Metal Music Studies : Founder and principal editor

International Society for Metal Music Studies : Ambassador

Leisure Studies Association : Ambassador

Becoming and being goth: How goths remember the scene’s transition from the eighties into the nineties

The Artistic Work of Street Musicians in Barcelona and Rio De Janeiro: Interstices of Work and Leisure

Sports Fans and Fan Culture: A Critical Reflection on Fandom as Communicative Leisure in a Commodified World

Khat-chewing, Moral Spacing and Belonging: Sociological Insights into the Cultural Space of the mafrish in the Leisure Lives of Older and Middle-aged British-Somali Males

Workington Man, Brexit and populism: discussions of politics, identity and class among rugby league fans online

The Evolution of Goth Culture: The Origins and Deeds of the New Goths (Emerald Studies in Alternativity and Marginalization)

Critical Event Studies (Routledge Advances in Event Research)

The Palgrave Handbook of Leisure Theory

Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies (Routledge Studies in Popular Music)

Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture: Communities and Identities in a Digital Age (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

Exploring Sports and Society: A Critical Introduction for Students

Making the Moral Case for Social Sciences: Stemming the Tide

Protests as Events: Politics, Activism and Leisure

Whiteness and Leisure (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

Leisure, Sports &amp; Society

Constructing Leisure: Historical and Philosophical Debates

Sport and Challenges to Racism (Global Culture and Sport Series)

The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure: Habermas and Leisure at the End of Modernity

Leeds Beckett University transforms the lives and prospects of thousands of individuals and organisations every day in the city, the wider region, and beyond. Our mission is to ensure we use our knowledge and resources to make a positive and decisive difference to people, communities and organisations.

The university is investing £200m in its campuses with an ambitious programme of development, focusing on sport and the creative industries, and holds silver status in the Teaching Excellence Framework for its high quality teaching.

There are more than 28,000 students on Leeds Beckett University programmes in the UK and overseas across our 13 academic schools and a diverse student population from 143 countries.

Leeds Beckett

Karl Spracklen is a Professor of Sociology of Leisure and Culture based in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Director of Research for Social Policy. He was previously a Professor of Leisure Studies here at Leeds Beckett University.

Karl was the founder and principal editor of the journal Metal Music Studies, and an Ambassador for the International Society for Metal Music Studies. He has written extensively on music, subcultures, identity and leisure and culture, with interests in alternativity and marginalisation, and social inclusion and exclusion.

As well as popular music studies, Karl's research is based in the subject fields of leisure studies, sociology of leisure and leisure theory. He is a former Chair and of the Leisure Studies Association, and a current Ambassador for them. He is the Secretary of Research Committee 13 (Sociology of Leisure) of the International Sociological Association. He is the co-editor of a book series for Palgrave called Leisure Studies in a Global Era, and another for Emerald called Alternativity and Marginalization. He is the author of a number of key monographs and textbooks on leisure, and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure.

Nationalism and Identity in Music

Leisure and Diaspora

Sociology

Music

Racism

Leisure

Tourism

Northernness

Digital Leisure

Heritage and Tourism

English

University Profile

Sports fans and fan culture – Leeds School of Social Sciences Blog

Life and Leisure in the Time of the Plague – Leeds School of Social Sciences Blog

When Le Tour came to Yorkshire and what it left behind – Research and Enterprise Blog

Palgrave Macmillan Author Profile

Intellect Books Author Profile

Amazon Author Profile

ResearchGate Citations

Satan, death, mutilation and murder: why are heavy metal album covers so scary?

Professor Karl Spracklen Conferred as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Why experts say there's no such thing as a northern identity

Academics create witch hunt against metal

British University Professor KARL SPRACKLEN Talks About His 'Metal Music Studies' (Video)

Up A Creek Without A Paddle? Where Leisure Studies Is And What Can Be Done About It

Making Sense of Metal and the Metal Community: The Symbolic Construction of Metal Mythos

The Performances of Everyday Living

What did the Norwegians ever do for us? Actor-Network Theory, the Second Wave of Black Metal and the imaginary community of Heavy Metal

Director of Research

Welcome to #ILoveMetal - Restarting UK Live Music

On Friday 9th April at 19.00 – 20.15 GMT, a panel of music industry professionals spanning music broadcast and media, musicians and live music crew, management, agents, and promoters are holding a free-to-join, open-access virtual meeting to raise public awareness of the urgent challenges facing the UK music industry. 

This is Karl Spracklen. Professor of Sociology & MetalStudies Academic Live witness statement discussing; 

"In a post-pandemic/post-brexit environment, which factors inform the extent to which the UK-live-music industry can be ‘revived’?"

Pre-register for the (free to join) event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ilovemetal-restarting-uk-live-music-tickets-149324183653?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&fbclid=IwAR1wWw5pXT7mv1-dDq7M7jT70ha6Z1T15_6zBVSbSZiA3x99qM1kdbCQLlQ

Hosted by UK radio station TotalRock and supported by UK-based logistics, touring and production company House of Tours, the debate will be focussed on the rock and metal corner of the music industry with the key question being addressed: In a post-pandemic/post-brexit environment, which factors inform the extent to which the UK-live-music industry can be ‘revived’?

The issues facing the live sector are serious and there is a danger that the industry may be sleepwalking into a potential crisis as many workers have been forced to find other work during the last year that may leave a major gap of labour availability in the sector coupled with supply-chain availability and re-opening challenges.

In addition to fostering a wider awareness of the challenges the UK live music industry now faces, in turn facilitating donations to the UK-Metal-Merger Stagehand Appeal, the panel aims to kickstart industry dialogue around potential measures that might avoid a catastrophic loss of skills, knowledge and experience in UK live music crew
Confirmed panel members and contributors include:

• Andy Farrow; Northern Music Co. (Opeth, Devin Townsend, Paradise Lost)
• Stu Phillips; Owner: House of Tours
• Julie Weir; Label Head; Sony/Music For Nations (Bring Me the Horizon, Bullet for My Valentine)
• San Phillips; Head of Promoter Operations: Kilimanjaro Live/MyTicket.co.uk
• Martin Brennan; Lighting Designer: Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Dio
• Aaron Stainthorpe; Vocalist: My Dying Bride
• Richard Shaw; Guitarist: Cradle of Filth
• Karl Spracklen; Professor of Sociology and Metal Studies Academic
• Andy Lenthall; Stagehand General Manager
• Paul Collis; Managing Director: Tour Supply (TM/FoH Anthrax/Devin Townsend)
• Tarrant Anderson; Frank Turner Bassist/Vans for Bands
• Doogie White; Vocalist: Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Alcatrazz
• Giles Lavery; Management and The Metal Voice
• Debora Moretti; My Dying Bride Production Manager

Following a brief summary of ‘witness statement’ contributions from each of the panel, questions will be taken from members of the public.
#ILoveMetal is free to attend and requires re-registration here. Zoom details will be sent out following registration.

For more information, interviews, media assets:

Mark Mynett: mynetaur@mac.com
Neil Jones: neiljonesrock@gmail.com

• #ILoveMetal takes place on Friday 9 April 2021 from 19.00 – 20.15 GMT. Attendance is free but pre-registration is required.

• The ‘live music crew’ reference encapsulates the following essential key-roles:
Touring Crew: Sound engineers, monitor engineers, lighting designers, guitar/bass/drum/keyboard techs, tour managers, production managers, merchandise managers, pyrotechnicians, videographers, riggers, props/wardrobe managers, bus/truck drivers, caterers.
Local Crew: Production managers, promoters, stagehands, riggers, caterers, backstage managers, forklift drivers, house technicians, runners, security, and specialty techs that are required by law to run the likes of pyrotechnics, lasers etc.

• Recent media coverage on the topics being discussed:
Sky News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f64NQkySmQ8

Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/concerts-are-ready-to-return-are-workers-11617015601

#ILoveMetal. Restarting UK LiveMusic. Karl Spracklen. Professor of Sociology &amp; MetalStudies Academic

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