This year London celebrates the 40th anniversary of punk's explosion out from the streets of the city and across the world. The Roundhouse hosts a weekender from the 8th to the 10th of July to celebrate the subculture with a series of shows, film showings and discussions. We asked Jane Beese, The Roundhouse's Head of Music since 2015, to talk us through a weekend of well-deserved rebellion.

Eli Goldstone: 40 years on, how has the divisive spirit of punk left its legacy on music today?

Jane Beese: My reflections are that it wasn’t so much a divisive spirit as a creative one in terms of allowing artists their own kind of DIY attitude and landscape which has its own interesting parallels with today’s scene. In 1976 it was still the time when you could sign a label contract for a decent sum of money. The Pistols were signed to EMI for £40,000 – not an inconsiderable sum at the time. These sorts of deals are extremely rare for emerging artists today and so they have to create their own business models. The worry for me is that they spend 95% of their time managing their business and less and less time working on their music and craft. 

Eli: What are The Roundhouse’s punk credentials?

Jane: The Roundhouse hosted The Ramones first London show on 4th July 1976, prior to that Patti Smith had appeared in May 1976 for two nights. Pretty much everyone on the scene played here from The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, X Ray Spex and Talking Heads. The exception to the rule was the Sex Pistols but I’m told they used to rehearse in the basement.

Eli: The weekend has an emphasis on supporting new and emerging punk artists, what does the new breed of punk look and sound like? 

Jane: A lot of our focus at the Roundhouse is on emerging talent and the next generation of great artists. In terms of what the new scene looks like I think there are a lot of similarities to the 1970s…..the energy and passionate anthems are all still there. There are a lot of amazing women in this line up which I’m really pleased about. 

Eli: Who are some acts to look out for?

Jane: I cannot wait to see Drones and Screech Bats live. It’s pretty hard to pick out any others as we already chose this line up from over 100 applications to be part of the weekend so they are all pretty exceptional.  

Eli: Can punk maintain its rebellious spirit while being embraced and commodified by the mainstream?

Jane: It’s always going to be a balance of staying true to yourself and your work and the parameters and confines of the ever changing industry. Setting your priorities and then adapting or compromising to suit your objectives is a pretty tricky balancing act for any artist. The trick is to put the right team of people around you. Trust your instincts on who you engage to be part of your team. 

Eli: How does The Roundhouse support young creatives?

Jane: We work with over 3000 young creatives every year across a programme of music, spoken word, street circus, performing arts and digital. Our Paul Hamlyn Roundhouse Studios is a series of rehearsal spaces, midi-suites, new media lab, Roundhouse Radio, recording studio, film and digital space. It’s very cheap to join up and you can either come down and register for one of our tutored programmes or you can use the spaces for your own work. We’ve just picked the new group of resident artists and we’re working to get them more present every time you come down to the Roundhouse. It’s a wonderful and very inspiring programme. 

Eli: You have previously worked at the Southbank creating their music programmes and worked with artists including David Bowie and Patti Smith; have their ever been moments you’ve felt truly starstruck?

Jane: Very rarely these days but I guess meeting Morrissey in 2004 made me feel like a 14 year old teenage girl again. And I was really lucky to meet Naomi Klein last year which was more terrifying than any musician I’ve ever met as she’s such a brilliant mind – turns out she’s super funny and lovely as well of course.  

Most of the artists I’ve worked with are very normal, if exceptionally talented and brilliant human beings – it’s usually the people around them you need to work out the psychology. 

Eli: Finally what is your ultimate punk anthem? 

Jane: Easy – Boredom by the Buzzcocks does it for me every time.

The Roundhouse Punk Weekender 

8th-10th July