“That’s not gonna happen anymore unless people invest in bands”: Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell on why the Oasis reunion phenomenon shows what’s wrong with the music industry
While Birmingham City University estimates that Oasis’ reunion will bag the britpop brothers around £50 million each, the rest of the music industry is struggling. The financial strain of touring has impacted countless musicians – and Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell insists that pumping money into nostalgia acts instead of supporting new artists isn’t helping the situation.
In a new interview with The Fader, the frontwoman notes that, while “people love band history”, the imbalance of attention smaller acts are receiving will be dire for the future of music. If people solely support established artists, smaller acts will fall at the first hurdle. “Just look at Oasis… that’s not gonna happen any more unless people invest in bands,” Rowsell says.
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Even Wolf Alice have struggled to make ends meet in the past. “It’s really hard to be in a band,” Rowsell admits. “It’s extremely expensive and even if you’re backed by a label, people don’t know that you’ve got to split everything.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the rest of Wolf Alice voice similar sentiments. Drummer Joel Amey speaks about how “lucky” the band feel, especially considering “how expensive it is to be in a band”. Bassist Theo Ellis also notes how even the “initial investment” when starting a band is “enormously more expensive than it used to be.”
“The problem is though, people still make it work,” he continues. “If you have that kind of environment, it will only be privileged people that will make it work. And that kind of sucks for everyone.”
Ironically, Oasis’ very own Noel Gallagher has previously spoken out about the phenomenon of privileged middle-class musicians taking over the scene. Speaking to The Star in 2022, he said: “There’s lots of singer-songwriters, loads of middle-class bands… wearing guitars as oppose to playing them. But four or five guys from a council estate can’t afford guitars.”
“I’ve actually read that in Britain since 2008, with the increase in kids who are privately educated who are in the charts, there’s barely any kids who aren’t privately educated who are successful in the music industry in my country,” he continued.
From Devon Townsend to Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, plenty of musicians have mourned the hiking costs of touring. Last year, former Longpigs and Pulp guitarist Richard Hawley even told NME that rock ‘n’ roll is a “very much a middle-class thing now”, which entirely “pisses [him] off”.
Wolf Alice’s latest record, The Clearing, is out now.
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