Voices of Protest, Season 2 of Destroy! The Influence of Punk begins where dissent became impossible to ignore. Set against 1970s Britain and a world in upheaval, this episode traces how youth culture, political rupture, and lived experience collided, forcing protest out of the background and into everyday life.

Featuring: Red Saunders, Rock Against Racism; Jake Burns, Stiff Little Fingers; Ana da Silva, The Raincoats.

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Voices of Protest isn’t about celebrating rebellion. It’s about tracing the conditions under which protest becomes an impervious force.

In Season 2 of Destroy! The Influence of Punk, we explore those conditions through our guests’ lived experiences - how protest moves from expression to consequence, through refusal, repetition, and the context that gives rise to action.

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Visit destroypunkpodcast.com to learn more

Destroy! is a BRB Studios production berightbackstudios.com

“Fond affections are never said, they’re only sung in song.” (Michael Allen, Rema Rema)

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Born in 1957 in County Durham, northeast England, British designer Vaughan Oliver stepped out of a world steeped in tradition and into the nonconformist realm of the music industry.

Growing up in an environment devoid of culture, it was through Surrealism and Pop Art that he discovered modern art, its power to open up his imagination, and provide a doorway to new adventures rich with possibilities.

Inspired by the work of record cover designer Roger Dean, he eventually found his calling at independent record label 4AD, where he worked with many of post-punk’s early pioneers: Cocteau Twins, Modern English, Colourbox, Lush, and of course This Mortal Coil.

In 1982, with school friend and photographer Nigel Grierson, he founded the design studio 23 Envelope, which quickly became a center for creative innovation and revolution.

In 1988, after Oliver and Grierson decided to part ways, Oliver went on to establish V23, fostering creative relationships with a new band of like-minded revolutionaries such as Chris Bigg and Simon Larbalestier, whose collaboration on the Pixies' Minotaur box set would earn them all a Grammy in 2010.

The studio’s work also expanded into TV and film, but Oliver was always at his most content sitting down with a group of students, talking about ideas and football.

He was a generous man, a loving father, a dedicated teacher, and an inspiration for generations of designers and musicians.

After he died in 2019 at age 62, his legacy continued through his wife, Lee, who helped establish the Vaughan Oliver Graphic Design Scholarship program with Northumbria University and 4AD in 2021.

Vaughan Oliver was a man of vast cerebral intellect with an impeccable sense of comedic timing.

His life’s work was a poetic journey through sight and sound, and his impact on art and culture is still being felt today.

This isn’t a biography. It’s a collage. Of images, of memory, of fond affections. The kind you can’t always say out loud—but you never forget.

Featuring interviews with: Simon Raymonde, musician, founder Bella Union records; Paul West, artist and designer, founder Form; Tim O’Donnell, designer; Tom Murray, filmmaker and musician, founder Tulipomania; Adrian Shaughnessy, author, designer, publisher; Miki Berenyi, songwriter and musician, founder Lush and MB3; Graham Wood, art director and designer, founder Tomato; Jonathan Barnbrook, designer; Chris Bigg, designer. Archival audio: Vaughan Oliver, designer; Nigel Grierson, photographer; Ivo Watts-Russell, founder 4AD Records. Additional contributions from: Malcolm Garrett, designer, founder Assorted iMages; Neville Brody, designer, founder Brody Associates. And with generous support from Lee Widdows, art director, trend consultant, School Academic Lead UCA, Epsom, and keeper of the light.

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