Indie: The Last Subculture of the Pre-Digital Era

Skinny jeans, holey cardigans and eyes sticky with kohl that many vowed never to tout again after the financial crash of 2008 have all made it back to the forefront of fashion through the guise of its next iteration, ‘indie sleaze’. But do you really know Indie? Cast your mind back to the early 2000s — perhaps you’re too young to remember it the first time, which is why in this week’s episode of the second series of our i-Dentity podcast, we’re doing it for you. Join us as we delve back into the early days of Indie at the cusp of the new millennium, the death of Britpop, the free-wheelin’ hedonism of gig venues in student campus cities and their charity shop-clad crowds, and the inevitable transition of indie from an in-the-know sect of music and nightlife into a cultural phenomenon that birthed generation of new media, fashion, lifestyle, pop music and the dreaded ‘Hipster’ apocalypse.

In this episode, Osman Ahmed, Fashion Features Director of i-D, speaks to Alex Kapranos, the lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, one of the biggest bands of the noughties, and a veteran of the indie scene. Karley Sciortino, writer and filmmaker who landed in London’s indie scene in the early 2000s discusses what life in a London squat was really like — especially for young women at the time – and Erol Alkan, the man behind the legendary Monday night party Trash, at which Amy Winehouse, Kings of Leon and Peaches were regulars, discusses the rise and fall of indie in the noughties.

Host: Osman Ahmed

Scripting: Osman Ahmed, Amelia Phillips

Research: Niloufar Haidari, Bertie Brandes

Research Assistance: Alexia Marmara

Art Direction: Calum Glenday and Aleksandra Talacha

Producer: Amelia Phillips

Audio Producer: Robin Leeburn

Production: Podmasters

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