'Don't let the music die' – Burnley musician fighting to keep his dream career alive

A Burnley musician who has spent years forging a career within the industry he loves is calling for robust and rapid support before there is nothing left to go back to.
Billy Strahan JrBilly Strahan Jr
Billy Strahan Jr

Billy Strahan Jr (31) said he was left disheartened when an avalanche of cancellations followed the national lockdown announcement in March.

However, that dismay has since turned to severe anxiety with dwindling Government support leaving him just weeks away from not being able to put food on the table.

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"Things at the beginning of the year had never been better. Then all our gigs started getting cancelled.

"It's so disheartening, but it's also worrying. This is my only source of income. And just like that, it's gone.

"We thought it was getting back to normal in August, September, but then the restrictions came back and the cancellations started again.

"Now, even rearranged dates for 2021 are getting put back to 2022 because people are worried about restrictions still being in place."

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The former St Theodore's pupil worked as a van driver before he took the plunge to make music his full-time profession six years ago.

Drummer and vocalist, Billy plays in a number of bands throughout the area but is likely most recognisable from his gigs with feel-good event entertainers Furious Styles.

"I started going full-time when the money from gigging was beginning to outweigh what I was making from my job. Furious Styles was going from strength to strength and I decided the time was right.

"I've been drumming since I was 12 years old. I studied music at UCLan. It was always my dream to make it a full-time job."

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Billy feels that dream is now slowly slipping away. The proud dad, who is currently claiming Universal Credit, said he is struggling to pay child maintenance for his three-year-old girl; he's on the verge of losing his car, and he's even considering selling equipment in order to make ends meet.

While he looks for new sources of income, he said he had been left stunned by the Government's decision to drop support for the self-employed from 80% to 20%.

"We're all [Furious Styles] registered self-employed so the grants we received earlier on did help. Having to wait so long wasn't ideal though. I applied in March, I didn't get money until May. I was having to beg, steal and borrow for those weeks. When the money came in I used it to pay back those people.

"And then I received the next grant in August, which again I had to use to pay people back. I got 80% in May, 70% in August and now it looks like we'll be getting 20% in November. That means I'm going to be receiving around £400 to last me three months.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to live off this."

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Natalie George, who runs the The Gallery at Creative Arts Burnley, told the Express last week that the live music sector was in danger of being decimated beyond repair if extra support was not forthcoming.

Billy has started hosting jam nights at the venue on Thursday evenings. He runs a similar night at The Royal Dyche on Wednesdays.

He empathises fully with the plight of venue owners.

"Venues are between a rock and a hard place.

Live music is allowed in bars now, at the minute. The problem the venues have is they have to pay the bands. But to be able to put the bands on, they need to pack the place out, and given the current restrictions, they obviously can't. And of course the 10pm curfew only makes things worse.

"A lot of venues are trying to adapt which is good to see. Friday nights seem to be a write-off now but a lot of venues are trying to put bands on during the day, on Saturdays and Sundays. The public needs to come out and support these places though.

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"The jam nights give me a bit of extra cash. I've also started doing drum lessons as well. I used to do it a bit to fill time between gigs but now I'm looking at doing it on a more permanent basis.

"I'm just trying my best to remain focussed. At the minute, every time we're given a bit of hope it seems to be taken away."

One positive that did come from lockdown was time able to be spent working on original music venture Design Rewind, with fellow Furious Styles cohort Jonathan Towers.

The duo released their debut album last year. Thousands of listens on Spotify have been backed up by mainstream radio plays and rapturously received gigs throughout the North-West.

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"We've managed to record 50% to 60% of the second album from home, so that's been good," he said. "The first album has done really well. We don't have the same resources a lot of bands do, but it's grown organically, through word of mouth, which has been nice to see.

"Hopefully the restrictions lift as we finish recording the second album and we can come back with a bang."

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