Decolonise Fest, the annual music event collectively organised by and for punx of colour, first took place in 2017 and returned this year for its latest instalment at Signature Brew in Walthamstow, East London. Set up by a collective of activists, militant community organisers, musicians and artists, the 2026 edition of the non-profit, DIY festival featured twelve bands over two days, alongside a series of workshops.
We caught up with the organisers ahead of the event to find out more about the spirit of the festival, and Joyzine’s Rupert Hitchcox was at Signature Brew, camera in hand, to capture fantastic sets from the likes of Miki Berenyi Trio, Frozemode, Mashaal and many more.
The festival has been running since 2017 – how and why did the collective first come together to stage the event, what were its aims and how has it developed since?
Decolonise Fest was started by Steph from Big Joanie, who recognised a need for a space that specifically centred punx of colour within the punk scene. She put a callout on Twitter to see if other people were interested in getting involved, and the response was huge. From there, we started having some consciousness-raising meetings, and the festival collective grew out of those conversations.
The idea was to create a space where punx of colour could come together, celebrate each other’s work, share experiences and build a community. It’s always been about more than just putting on a festival – it’s about creating connections and supporting each other in a scene where we haven’t always been visible or welcomed.
Over the years, the collective has continued to evolve, including exploring funding opportunities and developing new collaborations and ways of reaching our community. But the core of what we do has stayed pretty consistent. We’re still a collective of people coming together to make something that we want to exist.
What have been some of the highlights over the past 9 years, both in terms of the festival itself and the wider community that it has built?
One of the biggest highlights has been taking Decolonise Fest on tour. We put on shows in Glasgow, Birmingham and Leeds, which gave us the opportunity to connect with punx of colour and our wider community outside London. It was really special to take what we’d built at the festival and bring it into other cities, meeting people, making new connections and seeing the different communities that exist across the UK.
Collaborating with Shambala this year has also been a really exciting development for us. It’s great to be able to take the ideas and ethos of Decolonise Fest into different spaces and reach people who might not otherwise come across us.
Ultimately, one of the most rewarding things has been watching the community grow over the years. The festival creates an opportunity for people to meet, build relationships and support each other’s work, and those connections continue long after the event itself. Seeing that community sustain itself and develop in different directions is a huge highlight for us.
Have you seen any progress in the wider music scene when it comes to representation of punx of colour and the issues the festival was set up to challenge?
There is certainly more visibility and conversation around race and representation in the music scene than there was when we started in 2017. We’re seeing more punx of colour making music, organising events and building their own spaces, and it’s great to see those networks growing. That said, visibility doesn’t necessarily translate into structural change. It’s one thing to have conversations about representation, but it’s another to see that reflected in who gets booked, who has access to resources and who gets to make decisions within the scene.
For us, Decolonise Fest has always been about creating the spaces and opportunities we want to see, rather than waiting for the wider scene to catch up. We’re interested in building lasting relationships and supporting each other, and we hope that the work we’ve done over the years has contributed to a wider network of punx of colour who are able to make things happen on their own terms.
There’s still a lot of work to do, which is part of why continuing to have spaces like Decolonise Fest is so important.
The line-up looks fantastic again this year – how do you go about selecting the artists?
We’re really lucky in that we have a huge number of bands and artists who want to be part of Decolonise Fest. We sometimes open submissions, but we’re also very much about relationship-building and being connected to the community throughout the year.
We’re genuinely inundated with applications, so programming isn’t simply a case of choosing from a list of submissions. It’s about getting to know people, supporting the wider community, going to shows, building relationships and discovering artists through those connections.
We want the festival to reflect the breadth of punks of colour and the music they’re making, and to bring together artists from different backgrounds, scenes and sounds. It’s important to us that Decolonise Fest is part of a wider ecosystem, rather than something that only exists for one weekend a year.
Talk us through some of this year’s acts – are there a few that you’re especially looking forward to seeing?
I’m particularly excited to see Hang Linton again. He played our Leeds show when we took Decolonise Fest on tour, and he was just fucking fabulous, both as a performer and as an artist. It was such a great experience seeing him play, and I’m really looking forward to getting to see him again.
We’re also really excited about the breadth of this year’s line-up, which brings together a whole range of sounds and approaches to punk and alternative music. Across the two days, we’ve got Frozemode, eatboys., Uninvited, Dygora, Mashaal and Third Kulture, alongside Sacred Paws, Silver Tabby, Baby Said, TMDistant, Hang Linton and Miki Berenyi Trio. That’s a huge range of genres and dynamics – and it’ll be really interesting to see them in tandem.
It’s always exciting to see all these different artists sharing a space and bringing their own audiences and communities together. That’s one of the things that makes Decolonise Fest so special.
In addition to the bands, there’s a series of workshops planned – what will be on offer?
The workshops and panels are a really important part of Decolonise Fest, because we want the festival to be about more than just the music. They’re an opportunity for people to come together, share knowledge, get creative and engage with some of the issues that matter to our community.
This year, we’ve got a really varied programme across both days. On Saturday, there’ll be Flags for Fairness, a DIY Bell Assembly and a panel called Fight Back Against the Far Right.
On Sunday, we’re hosting Disrupting Exclusion: An Abolitionist Approach to Education, a Solar Punk Zine Workshop, and Land Back! Why We Need Land Justice, Food Sovereignty and Reparations.
It’s important to us that the festival creates opportunities for people to participate in different ways, whether that’s through making something, learning a new skill, having conversations or engaging with political ideas. The workshops help make the festival a space for sharing and collective learning, as well as celebrating music.
This year’s event comes against the backdrop of a surge in nationalist, nativist, racist politics, both in the local elections and with far right groups marching through UK city centres. What place can music have in pushing back against this?
Music can be a really powerful way of bringing people together, particularly at a time when there’s so much effort being made to divide communities and make people feel unwelcome. Punk has a long history of challenging authority and pushing against the status quo, but it’s also important to recognise that the punk scene itself isn’t immune to racism or exclusion. For us, Decolonise Fest is a way of putting our politics into practice by creating a space where punx of colour can come together, be celebrated and build relationships with one another.
There’s something really powerful about being in a room full of people who share an understanding of the world, who are making noise, having fun and supporting each other. That sense of solidarity can extend well beyond the festival itself, helping people build the connections and networks they need to organise and look after one another.
We don’t think music alone is going to solve these problems, but it can be a big part of building the communities and collective resistance that are needed to challenge racism and the far right. And, frankly, we think having fun together and taking up space in the face of people who want us to disappear is important in itself.
Your manifesto states that you are ‘putting the threat back into punk’. How is the collective achieving this and why is it important?
We think punk should be a bit threatening. It’s supposed to challenge the status quo, disrupt expectations and make people question the structures around them. But historically, the image of punk has often been centred around a very particular kind of person, and the contributions of punx of colour have been overlooked or marginalised.
For us, putting the threat back into punk is about challenging that narrative and refusing to be pushed to the margins of a scene that we are very much part of. It’s about creating our own platforms, centring our experiences and making space for artists and ideas that challenge racism, colonialism and other forms of oppression.
Decolonise Fest is one way we’re doing that, but it’s also about the relationships we build, the conversations we have and the community we continue to nurture. We want to challenge the idea that punk has to look or sound a particular way, or that there are limits to who gets to participate in it.
And importantly, there’s a lot of joy in that, too. Putting the threat back into punk isn’t just about being angry or oppositional. It’s about being loud, creative, unapologetic and having a brilliant time together, on our own terms.
Decolonise Fest will return in 2027 – keep an eye on the festival website and socials for updates.
If you are a punk of colour and would be interested in joining the organising group, you can find out more and get in touch here.
Decolonise Fest: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp
Baby Said: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Dygora: Website / Instagram / Facebook
eatboys.: Instagram / Facebook
Hang Linton: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Frozemode: Instagram
Mashaal: Instagram / Bandcamp
Miki Berenyi Trio: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp
Sacred Paws: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Silver Tabby: Website / Instagram / Bandcamp
Third Kulture: Instagram
TM Distant: Instagram
Uninvited: Instagram
Interview by Paul Maps
Photography by Rupert Hitchcox: Instagram
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