More than three weeks before the gates to Glastonbury 2025 officially open, Woody Cook had already started his pilgrimage to Worthy Farm.
No, he didn’t get the dates wrong and yes he’s travelling from the UK. Along with the community he’s built through his own record label, Truth Tribe, he’s walking 192 miles from Dover to Pilton, getting to his destination the day before Glastonbury 2025 officially launches.
They’re a group of rebels with a cause, hoping to raise £20,000 for struggling grassroots music venues around the UK as well as protecting the natural spaces we inhabit.
The trek has already proven to be much tougher than Woody – son of DJ Fatboy Slim and BBC presenter Zoe Ball – anticipated.
Initially, they planned to walk 192 miles but immediately it was clear they’d be walking much further. With just over a week left to go, Woody tells Metro: ‘Yesterday we had to climb through barbed wire because the footpath on OS Maps hadn’t been maintained by the farmer and another time we got chased by horses, which is hilarious. It’s quite scary but I think it was just coming over to say hello.
’192 miles was a guesstimate but we didn’t realise how much more we’d do. Sometimes the fastest route is along the road with no pavements. We’ve just been walking on the side of motorways so we’re trying to avoid that.’
The original plan would see Truth Tribe walk to Ibiza but, frustratingly, someone else got their first. Few destinations for a party starter are more exciting than Ibiza but a village next-door to the greatest festival in the world will certainly do.
It’s been at times relentless. As we talk over the phone, Woody gets to his car and discovers he’s got a parking ticket but it’s not enough to dampen his spirits.
‘Between all the funguses and blisters, it’s actually been amazing to wake up with mates and see these sights and places we’d never normally end up.
‘I feel like this walk is the most sober I’ve been in June. Well, I did go sober for an entire summer once, but usually I’m doing a lot of gigs and getting free bottles of alcohol but when I’m walking I can’t be arsed. I’ve been going to bed at 8pm.’
Throughout their route, the collective has been stopping off in various towns to play small sets to wandering locals or any fans who make the effort to lend their support. They kicked off with Dover Arts Club, set up a day race at Action Water Sport, Lydd, threw a beach party in Camber Sands, fed ravers burgers and beats at in Hastings and rounded out their gigs at The Tempest bar on Brighton’s seafront.
Over the last decade, a third of UK grassroots venues in the UK closed. In 2023 alone, a grassroots venue shut its doors for good every two weeks, leaving communities without essential cultural spaces and depriving artists with the potential to be the next Adele or Ed Sheeran – as in, one of the UK’s biggest financial exports.
Despite our position as one of the most successful creators of music in the world, music venues are rarely given the same support as spaces such as theatres or galleries. In the pandemic, grassroots venues we relatively neglected and now so many that could have been saved are gone.
‘We’ve got the highest beer tax in Europe, there’s so much going against clubs. People say Gen Z and Gen Alpha are going clubbing less but the prices clubs are having to charge to stay afloat is incentivising us,’ says Woody.
‘We need the government to support these venues and grassroots venues the same way Berlin treats music venues as cultural hotspots that are protected spaces. We’re constantly knocking out clubs down to build carparks and houses when some of them have been cultural standpoints for 35 years.’
‘Some people might see clubbing as a nuisance but it brings together people from around the world and it brings in tourism. It’s been shown in so many studies to relieve stress, help with mental health, and strengthen community.’
Of course, club culture is literally in Woody’s DNA. His mum Zoe Ball is woven in the fabric of the British music industry as one of the BBC’s most trusted music broadcasters and his dad is the single most successful DJ of the 90s and early 00s, Norman Cook – aka Fatboy Slim.
Both are Glastonbury regulars, Norman will be playing Glastonbury again this year on the Arcadia stage while his son is still climbing the ranks to play on the same podium as a headliner.
As you’d expect, Woody’s Glastonbury veteran. His first time at Worthy Farm he was carried there in his mum’s womb. ‘I think that somehow coded me,’ he says.
‘I also went the same year Michael Jackson died, but my parents swore never to take me until I was an adult. They couldn’t go to any loud music because I said it was too loud and wanted to go to the kid’s field.’
25 years later, he’s bringing the noise – and lots of it.
‘I’ve got 10 DJ sets at the festival so my marathon is only just beginning when I get there. I’m playing at Car Henge, on the Arcadia bug, a secret venue called Gorilla bar, and Scissors, an LGBTQ+ hairdressers-come-club.
‘I love it, it’s going to be a mainstay of the summer.’
Woody is walking to raise money for Liveline Fund (via Music Venue Trust), The Wildlife Trusts – Greenpeace, WaterAid, and Oxfam. Donate to his GoFundMe page here.
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