Perhaps one the most affected industries since the coronavirus hit has been the arts. Music, venues, studios and events have been widely impacted. Bands worldwide and famous, small and local, have had to deal with the aftermath of the virus in extreme and upsetting ways.
The usual ways that the local music scenes would operate have been completely halted, with only few examples of gigs and events going ahead, still with strong restrictions that mean things just are not the same as before.
Whilst I wanted to discuss how exactly the virus has directly impacted local music scenes, particularly in Liverpool but elsewhere also, who better to speak from experience than some musicians who have seen the affects firsthand. So, I sent some questions to my musician friends to see what their experiences have been, whether they think things will ever return to the normal they knew, and whether these unique and frightening circumstances have made them rethink how fragile music is as a career.
How many things related to your music have been postponed or cancelled because of the pandemic?
All participants have had plans cancelled. Elliott Kyriakides, bass player in metal bands “Devil’s Henchmen” and “Reaper”, tells of the ‘fantastic shows for bands of our size’ that are now no more, being particularly sad to see EP launches cancelled - undoubtedly an influential moment for any up-and-coming band. When it comes to launches, there is a definite trend in things being postponed. Johnny Quinn of “SPINN” tells how he has ‘lost count’ of the plans his band had that have now been cancelled or postponed due to the virus - in particular the delay of their second album. It is easy to forget that although the release of music is technically virtual in most cases and therefore irrelevant to COVID, the promotion and touring that goes along with new releases that cannot go ahead, is evidently where bands are feeling it most. In a more positive take, Johnny and his bandmates have finally started to release new stuff, and are hoping to get back on the road ‘as soon as possible’.
Harry Smith of “The Empire Police” and Adam Renshall of “Husband Material” are two more that have been heavily impacted gig-wise. Harry describes the realisation that things could not go ahead as usual as a ‘huge blow’ to himself and his bandmates who had ‘a full month of gigs in April’ and a headline in Liverpool lined up pre-corona. Adam and his band, having started the year with their first ever headline show at Liverpool’s EBGBS, had more headlines lined up with promoters “Get Into This”, facing a similarly sad state of affairs to the other participants and their cancelled plans. A band’s need to gig in the local scene is invaluable - an opportunity to network and get their music out to a wider reach of people, so to have that taken away almost entirely is undoubtedly difficult, as the guys explain.
Finally on cancellations is Joel Foster of “JEKYLL”, who passionately tells of how ‘genuinely devastating’ the state of the world in 2020 has been for himself and his band. Speaking on the ‘fantastic working relationships’ that his band had with their ‘management, label, booking agent’ etc, Joel explains that this effort to maintain these relationships was all leading to JEKYLL’S prestigious place on the South by Southwest (SXSW) 2020 festival lineup, now cancelled. Evidently, working one’s way up to these milestones as a band takes a huge amount of time and dedication, meaning that the reams of cancellations everyone is now experiencing, must be hugely disheartening.
Have the circumstances of the pandemic stunted your creativity?
I was interested to ask the participants whether they thought that social isolation had helped or hindered their creative process. With normal life responsibilities such as part time jobs and uni very much being put on the back burner (particularly when lockdown was at its most extreme), I was interested to see whether this was a perfect opportunity for writing, or quite the opposite.
Overall, the response on this was mixed. It is evident that when lockdown first hit in particular, the participants really felt that their creativity was very negatively affected, unsurprisingly as this moment in time really felt like everything came to a halt. Both Harry and Adam rely on meeting their bandmates who live in different cities, obviously meaning that if they wanted to meet up and write that they are unable to. More positively, Johnny claims that writing for SPINN has always been a ‘temperamental’ experience with lots of peaks and troughs. In that respect, lockdown did not make much of a difference to a process that is already uncertain. Elliott similarly felt creatively stunted at the beginning of lockdown, but eventually felt that the spare time he had during furlough was utilised well by himself and his bandmates; ‘a lot of my creative sources [...] are introspective, so the mental head wreck of lockdown gave me a bit of inspiration’. It’s positive to see that such a harrowing time had the potential to make something positive for some of the participants.
Is their an opportunity to utilise your extended time at home to work on things and have you felt that you have taken advantage of this?
Whilst my question on creativity was more generalised and based more on the impact that lockdown had on the creative mind, I was also interested to see what time at home looked like for budding musicians on a practical level. Furthermore, I was interested to see whether utilising or not utilising this time in a way that benefitted their bands was something that the participants had an opinion on. I think it is important to flag that the idea that lockdown is this opportunity to really hone in on your passions and hobbies is not always a tangible reality for people.
Joel of JEKYLL strongly believes that his time was valuable, and is now greatly missed as he is now back at work; ‘balancing a working lifestyle with a passion for creating art is very difficult [...] I wish I was in a position where I could just create 24/7’. Practically therefore, perhaps furlough and time off work was a creative opportunity, but not something that is sustainable for earning a living, which is unfortunate.
Still living in his family home, Adam gives us a different perspective on staying home, with family around him ‘being able to hear all my mistakes’, his confidence was knocked. Without the opportunity to be in a proper practice space with his bandmates, his usual preferred creative space, he was very disheartened and creatively stunted as a result. Harry and Johnny can also relate to this issue with utilising time at home well, but rightly point out that there is a mutual understanding amongst all musicians that they are all uncontrollably ‘in the same boat’. Hopefully this sentiment will provide some comfort for those who are feeling that they want to spend their time better creatively.
What do you think the future holds for live music? Will gigs ever fully go back to normal?
As somebody who has regularly attended gigs, both local and bigger concert-scale shows, since I was about 16, I am definitely missing this aspect of socialising. I can confidently assume that the participants are missing attending gigs, as well as putting them on, so I was eager to see what they thought the future of gigging would hold for both the musicians and the audience.
Overall everyone is fairly hopeful, with Harry saying things will ‘eventually’ be back to normal, but ‘not any time soon’, and Elliott too agreeing that ‘in short, they will, but it’s going to be a long time’. There is also a sour reaction to this question by some, and rightfully so. As Adam and Johnny point out, this area of entertainment has been completely ignored by the government, and no real solution for how things could eventually go on safely have been suggested; ‘the government don’t see it as a priority’ [Adam], ‘the gigging economy provides thousands of jobs, it’s a shame that the government has just hung these people out to dry’ [Johnny].
Joel gives us a new perspective, having experienced in Blackpool what a socially distanced gig is like. Whilst himself and his band were apprehensive at first, experiencing the ‘much-missed euphoria of live music’ made the new regulations more bearable, which is hopeful for the future of restricted live gigs, which seems to be our new reality for now.
Has the pandemic made you rethink the fragility of a career in music or made you regret getting into it at all?
Though so many jobs hang in the balance because of COVID, it is evident that music and performing is something that has been suitably threatened by the current climate. I wondered if any of the participants had been made to rethink their passion and wondered whether a career in music was ever going to be totally viable for them. Luckily, everybody is very resilient. It’s very uplifting to see how the participants reacted to this:
Harry: ‘If anything, this situation has made us realise how hungry we are to succeed’
Adam: ‘I’ve always known how fragile a career in music will be, it’s never stopped me before and it never will’
Johnny: ‘If an unprecedented global pandemic can’t put me off then nothing can’
Elliott: ‘I kind of like how fragile it is, it really makes you appreciate what you’ve got right now, and want to work hard to maintain it as much as you can’
Joel: ‘My passion for music is far too integral to me as a person for any doubts about career stability to dissuade me from working towards it’
I am really pleased to see that talented musicians like these guys don’t feel completely disheartened by this unprecedented time in our lives, and I hope that any struggling musicians reading this will take some comfort in their words. Giving up on music may seem like the easy option, but it’s not the right one.
Out of all the local venues that have had to close, which one are you the saddest to see go?
With so many integral, grass roots venues falling at the wayside because of COVID, I wondered which one people were saddest to see go. The response regarding Liverpool’s iconic venue The Zanzibar form the participants was overwhelming. Evidently, many local bands get their start there, and it is the place where many youngsters attended their first local gig, myself included. Elliott is one of many who had his first gigs here and is mourning it’s loss greatly; ‘if nowhere else would book a young, new band, the Zanzi would always give you a chance’. The legacy of this venue is evident in the responses I received about it. Adam calls it ‘the creative heart of the city’, Johnny an ‘essential’ venue, and Harry ‘a great venue for the city to have’. Studio 2 is also one that is being mourned, and the responses spoke of hope that these integral places can be saved in safer times.
Joel, more local to Blackpool, positively reports that ‘the two main music venues [...] Bootleg Social and Waterloo Music Bar, haven’t had to permanently close as of yet’, and urges anyone reading this piece to interact with them online and support them in any way they can, to ensure they can remain successful and open.
PLUG TIME
Here is where you can find all of the lovely participants and their music. Thanks very much for your time and effort guys, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the responses!
Johnny, SPINN, @spinn_band, their music is available on Spotify and they are currently recording their second album - new single out in November!
Adam, Husband Material, @husband_material_band, available on Spotify, stream their debut, self-titled EP there now
Harry, The Empire Police, @theempirepolice, available on Spotify, newest release - single ‘Real Life’
Elliott, Devils Henchmen and Reaper, @devils_henchmenuk @officialreaperuk, singles ‘Built By Hate’ and Jericho’, available to stream on Spotify now
Joel, JEKYLL, @jekyllofficial, available on Spotify, stream their newest EP ‘The Whispering Gallery’ now
I really enjoyed collating this piece and would love to do more collaborative pieces in the future! I hope you enjoyed and thank you all for reading. I definitely gained some valuable insight into the music industry during COVID and I hope you did too.
H x
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