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Part three of our series of interviews with bands during lockdown, Mark Glenister spoke with Oli Southgate of Heavy Lungs at a socially safe distance, and asked him about dealing with lockdown, how it’s impacted the bands plans, and plans once life returns to ‘normal’. Firstly, how are you? How are the rest of the band as well? Everyone is doing well. I think everyone is taking it easy and using this time to reset a bit, which is healthy. Do you have a daily routine, are you learning anything new as everyone else seems to be? My daily routine is usually waking up early, watching Frasier, listening to The Doors, eating and going on my bike or skateboarding at the moment. I'd like to say I’m mastering Mandarin Chinese or something but no, I’ve been learning songs and how to cook certain things but that's it. Are you seeing this lockdown as a time to be creative? And has it changed the way you view the industry? Well, I think we all are as much as we want to, but as always there's a pressure from social media or basically wealthy/healthy people to be creative and spend all day making amazing things but, if you feel like shit on occasion then you should do whatever makes you feel better. Personally, I feel guilty some days for not recording a load of demos but then other days I make up for it, so, who cares. As a band are you doing anything for the fans? A lot of online gigs and Q&As seem to be the norm for a lot of bands, how easy or difficult is that for you as a group? I've been doing some guitar lesson videos for people on Instagram, and we've done a couple of live streams, but I just don't think our music lends itself to acoustic renditions. Maybe we'll make something else for people.  Photo by Ania Shrimpton
With the lockdown being extended, does that effect plans for tours, singles, albums? Yeah, the majority of our schedule is either postponed or cancelled. We're still planning to record at some point but that’ll have to wait for a bit. As a fan I know how much I miss going to gigs, for the music and for the social aspect, is this something that you miss as well? Absolutely. We all love going to gigs almost as much as playing them. It's a ritual, it's ceremonial, especially with friends. I miss the feeling of seeing a band you love kill it on stage. Nothing's particularly mind blowing about being stuck at home. I miss being have my mind blown by someone's trumpet solo or something. How important are your fans at this time, I know and I speak from experience, a lot of merch is being purchased to help bands, and I know you have a great connection with fans generally so are they an important aspect of getting through this? Our fans are great, it's so nice to have conversations with people all over the world who dig us and our music. And buying merch from bands and from record shops is so important. It's hard enough selling records and merch if you're independent, let alone in a pandemic! Despite horrors of this pandemic, the lockdown seems to have a created a lot of really positive community action, and for once social media is being used mainly in a positive manner – Do you want life to return to normal once this is over, or would you like people to be using this time to evaluate their lives and start be part of communities and positive social change? I don't think life will go back to the 'normal' we had before, because it was never really working in the first place. The socialist ideals that were put down by the conservatives have now been picked up and ran with to an extent, and it goes to show as a society we can change and do more for our communities and people around us. So, yeah, I really hope the changes are for the good. Positive social change won't come on social media though, I don't know about other people but I’m sick of my phone at the moment, and this false sense of connection I have with it. I'm much more into someone saying hello to me on my way to Aldi. Our next Bands in Lockdown interview with Sammy Robinson of Treeboy and Arc will be published on Friday.
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Continuing our series of interviews with bands during lockdown, Mark Glenister spoke with James Cox of Crows at a socially safe distance, and asked him about dealing with lockdown, how it’s impacted the bands plans, and plans once life returns to ‘normal’. Firstly, how are you? How are the rest of the band as well? Bonjour, Yeah I am doing OK, thanks for asking. Everyone else is doing well too, all healthy and staying as positive as we can. Do you have a daily routine, are you learning anything new as everyone else seems to be? The first three or four weeks of the lockdown I found myself hugely uninspired, both creatively and artistically. I think the combination of missing loved ones, the daily news and just a continuous feeling of dread really did a number on my productivity. I spent a lot of time in the garden just trying to dig out some pent-up energy and tried to stay as physically active as I could and that worked as a good distraction for a bit. Gradually I was getting more and more frustrated that I wasn’t doing anything creative, basically guilt tripping myself for letting this rare ‘free-time’ go to waste. I then also realised that, for as long as I can remember I have always complained about ‘being too busy’ and never having a real break to decompress or unwind and reset my brain. Always complaining I don’t get enough sleep or have the time to do anything other than work. So, once I told myself its ok to relax, I settled in and began feeling much better. I think it’s completely fine if your using this time to do absolutely nothing, If you are learning a language, baking or crafting that’s amazing too, well done, but if your just getting out of bed, putting some clothes on and getting through the day, that’s just as good. We’ve got to get through this anyway we can so adding massive self-induced guilt for not maximising productivity is the last thing we need. Get up, drink lots of tea, and just remember we’re here to stop people getting sick and to help our health service cope with this tragedy.  Photo By Nicola Kill / selfexposed.co.uk
Are you seeing this lockdown as a time to be creative? And has it changed the way you view the industry? Thankfully last week I had a sudden surge of inspiration and creativity and I ended up writing loads of music over a few days. It was a really intense burst of productivity (which is rare for me at the best of times) and I found I had space to actually process things that I hadn’t done for 10 years or so. My entire adult life I haven’t ever had the time to step back and do so and let it come out naturally and freely without worrying about a time constraint or other distractions. I was very thankful for that, but honestly like I said it doesn’t matter how you have used this time, just as long as your remaining positive and even just attempting to do new things, successful or not, doesn’t matter. If you told me in January that I’d have made 4 birdboxes and bee hotel by the end of April I’d have told you to fuck off. Similarly, to every other industry across the planet right now, it really is impossible to say what the state of the music will be after this. It’s nice bands are adapting to it with the whole ‘live stream’ and listening party explosion, everyone is wanting to keep people engaged and entertained. After all we are entertainers at the end of the day, and people now more than ever, need entertaining. We’ve just got to wait and see how we come out the otherside. One thing I hope will come is more community and, I know this word has been thrown around a lot but solidarity. Rarely is the entire world on the same page, let alone the same book, so fingers crossed we’ll carry some of the positive things people are doing onto the next stage. Touring is such a massive part of the functioning of a band so without it, same as everything else, the chain is broken so we need to be really careful to not let it become irreparable. As a band are you doing anything for the fans? A lot of online gigs and Q&As seem to be the norm for a lot of bands, how easy or difficult is that for you as a group? Trust me, we’re working on it. Trying to do something that is equal parts interesting, enjoyable and of some actual quality is key though. I don’t think people would particularly enjoy an acoustic version of Silver Tongues, that’s just my opinion, maybe they would! But as with everything we do, it’s got to be something we’re proud of and to the standard we do everything we do with. No point doing something for the sake of it, wanting to do something that is fulfilling for our fans and ourselves is the aim. Last time we spoke, you had just come off stage at the Peckham fundraiser and were preparing for SXSW – how does that feel a few weeks down the line? Any positives to be taken from it? God, it’s hard to describe the feeling we all felt when we found out SXSW was off. I was at the pub about to start a DJ set and our manager Cal called me and broke the news. I was so angry/sad/upset/distraught/furious all at once. Then I got heinously drunk to forget about it. Gradually over the next few weeks, and the severity of the pandemic became clearer, we were able to calm down and realise it was obviously for good reason. It was just so hard because SXSW really is something you work towards your entire career and we were going to get an American label and booking agent out there. Finally having a chance to go to America and prove your good enough to take on that territory, show you’ve got something to say. We had finally made it and made it because our fanbase believed in us so much that they raised the money to fucking get us there! We weren’t going on some record label or publicist’s dime; we were going because people believed in us as much as we did. The circumstances of us going were so pure and positive that that’s what made it hurt so much more but also what helped us get over the heartbreak. Hopefully we will have our chance again next year, and maybe it will end up being even better for us. Also, you were in the middle of getting the second album promoted, is that on hold now? And are you still excited by the new album? The album is 95% finished. We’ve just got to stick a few extra bits on it then get it mixed and mastered. The virus meant we were unable to get to the studio to complete these last bits just yet as Jith is soon to be a daddy and we didn’t want to put his partner Caroline at risk in anyway, we have been really strict about social distancing as there are definitely more important things to worry about right now. It took us five years to bring Silver Tongues out so as long as its quicker than that I’ll be happy. We are really proud of this album though and we are desperate to get it out but definitely don’t want to rush it. We also obviously want to tour it, as some of the songs are itching to be played live so at the moment we’ve just got to wait it out unfortunately. As a fan I know how much I miss going to gigs, for the music and for the social aspect, is this something that you miss as well? Fuck me, I miss gigs. My entire life is revolved around live music so it is really painful. Its’ hard to see all my friends who work in the sector suffering too, weather its, venues, promoters, artists or sound engineers. It’s really hit everyone hard and moral is quite low. Hopefully when things get back to normal there hasn’t been too much irreversible damage to the infrastructure, I know we’ll definitely be hosting a shindig to kick things off (as soon as its safe to do so obvs) How important are your fans at this time, I know and I speak from experience, a lot of merch is being purchased to help bands, and I know you have a great connection with fans generally so are they an important aspect of getting through this? It’s definitely reaffirmed how lucky we are to have the fans we have. We have an incredibly loyal and dedicated fan-base who I know must be hating the fact we can’t be active as much as we do. The lack of content we can put up and give to fans is also frustrating, but like I said before, I’d rather give something good than any old shite just for the sake of it. You also don’t want me posting a million pictures reminding you of really fun gigs you cant go to anymore. I can guarantee all your favourite bands are hating this just as much as you are so stay strong. Despite horrors of this pandemic, the lockdown seems to have a created a lot of really positive community action, and for once social media is being used mainly I a positive manner – Do you want life to return to normal once this is over, or would you like people to be using this time to evaluate their lives and start be part of communities and positive social change? Its been incredibly interesting to see how things have unfolded. Essentially our only access to other people is the Internet and social media, so now more than ever people are engaged with what everyone else is doing. The nomination culture is thriving and thankfully it’s with more positive and creative connotations like exercising and music swapping, as opposed to “neck a pint of dog-food and vodka” haha. Lots of charity is happening thankfully and definitely needed during this time so I’m glad to see giving becoming trendy. But yeah, despite the obvious tragedy of the enormous death toll and the incompetence of our government’s handling of the disaster, people generally are getting through this positively and will continue to do so. As much as I hate the way our politicians and media are using war terminology for everything, and it’s sad that what truly brings everyone together is tragedy, I’m glad some of the divide that’s been ripping us apart recently is being mended, even slightly. Just got to see what the world looks like on the other side. Call your family and Stay safe x Stay Home Interviews: Black Market Karma, Ghost Dance Collective, Ghost Patterns, Josef Rosam27/4/2020 Part 5 of the Stay Home interviews, and Cameron Pettit of Fish Bowl Events talks to Stanley Belton of Black Market Karma, Ghost Dance Collective, Ghost Patterns and Josef Rasam, all of whom have contributed music to the 'Stay Home: Independent Artists Against Covid 19' compilation in aid of NHS Charities, which you can listen to and buy from Bandcamp here. Blackmarket Karma Tell us a bit about the band: I suppose a short summary would be that we’re a Psychedelic Rock n’ Roll outfit from London. At least that’s what people tell me. I get a lot of messages along the lines of “Your music is tailor made for Acid” To go a bit deeper, I’m pretty open to whatever influences turn me on at any time. I listen to a wide range of different music and don’t put a lot of restrictions on myself creatively and what I think the band’s sound can be. My only aim is to have some sort of through line that keeps it consistent. New but familiar if you will. It’s influenced by 60’s guitar & pop music and it has power but it’s not heavy. There’s a lot of drunken groove in there, vintage fuzz pedals, delays and reverbs. We’re not a retro throwback back band but it does lean towards an analogue sensibility. What has changed for you as a band during lockdown? We were in the throes of moving to a new place so my recording gear has been in storage the entire time which has been like losing a psychic limb. I’ve found ways to keep creating though so it could be worse. We can’t rehearse and tour because of it and it’s also stalled the release of our next album so that’s been very frustrating for all of us. Aching to get things rolling again. Are there any tips that you can give to bands for the remainder of the lockdown, anything to help keep them sane, busy, productive etc.? I would say as much as it’s tempting and often wonderful to vegetate on the sofa, try and keep some form of creation going, even if it’s not strictly music. Something to keep your brain & soul fed that isn’t vapid shit like reality telly. I’ve been doing live streams using a loop pedal to accompany myself and play sets. That’s been rewarding. I’ve also been working on cover art for future releases, making videos, remixing songs, coming up with new stuff. Collaborating with people over the Internet. All things that prevent me from being bone idle and feeling like it’s another day wasted. Can you recommend any artists that you’ve found during lockdown? Check out Idi et Amin & Black Thumb. Both good people that make class music  Ghost Dance Collective Tell us a bit about the band: We’re an Edinburgh-based 4 piece called Ghost Dance Collective, we've been around since 2015 and are purveyors of the type of music that exists on the border between indie pop and psychedelia. We support the workers' struggle, regularly watch JFK, our favourite number is 32 and are all spoken for. We've got an album out, we're almost ready to release our second album (just finalising the artwork), and have begun the process of recording album 3. What has changed for you as an artist during lockdown? Well, the biggest impact has been that it's slowed everything right down as we've been unable to record or practice songs we've been working on, and we've certainly missed the buzz we get when we're all together. On the other hand, it's given us a chance to focus on writing new material, so hopefully when the restrictions are lifted we can get the creative juices flowing real quick. Are there any tips that you can give to other artists for the remainder of the lockdown, anything to help keep them sane, busy, productive etc.? Keep in touch and have a laugh with each other, practice the hell out of your instruments, grow a beard and read the beard. Can you recommend any artists that you’ve found during lockdown? Ross has mostly been rediscovering some of the bands he listened to back in the day like Pavement, Veruca Salt, The Breeders, Lilys etc Liam has been listening to a lot of '50s/'60s/'70s jazz, dub and roots reggae, Delta and Chicago blues, late '60s psychedelia.  Ghost Patterns Tell us a bit about the band: We are are a London based psychedelic/ shoegaze band with members from the U.K. and Canada. What has changed for you as a band during lockdown? Nothing really in terms of being able to record and mix as we have always produced music in this way. We have not attempted to write any new stuff for fear of including ‘safe’ , ‘lockdown’ or ‘isolation‘ in song titles. We had a song title called ‘Safe’ written before the pandemic, so this will be released at some future date.. Are there any tips that you can give to bands for the remainder of the lockdown, anything to help keep them sane, busy, productive etc.? Our only setback is not being able to access an acoustic drum kit. Hence virtual drums to the rescue! Can you recommend any artists that you’ve found during lockdown? Sei Still, FACS, Tennis System  Josef Rasam Tell us a bit about yourself: My name is Josef Rosam and I come from and live in one of the many blackhole small towns in England so I make music to create other universes (I hope) much more interesting and I try to carry a piece of goodwill on my person wherever I go though I am not a perfect soul and have my own personal problems. What has changed for you as an artist during lockdown? Lock down has made me more lazy than I was before, but on the polar, I am now able to stew in my own juices a lot more than non lockdown days and I can focus on nature and feeling the planet without the blur that "normal" life creates. Are there any tips that you can give to artists for the remainder of the lockdown, anything to help keep them sane, busy, productive etc.? I would say let your pain, joy, boredom, fatigue, love, worry, doubt, excitation, energy, fear, happiness, sadness etc.. all your emotions, absorb into you, acknowledge these things no matter how "good" or "bad" and pour them into your art when you create and be truly honest about how you feel about these aspects in you life, you can't go wrong then...and also never pretend to be something you're not..that's not attractive. Can you recommend any artists that you’ve found during lockdown? I can recommend you listen to a band called wasted youth...my mate nick was in it in the late 70's early 80's..they were a really decent band from the east end of corrupt but homely London...he played synths and keyboard..also try persian floowers...he sang in that band..and of course listening to my of my music won't hurt. Be well and see you on the other side.  What we've been listening to this week...Yammerer, Autosuggestion, TV Priest, Souki and Sleemo26/4/2020 By Jon Milton Links to music, articles etc in blue It really has been a week for debuts. Autosuggestion, Souki, and TV Priest all released their debut singles/EP’s and Yammerer’s debut offering was released digitally for the first time. ‘Donnay Death Housing Cryssis’ was (as far as I’m aware) the first bit of music that the enigmatic Yammerer released, and came out on Record Store Day 2019 in cassette form. To coincide with what would have been RSD 2020, record label Restless Bear gave the single its digital release last week exclusively to Bandcamp. There are two tracks, Life in the new build and 50 HB, both of which are gloriously deranged post punk, as we have come to expect from the band. You can pay what you like to download the single, or just give it a listen here, and you can read our piece about their debut EP ‘Reality Escape Resort’ which came out last November here.  A month or so ago we reviewed the excellent debut EP by Document and thought it only right to give the debut EP by the band featuring Document’s lead singer Alex’s younger brother a review too. It was recorded live at a gig last year and features some pretty raw post punk, bordering on goth rock reminiscent of the Southern Death Cult and Bauhaus. Given that they’ve only been together for a relatively short period of time, it’s a promising start and you get the feeling that with some decent production and some solid gigging the band may certainly be one to watch. Our review of the EP is here.  Another two bands to watch releasing outstanding debut singles this week were TV Priest and Souki. TV Priest’s ‘House of York’ is a nod to the 15th Century War of the Roses and questions whether our nation can be truly meritocratic with a constitutional monarch in place. It also ponders whether history is re-written by the elite, all interesting stuff. Musically, its taut post punk and certainly presents a good argument for going to see them support Egyptian Blue when they play later this year (hopefully). You can listen to House of York here. Apparently Miles Davis crashed his Lamborghini Muira in 1972, which had a huge impact on the musicians life and marked a significant shift in his output say Coventry five piece Souki in an article in the line of best fit. Muira is the name of their debut single, and it speeds along like a post punk performance car train then moves into new more experimental almost jazzy territory which one can only assume reflects the Miles Davis experience. Anyway, it’s a fine tune, its out on Permanent Creeps and you should give it a listen, which you can do here.  Moving away from post punk and more toward grunge / alt rock territory, Norwich based band Sleemo released a new EP ‘Mutilation of’ this week. It certainly rocks hard and we have a review of it here. Mutilation of is well worth listening to in its entirety, with each track neatly segueing into the next, and you can hear the full EP here.
By Mark Glenister For the music fan, the Pandemic and lockdown are a double-edged sword. You have more time to listen to the bands you love and discover new bands via the wonders of streaming services. The downside, and in my case a huge downside, is that you can’t see these bands play live at the moment, you can’t go to gigs, meet your friends, dance around in a sweaty venue and have ringing in your ears the few hours after the gig. If, as fans this is how we feel, then how are our favourite bands feeling at the moment. Well, we at New Music Social HQ decided to ask that very question. We have spoken to a few of the bands we love, at a socially safe distance, and asked them about how they are dealing with lockdown, how it’s impacted the bands plans, and what the are planning once life returns to ‘normal’. Over the next week or so we shall be posting the interviews on a regular basis, read, enjoy, and realise you are not alone in any of this, and that the bands you love, care about their fans just as much. First up, I spoke with John Newton of John (Times Two) Firstly, how are you? How are the rest of the band as well? We’re coping thanks, but a little out of routine like most of the world. I'm (John Newton - Drums / Vocals JOHN) writing this from my parents place, away from our native South London (a few days visiting has turned into a month or so). My fellow John is in lockdown in Crystal Palace, and he's been keeping himself busy volunteering in the local community. Do you have a daily routine, are you learning anything new as everyone else seems to be? Exercise has been key to a sense of routine, and I've been making sure I run every day in order to keep my sanity. It always helped my mental health a lot pre-pandemic so it's be a good way of keeping some kind of structure. I'm also very lucky that it's a picturesque part of the world, so I'm often bumping to wildlife along the way: barn owls, grass snakes, deer, the list goes on. I suppose the mention of mental health also links to the subject of productivity and learning new things. It's all a bit of a capitalist hangover, we've become hardwired to feel like we have to better ourselves all the time, which shouldn't be the case. Are you seeing this lockdown as a time to be creative? And has it changed the way you view the industry? I've been using the limitations of the situation to work on some small pieces of music. It's been interesting to see how I can go about making songs without usual or expected methods or instruments. I've been taking these short pieces of music with me on evening runs and beginning to write lyrics over the top. I have no idea if they'll become anything more public, but it's been nice to keep the cogs turning.  Photo by Paul Grace
As a band are you doing anything for the fans? A lot of online gigs and Q&As seem to be the norm for a lot of bands, how easy or difficult is that for you as a group? As a band that relies so heavily on the energy of a live performance, I think we both agree that we'd struggle to do the songs justice with the equipment at our disposal. We did, however, takeover the excellent Club Ifor Bach (Cardiff venue) Instagram for a day, concluding it with a live 'Ask Us Anything' Session. We both felt that worked pretty well, so we'll see what else we dream up. With the lockdown being extended, does that effect plans for tours, singles, albums? We're really sad that so many shows have been cancelled, but thankfully a lot have been rescheduled. Hopefully this means that the financial repercussions aren't too paralysing for venues, bands and festivals alike. The welfare of the vulnerable is obviously a much higher priority right now. We were also busy writing before isolation, and we are still managing to send bits and bobs over to each other online. It obviously changes the dynamic when not writing energetically in a room, but I think there's still a value in bouncing things and arranging it on a laptop before we return back into the warm shoebox together. I recently recorded a bunch of rough vocals on my phone with my head under a duvet, who needs the big record advance eh? As a fan I know how much I miss going to gigs, for the music and for the social aspect, is this something that you miss as well? We love playing live, and we were going to be doing it a lot this year - more than any other year previous in fact. It's just really gutting, but I'm trying to stay present and just reassure myself that it's a pause and we'll be able to get back out there and do it again. How important are your fans at this time, I know and I speak from experience, a lot of merch is being purchased to help bands, and I know you have a great connection with fans generally so are they an important aspect of getting through this? We were blown away to the response to the recent run of t-shirts we released, and it was nice to read supportive messages from people who ordered. As a mostly DIY outfit (through our label Pets Care), we're doing our best to keep the records and merchandise running, so we can, in turn, continue supporting the small business that we work with. As ever, it's great to see such an international spread of orders, I'm still amazed to see our records travelling to countries that we've never visited. Despite horrors of this pandemic, the lockdown seems to have a created a lot of really positive community action, and for once social media is being used mainly I a positive manner – Do you want life to return to normal once this is over, or would you like people to be using this time to evaluate their lives and start be part of communities and positive social change? I hope the shock to previous routines can help inspire more widespread permanent change post-lockdown. It really has been a great leveller in displaying the flaws in our current systems. You can, however, still see wide-eyed capitalists rubbing their hands and plotting to benefit from these lifestyle changes, but I live in hope that people will move from a culture of convenience to realise the value of being community-minded. Our next Bands in Lockdown interview with James Cox of Crows will be published on Monday |
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