𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Jess Douek, the lead singer of alternative metal band Mallavora, lives with chronic pain caused by fibromyalgia.

“Being a touring musician, everyone is stood up all the time, on stage, travelling long hours; the culture is roughing it – I realised early on that just wasn’t going to be possible for me,” she said.

“I wasn’t prepared to give up on music so wanted to find a way of doing things differently so I could forge a career for myself.”

Her band designed a way of touring that works for them, by hiring help and playing accessible venues that are welcoming to their disabled fans.

Douek said her band broke the record for the number of wheelchairs at a fully-accessible gig at the Exchange in May.

She said there are “amazing accessible venues in Bristol, but it’s quite inconsistent”.

She has secured Arts Council funding and partnered with the Exchange to create Bristol’s first fully-accessible grassroots music venue to showcase emerging bands in a smaller space.

“I’m conscious that emerging disabled artists are locked out of that rite of passage,” she said.

Quarterly gigs, networking events and a talent pathway with festivals and booking agencies will launch in early 2027.