Wolf Alice took home the prestigious Group of the Year award at The BRIT Awards 2026, and we couldn't be prouder to count guitarist Joff Oddie among our alumni.
Joff studied on the BTEC Music Production course at dBs Plymouth, where he quickly made an impression. Alan Miles, HE Module Leader & Lecturer, remembers him as a positive, friendly and studious student who genuinely loved his time in the studios.
"One time I was setting up the mixing desk in our Blue Studios and behind me I could hear this brilliantly melodic and engaging guitar playing," Alan recalls. "I thought 'Wow, that sounds great!' and turned around to see Joff just passing some time playing the guitar. I told him how good he was, and thought how I wished I could play that well."
After graduating, Joff co-founded Wolf Alice alongside vocalist Ellie Rowsell in 2010. Since then, the band has gone from strength to strength, picking up Mercury Prizes, Grammy nominations, and now a BRIT Award, beating out Pulp, Wet Leg, The Last Dinner Party, and Sleep Token to claim the title at Manchester's Co-op Live.
During the band's acceptance speech, rather than simply celebrating the win, frontwoman Ellie Rowsell turned the spotlight on the grassroots music scene that made Wolf Alice possible. She highlighted that despite the billions of pounds the live sector contributes to the UK economy, 30 independent venues closed their doors last year, 6,000 jobs were lost, and over half of small venues reported making no profit at all.
Rowsell made the case that pursuing a career in music shouldn't feel like a battle to survive, and shouldn't be reliant on favours or funding schemes. It should be a viable career path for anyone, from any background.
We know that grassroots venues are where everything starts. Not just for artists finding their sound and playing to 30 people on a weekday night, but for the sound engineers pulling their first live mix, the promoters figuring out how to put on a show, the photographers, journalists and managers who are all learning on the job in those same rooms. Take those spaces away, and you lose so much more than just gig venues.
There's a bigger question here at play too, about who actually gets a shot at success. When small venues close and opportunities dry up, it's the people who already face the biggest barriers who feel it most: artists from lower-income backgrounds, people without industry connections, and communities outside of London. A healthy grassroots scene is what keeps the door open for everyone. If we're serious about wanting a music industry that actually looks and sounds like the country it comes from, we can't afford to let those entry points disappear.
Our students live this every day when they’re out playing shows, running nights, and collaborating with other artists in the local scenes around our campuses in Bristol, Manchester, and Plymouth. That's where real careers get built- in the venues and communities around it. And when those spaces go, the pipeline that produces the next Wolf Alice goes with them.
To drive this point home, the band finished their acceptance speech by dedicating the award to everyone who supported them in their early years- the people who lent them money, drove them around the country, and let them sleep on their floors.
It's the kind of journey Alan Miles has watched unfold from the very beginning, and watching Wolf Alice's Glastonbury 2025 set on TV was a full-circle moment. "I sat back and watched them play with Joff on guitar, really animated and enjoying himself. At the end of the gig, in true rock and roll style, he threw his guitar down in front of his amp, feedback screaming, and just strutted off the stage. It was so brilliant to see him and think of him aspiring with us at dBs, following his dream and seeing it come to fruition in front of my eyes."
"Aspire and achieve! If not you, then who? Those people out there making it and doing it are just like you. They sat in rooms like this rehearsing, practising and planning their next move towards success." - Alan Miles, HE Module Leader & Lecturer, dBs Institute Plymouth
At dBs Institute, we know that the biggest names in music often start in the smallest rooms, and nurturing talent at every level matters, now more than ever. Huge congratulations to Joff and the whole Wolf Alice team from everyone at dBs Institute.
If you're ready to take your passion for music seriously, come and see what dBs is all about.
Our upcoming Open Days in Bristol, Manchester, and Plymouth are your chance to tour our studios, meet our tutors, and get a real feel for life at dBs.