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About Pretend

We are a community of creatives working to help make the UK music scene more accessible and fun. We’re committed to promoting musical and creative communities that make the world a better place and in doing so, we hope to bring some joy to those who get come with us on our journey. We’re funded through a mixture of event revenue and Patreon subscriptions and any advertising do take we run by our Patrons first.

Founded in 2018 as a radio show on Leeds Student Radio by James Ward, Pretend has gone on to host events across Leeds and London, held residencies on MCR Live and Threads Radio and covered some of the UKs best events, artists and underground movements.

Drop James an email at [email protected] if you want to get involved or if you just want to know more! For more specific questions check out our contact page.

Pretend People

Francesca Cox – Contributor
James Ward – Founder
Leo Joslin – Contributor
Libby Norris – Social Media Community Manager
Lucy Bradshaw – Contributor
Luke Politz – Contributor
Maddi Fearn – Radio presenter and contributor
Olivia Maskill – Contributor
Tom Hutchinson – Written Editor

Artists We’ve Featured

The Orielles | KOKOKO! | Cosmo Sheldrake | Oscar Jerome | Ezra Collective | Franc Moody | Oumou Sangare | Andrew Weatherall | Comet is Coming | Necktr | Treeboy & Arc | Elder Island | Fatoumata Diawara | Kllo | Sophie Hunger | Wu-Lu | Charlotte Adigéry | Squid | Gabe Gurnsey | Pregoblin | Rival Consoles | Kelly Lee Owens | Vessels | Talk Show | Shauna | Black Honey | Nix Northwest | BB Sway | Snailbeach | Declan Mckenna | Yard Act | PVA
And many many more…

Artists we’ve booked

Galaxians | Garde Dog | Fold | Ed Allen | Howl | Andrew Devine | Dubrunner | Breaka | Monster Florence | Osquello | Tugboat Captain | Snicklefritz | Joshua Zero | Bull | Dance Disease | Loop | Long Legged Creatures | 12th Circle | Jellyskin | Ife Ogunjobi | Monzanto Sound | Mamilah | Hether | Soybomb | B-ahwe | Adult DVD | Hive Society | Plumm

All content is the property of Pretend and authors, photographers and videographers who made it