Marshall Announces Venue Funding Alongside Cancer Bats’ ‘Made of Loud’ UK Tour
Cancer Bats, Ignite and Knives will play 16 UK dates this October, with Marshall funding improvements at participating independent venues.
Marshall has announced a programme of independent venue funding to accompany its new ‘Made of Loud’ tour, headlined by Cancer Bats with Ignite and Knives. Running from the 12th to 31st of October, the tour will take in 16 UK venues, beginning at Dover’s The Booking Hall and finishing with a Halloween show at London’s Electric Brixton. It coincides with Cancer Bats’ new album, Give Me Dirt, and the tenth anniversary of Marshall Records.
The funding will cover projects chosen in consultation with venue owners, including dressing room and green room refurbishments, backstage work, infrastructure upgrades and custom stage backdrops. Southampton’s The Joiners, Exeter’s The Cavern, Bristol’s The Fleece and Milton Keynes’ Craufurd Arms are among the venues receiving support, with improvements shaped around each venue’s needs. Marshall also plans to return after the tour to assess the projects’ longer-term impact. The announcement cites Music Venue Trust’s 2025 annual report, which recorded 30 permanent grassroots venue closures and found that 175 UK towns and cities no longer receive regular touring shows by professional artists.
‘Marshall would not exist without independent venues and the musicians who play them,’ says Nick Street, chief marketing officer at Marshall Group. ‘This is us listening to what they actually need and acting on it.’ Craufurd Arms owner Max Harvey points to the company’s existing support for the Milton Keynes venue through equipment and events: ‘Live music is the lifeblood of our community, and we’re passionate about nurturing the culture and the scene here in Milton Keynes. It’s great to see Marshall putting something back into independent venues through Made of Loud.’
For Knives, the initiative has a particular significance following the closure of Bath’s Moles in 2023. ‘We would never be in the position we’re in without playing independent venues. These are the places where we learnt how to be in a band, what type of music we wanted to make, and met so many people who have been integral to our journey,’ the band say. ‘“Moles” in Bath had to close in 2023 and we were gutted as it was one of the first venues we ever played.’ Alongside the shows, Marshall will produce a series exploring the venues and the people working within them as part of its Keep Live Music Alive initiative.
Tickets are available through Cancer Bats’ website. See the full dates below.
Made of Loud tour dates, October 2026
12 October – Dover, The Booking Hall
13 October – Brighton, Chalk
15 October – Exeter, The Cavern
16 October – Falmouth, Princess Pavilion
17 October – Southampton, The Joiners
18 October – Plymouth, The Depo
20 October – Bristol, The Fleece
21 October – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
22 October – Milton Keynes, Craufurd Arms
24 October – Birmingham, The Asylum
25 October – Manchester, Gorilla
26 October – Newcastle, Anarchy Brew Co
28 October – Glasgow, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
29 October – Leeds, The Key Club
30 October – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
31 October – London, Electric Brixton
