry promised to change, but Black and people of colour are still waiting to see these changes. A report by Black Lives in Music released in September 2021 revealed the devastating extent of anti-Black racism in the music industry, but with the hope that this evidence will help reform the music industry.

People of South Asian descent remain largely invisible in the UK music industry. According to the 2011 Census, people of Asian descent form 7.5% of the population in England and Wales, meaning people from Asian ethnic groups made up the second largest percentage of the population (after white people), with the majority of Asian ethnic groups from the Indian subcontinent. So why are we, for example, under-represented in the broadcast industry and feel like the visibility of South Asian women in music is a rarity? To date, British Tamil rapper M.I.A. is the only artist who is visibly of South Asian origin to have achieved huge mainstream success. In terms of South Asian visibility in the rock and metal scenes, people might be surprised by the number of South Asian musicians in popular bands in the 80s and 90s (see WEIRDO’s Spotify playlist), but there are few success stories in recent years.

Festivals play a huge role in redressing the gender and racial inequality in this industry, but many continue to disappoint. We’re excited to see that more South Asian, people of colour and women are represented on this year’s Slam Dunk Festival lineup, an improvement on their 2021 lineup, and we want to see this continue and improve for as long as the festival continues.

“I want to want to go!” says Francesca, still unsure whether she will attend this year, despite being a longtime fan of the festival. “I want that feeling I've always had from going, seeing bands I love and discovering new bands, feeling safe and comfortable and at home.”

Are you going to Slam Dunk Festival this year? Let us know in the comments! General admission tickets are available via their website.

This article was updated on 10 January 2022 at 16:30 GMT following a response from a spokesperson for Slam dunk Festival to clarify that the gender and racial diversity on Slam Dunk Festival’s 2022 lineup has improved compared to 2021. In addition, we previously stated there are 17 bands with only white male members, this has been corrected to 18.