Recently there have been reports of disturbing fan behaviour at gigs, with bands like Luca Brasi, Modern Baseball and Spiderbait calling out this gross conduct at their shows. Well, indie rock trio Camp Cope have had enough and are spearheading the #ItTakesOne campaign to raise awareness and improve safety at Aussie music gigs.
The Australian live music scene has become unsafe, particularly for women, with sexual and physical assaults increasingly making headlines around the world. After the set of a recent Luca Brasi gig in Sydney, a “certain piece of shit male in the audience” was called out by the band for sexually assaulting two female punters in the crowd. Although this is completely unacceptable behaviour, in 2016 it’s still occurring and someone needed to take a stand against sexual harassment at gigs.
#ItTakesOne is a new campaign that has been launched by Camp Cope, a Melbourne based trio who are taking a stand against the disgusting acts at gigs recently. Inspired by conversations with their peers about the issue, the band’s campaign is all in the name; it can take just one person (man or woman) to ruin a gig or night out for others, but it also just takes one to speak out and stop this harassment or violence if they are present on the scene.
The campaign has already been backed by a lineup of music industry advocates including Poison City Records, Courtney Barnett & Jen Cloher, Chris Farren, triple J’s Dom Alessio, Totally Unicorn, Frenzal Rhomb, The Hard Aches, Redgum, The Sugarcanes, Jeff Rosenstock, Cable Ties, The Old Bar, The Bennies, The Jezebels, King Parrot, Immigrant Union, Harmony and Luca Brasi.
“We started this campaign to bring together artists to create a clear message about our stance on the abuse and assaults that continually arise at shows,” Camp Cope state in their campaign video as the reason behind their project.
“It takes one person to fuck a show up for everyone, and likewise it takes one person to call out this behaviour and initiate change.”
Watch the campaign video featuring a lineup of artists below.