Talk by music journalist and punk musician Stephanie Phillips, drawing on her book 'We Were Here', about the role of Black artists in alternative music.
Stephanie Phillips is at Conway Hall on Sunday 8 November, 3pm, for Ethical Matters: A History of Black People and Alternative Music. It's a talk that does exactly what the title says: it looks at the Black artists who helped build alternative music, and asks why they're so often left out of the story.
Phillips draws on her book We Were Here to put those names back in. She traces a line from the 1930s to the present, bringing in figures like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, Betty Davis, Poly Styrene and Bad Brains. The talk doesn't just list them, though; it asks why Black musicians have kept coming back to alternative music even while being pushed to the margins by a white mainstream industry, and looks ahead to the Gen Z Black musicians carrying it on.
Phillips knows the ground she's talking about. She's a London-based music journalist and musician who writes for The Independent, The Quietus, Vice, Bandcamp and The Wire. She started the Black feminist punk band Big Joanie, played backup for Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney, and is part of the collective behind Decolonise Fest, a festival celebrating punks of colour. The session is part of the Black History Season, which celebrates Camden's Black culture, history and communities from October to December 2026, and it's livestreamed as well as held in person.
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It's in the Brockway Room on the ground floor of Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn WC1R 4RL. Tickets in advance are £15 Supporter, £10 Standard, £6 Living Support and £7 Student; on the door they're £16 Supporter, £11 Standard, £7 Living Support and £8 Student; and there's an online standard ticket for £7.
