I chatted with Alt-pop upstart Lynks about saving their home, the Rising Sun Collective. This third part of their ongoing interview reveals observations on neoliberalism, the benefit of alternative living standards and the future plans for the living space.
“Once we can get the money sorted, we can obviously reach out to other co-ops and help people win their own fights so that twats doing all the shit in Brixton at the moment can’t do it in other areas.” – Lynks
What future plans do you have for your home collective should you be successful?
Lynks: We have a lot of plans. The first thing is to continue all the stuff we’ve been doing. Rehearsal spaces, artists that can’t afford the usual music places and have them recorded well. We want to make more use of our clothing space. We had Alzang come along and use the house for their denim creations.
Are they responsible for your recent denim costume?
Lynks: Actually no, but hey – deffo inspired me! So, we’ve had a few EP launches back in the day. We had Shame come down and film a live session here recently. We want to get a digital radio station going and a mixing desk to sort out a live session in the basement. Once we can get the money sorted, we can reach out to other co-ops and help them win their own fights so that twats doing all the shit in Brixton at the moment can’t do it in other areas.
A palpable community fight against Gentrification.
Lynx: Yeah. That’s the plan. I have faith that we can do what we need to do. Initially, the deadline was set for July, and then it was pushed to the tail end of August. So I have hope. We raised One hundred thousand in just a few months, that’s aside from loan stock and what have you. So, if we can raise that much in a short amount of time, then I have no doubt that we can hit our target.
It feels like the pushing back of the date suggests they actually want to help. The landlord is not some evil guy, right?
Lynks: Yeah, to give credit to the landlord and the estate agents, they’ve been great. They aren’t the enemy. The enemy are those who are trying to outbid us. The landlord doesn’t even live in the UK anymore; he probably bought it when he was pretty young. He just wants to give his grandkids money and stuff. So I can’t be down on him in any way. The estate agents and the landlord have been great, and it’s obviously going to work financially well for them, which is lovely to see. They get to be part of something really cool.
We have to remember that the people working in those agencies might have been in bands before bowing to the ‘get a real job.’ mentality. Seeing you guys succeed sends a great message that there are models outside of the ontological concept of capitalist realism.
Lynks: Yup, everyone loves an underdog, you know?
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