Even in the darkness, there is always light. Though music venue closure is not a problem to be taken lightly. With over 26% of small UK music venues shutting their doors since the fever dream of 2020 (and over 50% reporting no profits in 2025), the grassroots music scene has, for the past few years, been taking the brunt of impact from hostile nightlife legislation, inflation and the resulting cautious climate amongst promoters for lineups at large.
Grassroots are integral foundations to the scene. Not only part of the music landscape, they form the training grounds for budding talent to cut their teeth; for fans to discover them and experimental subgenres to be cultivated, test driven and successfully developed. As of last year, over 175 UK towns and cities no longer receive tour stops from major artists, with local economies taking a hit as a result. Every big name has been through the same circuit, beginning their journeys in the small, intimate venues that are fast disappearing from the UK’s cities. Without these spaces, artists – and fans – lose their opportunities to connect and music communities lose a space to come together.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Cue Zaba, aka Alice Boyd; Artist, Activist, DJ, Producer, Promoter and Head of Ops for Croakheads; a drum and bass collective and activist organisation fighting against music venue closure and overcommercialism, recognisable by their frog associations and now only in their second year of operations. After moving back to the UK from Prague in recent years, Zaba wanted to create a community of creative collaborators, and the project quickly morphed into something more.
The Croakheads mission is simple. “We had 6,000 grassroots music job losses in 2025. We will have nowhere to go but online algorithms, commercially owned venues and corporate branded festivals if we don’t start supporting our local scene more. Showing up for your local promoters or friends’ events doesn’t just support others – it saves jobs and it saves small businesses from closing permanently.”
Beginning as a Soundcloud page in 2024, the frog army has since grown into a solid UK wide DJ collective, now hosting at the time of writing, 25+ events, 20+ takeover sets, across 15+ venues and 10+ cities. Grassroots massive. But this is no ordinary collective.
Zaba and her Croakheads crew have now raised over £3,300 for Music Venue Trust (MVT).
These proceeds are collected through ticket sales of unhinged event concepts and the 100% Donation Merch Stall. The MVT charity uses these proceeds to support grassroots venues, upcoming artists and promoters through small scale grants and emergency relief. It’s no small froggy feat that Croakheads are accomplishing.
They’re also lobbying MPs on the issue.
The team talks to local councils, asking them to address the funding inaccessibility, rising operations costs and the competition against massive corporate events that small venues face. They’re also now in contact with Oxford Councillors to keep the conversation going, as well as supporting Danny Dubz from the Oxford University Electronic Music Society, working with them to connect Oxford uni student bodies with local grassroots collectives.
Zaba’s vision is clear; save our venues, remind us that we’re not alone and now more than ever, we need creativity and community in music to keep grassroots not just alive, but thriving. “We cannot achieve anything without each other. That means showing up, learning from mistakes and taking responsibility when you mess up. I would be nothing and nowhere without my Croakheads family. Our success as a team comes from the fact that we are a family and we support each other like one.”
The Croakheads Network: DJ collective and activist campaign.
Fundraising isn’t the only way the collective supports the cause. Zaba’s title isn’t ‘Heads of Operations’ for nothing. The team run a legion of ops across Croakheads and sister collective Croakheads North, based in Liverpool and headed up by R_TH and YEMAYA. Zaba has set up an operation that teaches a man to fish and so on – as the proverb goes. Working directly with local grassroots venues and promoters; they support them in running events, sharing resources and collaborating with local crews to get events off the ground. This gives DJs stages, gives audiences events, connects collectives, creates new promoters, introduces people to venues and pulls micro communities closer together.
Everything they do is rooted in ecosystems instead of individual success.
“Acolyte and Amber from Proelium Audio have been truly supportive of us. Acolyte is one of our residents and they’ve been through the whole thing with me – thick and thin. Solsan has also been there from the beginning and even today he sends me messages to remind me to stop working so hard but encourages me so much. There’s so many more, I’m so grateful to all of everyone who’s been involved, past and present and to all the friends who have supported me this year.”
A further network of Ambassadors and Admins across the country create and distribute promo, support running of events and spread awareness of these issues through community initiatives – open deck nights – most recently at Lakota, Bristol, guest mix series, challenges. Ahead of Boomtown, they printed over 1000 fact sheets on venue closure statistics and made friendship bracelets and sticker packs to spread awareness beyond the events.
A roster of artist Residents also get involved across the network. “The long term goal is to have a regular Resident rota, with artists that do several local events and fundraising and, hopefully, work closely with MVT and other charities or appropriate affiliates. I want to draw more of a connection between these kinds of organisations with the actual grassroots scene and DJ world.” Venue closure affects live music events disproportionately and Zaba sees cross genre collaboration as another way for communities to support each other. “DJs have a lot of room to work with bands and so on and support here.”
The famous Croakheads MVT Donation Stall:
It’s become something of an underground legend. Seen at every Croakheads rave and at the edge of the dancefloor at other underground nights; the stall sells event merchandise; hats, socks, badges, handmade friendship bracelets, from which 100% of proceeds are donated to Music Venue Trust. A purposefully easy way for any fan to get involved with activism and support the scene. “That is important to me, that people don’t feel so powerless. It’s easy to feel that way when you see everything closing and you feel you can’t do anything about it. But if you come to an event, you can literally just buy a pair of socks for two pound, and then you feel like you’ve done something, even if it’s small.”
Now every artist on a Croakheads lineup and every promoter involved in the event get a custom friendship bracelet. “This was our way of trying to give back to the community and create a togetherness experience where everyone was part of the team together for the day. At one point I was making 400 bracelets in the space of two weeks which was nuts.”
Creativity is an important part of the cause.
Throwing Brat themed nights isn’t just for vibes. “Our real mission is just to bring FUN and grassroots activism back to the rave.” To combat the rigidity of the music business of the day, Croakheads event concepts create space for music to be fun and for silliness on the dancefloor. Inflatable dolphins, Y2K, Space XCX. A real PLUR playground.“Everything is deliberately designed to be bizarre, whimsical and nonsensical. Deadpan absurdist promo to get across the serious campaigning we’re actually doing.”
Zaba’s creativity as a solo artist has always been about crossing wires and follows a similar ethos; Techno ballet, Orwellian minimal, a liquid and neurofunk tribute to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, all infused with frog motifs are what have personally earned her creative notoriety over the past year. “I think we’re lacking more elaborate storytelling in the scene. There are of course a lot of producers who do that in their own way, but I’m talking about cross genre referencing, just really interesting storytelling of mixed genre capability. No filter.”
This is where Zaba stands apart, channeling her activism into her production and mix themes and, through the collective, encouraging other artists to do the same through their own unique creativity.
But what can we realistically do about a structural crisis this big?
Although we can’t change venue rents, business rates or national policy, we can simply just show up, which makes all the difference. Post-internet culture can make it feel like we’re more disconnected than ever, but the means exist to reach out and connect with fellow headz. Even if money can’t be given, paying time and attention to your local crews can go far. This is the true work of Croakheads, of Zaba’s vision of the future; injecting energy and care into local communities whilst learning to laugh about it all, serving the scene, led by the frog lady herself.
Community means active participation. Grassroots only flourish when communities support each other, which is what Croakheads and other collectives are starting to do. In summer next year, multiple small drum and bass collectives and brands will come together for grassroots festival ‘Beyond Mars’, with the frog army themselves taking part.
As Zaba herself says, “That, is the future of grassroots activism and music! Collaboration.”
If you want to know more:
- You can read the Music Venue Trust’s 2025 report in full on their website.
- Read MVT’s 2026 submission to the Business and Trade Committee of Parliament here: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/151908/html
