Brexit, postage, touring woes.

Just before Christmas, I took an armful of records down to the post office and was pretty shocked to discover that they point blank refused to take them. 'Here comes the brexit bullshit' I thought, but it turns out that it was much more to do with Covid-19 in this instance. The UK's mutant strain has meant that many territories have not only cancelled flights from here but have placed restrictions on incoming mail also - makes sense I guess. Currently there's no helpful advice on offer from the Royal Mail, so we wait in yet another limbo.

Soon though, we'd come to realise that brexit bullshit indeed was coming into play. 2020 absolutely decimated the music industry - the live sector especially - and new customs requirements will mean that it's harder than ever to tour outside of the UK. Those smaller bands whose tours live and die on tiny margins anyway will be worst affected by arbitrary new rules and requirements. There's a slim chance it will make much difference, but there's a petition for UK residents to sign to bring this up in parliament that is better than nothing:

Sign the petition - Seek Europe-wide Visa-free work permit for Touring professionals and Artists:

UK parliament petition for EU work permits

You might say that this is just a transitional period, but we've had years to prepare and clearly no great deal of thought has been put into these matters. We're entering an era where postage is more expensive and more customs charges will apply, where it's more difficult for us to leave this island to tour and spread our wares. We’ve entered an inward-looking, bureaucratic nightmare. It's difficult to be optimistic right now but at the very least we ask that you bear with us while we try to navigate these new obstacles.