Mikel Medley on how The Music Works is tackling knife crime in Gloucestershire

Mikel Medley, award-winning dance vocalist and Bristol-based ‘mic man’, Dread MC, has cemented himself in the drum and bass scene and has played at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and Exit Festival. He’s also won awards for his background in social work practice and youth, and is currently the youth support manager for The Music Works in Gloucestershire. He joins Headliner to discuss his important work there with young people, including the organisation’s efforts to tackle knife crime in the UK.

Not enough young people in Gloucestershire are currently benefiting from access to music provision, especially those in challenging circumstances, says The Music Works. There are many reasons for this, from lack of youth provision to a national curriculum that has moved away from the arts, while barriers like economic difficulties, disability, health conditions or behavioural issues also play a part. This is why The Music Works was founded. Today, it provides accessible opportunities so that all young people in Gloucestershire can access the transformative benefits of music.

“I was born in Gloucester. I grew up with Malaki Patterson [artistic director at The Music Works],” says Medley from The Music Works’ state of the art studio. “I would say I'm addicted to music,” he continues. "It's been a part of my whole life, growing up. I came from challenging circumstances. I’ve lived in different places and the reason I ended up going to all these places is to be able to branch out in music and to pursue my passion. Malaki set up his own label and was the first to book certain garage artists. We were really young at the time – we just wanted to put Gloucester on the map,” he recalls, “and that is what we're trying to do now with The Music Works. I wish we had something like this here when I was younger."

“If you've got money or financial support, that helps massively,” he says, acknowledging that it's easier for young people with more privileged backgrounds to access a career in music. “A lot of people can't afford to have lessons or buy equipment to make music. I remember when I was younger, I had a couple of friends who would save up money and they had decks. 

"I was going around there nearly every week to record and there would be about six or seven MCs and two or three DJs in a tiny box bedroom, completely sweaty, just making music. Those are probably the best days of my life to be honest,” he reflects. “We’d be in a back room of someone's house or in a garden shed – nothing like what we have here at The Music Works facility! Normally that would be hand-me-down equipment or something would be broken, but you’d still be doing music.”

Fast forward to today, and Medley and Patterson are working out of high end facilities at The Music Works –”It looks really bougie in here,” grins Medley.

The Music Works is a charity that harnesses the power of making music to connect and engage with young people, nurturing talent across the country and helping disadvantaged and underrepresented young people access the music industry.

“My background is youth work and social work practice, and I am a musician and MC myself, so to marinate both of those skills and to have this amazing facility and environment to work in, with an amazing team, has been absolutely incredible,” he enthuses. “We are creating opportunities for young people from different backgrounds.”

The Music Works caters for everyone, from first access through to talent and career development, delivering one-to-one music mentoring, small group work, accredited training, apprenticeships and internships, festivals and events, artist and career development and business incubation. Programs and activities take place in The Music Works’ state-of-the-art studio spaces, schools and through outreach with its community partners.

“There were hardly any youth clubs around here when I lived in Gloucester, so to have this completely bougie space at The Music Works, in a safe environment, is really nice. The way we’ve set up the culture here is that anybody can walk through that door and feel welcomed. It's great to have really high level equipment here, so if people want to do production, they can do production. 

"Or if you want to jam in a room with a band, you can. We have so many projects here, it's actually pretty incredible. We try to cater for everybody for the community,” he elaborates. “We have loads of people with disabilities that come here and we have different programmes for different ages. It's a safe environment that people can access.”

The charity also boasts a mobile recording studio called The Music Bus – a state-of-the-art studio on wheels, which aims to reduce anti-social behaviour incidents in the area by giving young people positive opportunities to take part, and a chance to make the music they love.

“Almost everybody I meet and work with here comes from challenging circumstances,” he discloses. “Some of the stuff that they have shared…he trails off. “I've gone home crying with joy, because I know that the work we're doing is life changing, and the young people have actually said that the work that we have done is life changing. That’s actually really major. I remember one young person saying they would probably be in a madness – meaning that they would probably be in prison – if they weren't doing this one programme with us. The domino effect has been really good to make positive change.”

A year ago, the renowned Knife Angel sculpture, which is made from 100,000 seized blades, visited Gloucester Cathedral. As part of the Knife Angel programme, The Music Works collaborated with six young individuals (who formed a collective called G-CODA), whose lives have all been impacted by knife crime, on a showcase at the cathedral, which saw them produce an album called Lights Out.

“There's been some horrific murders that have happened in our county,” nods Medley. “Knife crime does impact almost everybody, so it’s good to raise awareness about it and to honour the people we have lost. For those young people, it's been an amazing and heartfelt journey – sometimes I do get a bit emotional about it. The impact has been a lot more widespread than those six individuals. It makes me proud of everyone that's been involved and the positive impact that it has had.”

The Lights Out project encapsulates the highs and lows of being young in Gloucestershire with big dreams. Because of this work, The Music Works was named as a charity partner of Idris Elba’s ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ campaign, which demands urgent government action to tackle knife crime in the UK and calls for an immediate ban of zombie knives and machetes.

“Young people have the biggest impact on other young people,” Medley acknowledges, “so it's really good to have them on board. I'm hoping that this is something we can really support Don’t Stop Your Future with, because the work that we do is all youth-led.”

An important aspect of The Music Works’ initiative is to provide young people with access to the best music production equipment available. One of the sponsors of The Music Works is Genelec – a manufacturer that works hard to support the creative community in terms of the arts, education and training. The Music Works’ flagship facility, consisting of a production room and live room for song-writing composition, beat-making, recording instruments and vocals, production and mixing, features Genelec monitors. Genelec monitors are also aboard The Music Bus.

“On The Music Bus, the Genelec speakers look small, but they're so powerful! We can take it out to rural places everywhere; the sound quality is the thing that gets complimented, especially from the young people; they're always really impressed by them. Also, when people are in a professional space, they respect it a little bit more. There's a bit of a wow factor when they come into the spaces and see the things that we have on offer.”

Medley shares what’s next for The Music Works: “Honestly, there's loads of projects we’re involved in,” he enthuses. “I'm working with a group called Youth Social Action, and these are young people from the ages of 13-18. We took some of them to 10 Downing Street to talk about their project. And only today, I got invited by Children In Need to take some of our young people to an event in Manchester. 

"Our Music Bus is going all over Gloucestershire, plus we're doing these 10 week programmes in areas that might have antisocial behaviour, or areas where there is not much for young people to do. It's an opportunity for them to get on a studio with wheels and make music. We're gonna have a new studio space built in the Forest Of Dean as well with the same kind of fancy facilities,” he smiles.