CREATE OR DIE
Making New Music in These COVID Times
Written by: Kerri Ellis - Sense Music Media
COVID 19 was not kind to the live music industry in 2020, and unfortunately it rolled into 2021. It took away live music and created severe uncertainty about the future. Performance is part and parcel to survival. Ask many an artist and they will agree, if you are not creating, you are dying. Create or die. It is like the garden, if you tend to it, it thrives. If not, it dies.
Performing musicians and singer-songwriters had to find new creative outlets, even though they were in lock down throughout the majority of 2020. Home concerts were streamed by many, and new music was made in these COVID times.
Image courtesy of WallpaperChat
At Michael Gudinski's memorial, JIMMY BARNES sung his latest single Flesh and Blood publicly for the first time. In an interview with TheMusic.com magazine, he said "Most of the songs on the album – including Flesh and Blood - were written when everyone was staying close to home due to COVID-19. Life really slowed down for a while and I think it reminded lots of people about how much of our lives revolve around our family."
Early 2020, Sydney based drummer Tony Boyd was on a world tour with Eric Steckel (US Guitarist). The band was heading out for gigs in Europe, the US, Korea, and then onto Australia. They were at their fifth show for the tour in Amsterdam, when suddenly they had to pack up and head home due to a worldwide pandemic. Tony hit the ground running and took up an opportunity to turn a room at Sound Works Studios into a recording studio – he aptly named it Sweet Tooth Studio. Here, he set up a room, fitted it out with his recording rig, with a permanent 24/7 access and got to work. The first record off the production belt is from an accomplished Australian singer, guitarist and songwriter, Brad Johns.
Pictured: Tony Boyd
Image supplied
Brisbane based alternative folk group, ELBURY, took out the number 3 spot on the top 100 of 4ZZZ on January 1st, 2021 for their track Whispers. They spent their lockdown days of 2020 deep in record mode. Firstly, the quiet time gave them the opportunity and headspace to review the music they had already been writing before COVID shut them in. From their individual homes they wrote, practiced, and recorded. Finally, as restrictions lifted, they were able to go to a recording studio to bring to life their album, Whispers. March 7th, 2021 was a memorable day for them with the launch of their single Heroes & Villains, not just a single, but as a video as well.
Pictured: Edward, Tam, Michael, Luke + Brooke - ELBURY
Image supplied: elburymusic.com
CRYSTAL ROBINS, based in Darwin, was so close to finishing the recording of her first ever EP. Her aim was to have it completed in time for the 2020 National Folk Festival. But overnight, the cries of closure brought those dreams to a halt. At first, it was incredibly disappointing. But then she took advantage of the extra time. She collaborated with a cellist in Adelaide to add live strings to her song Wildfire. She also collaborated with a drummer in Melbourne to add live drumbeats. She changed her release plan and decided to release two singles first before releasing the whole EP. At first it looked like COVID struck her a bad deal, she used that added time to birth her new music with the passion it deserved.
Pictured: Crystal Robins
Photo by: Lisa McTiernan
It was in the turbulent environment of 2020 that FANNY LUMSDEN’s triumphant album Fallow was brought into existence. These 12 tracks of a folk-tinged record prove that from hardship can come beauty. “The writing and recording process of Fallow was in amongst a lot of personal change,” says Fanny in an interview with Tone Deaf. “We lost my husband’s mother to cancer and not long after that, I had a baby. We then lost my grandma and lost a friend to suicide.” Fanny locked herself up with her band and put her feelings to tape. “Focusing on the music really helped,” she says. “I was trying to create something beautiful. I found a lot of solace in that.”
Wollongong based artist, ‘T-Bone’ Troy Koglin, had a short EP for his CHEAP COFFINS project he was getting ready to release just before COVID hit in March 2020. He took this fallback and turned it into a positive experience. He ended up using the time to develop his EP into a more developed and extended record. On March 19th, 2021, he released Terror Amazonia, his debut record. He says it is though, a different beast than its original form. The time in lockdown enabled him to reflect more on the nature of the release, exactly what it was that he wanted out of the experience, and what the 'identity' of the release should be - in other words, rather than just getting it all together and dumping it out for the world to experience, he explored the valuable nature of releasing art, and how he was hoping it would be received. He said it really helped to tie the whole thing together more cohesively and conceptually. The artwork was merged into the songs, rather than just being stuck on top of them at the end of the process.
Pictured: Troy Koglin - CHEAP COFFINS
Photo by: Max Wilkie - Past Tense Photography
When it comes to the music of Bondi based singer songwriter MIRIAM LIEBERMAN, you will hear African influences blending seamlessly with blues-infused melodies and soaring vocal harmonies in the music. With a small grant from CreateNSW, she was able to start laying down the tracks for her album, Just Transforming, with her trio. The works focus on a theme of transformation and interconnection. They are a reaction to the many challenges that were being faced by humanity - a global pandemic, climate crisis and general uncertainty. The songs are intended to be uplifting and to highlight our shared humanity. It was while she was recording the EP, that she saw this needed to be a full album and set about a crowd funding campaign to raise the funds. Having successfully raised the full amount of money, she was then able to move ahead and complete the full album and release it.
MIRIAM LIBERMAN - Just Transforming – Album Artwork
COVID-19 drained the life blood from festivals and live music events across Australia in 2020. Recording and producing new music took a different direction due to COVID. Most people interviewed said how the quiet time enabled their music to really breathe. Several performers were interviewed for this article which solidified the fact that creatives need to create. Many responded to a Facebook post that asked who had made new music in these COVID times. Due to the influx of stories, a Podcast series is being planned to shine the light on new music being made by independent Australian performers. Sense Music Media is a collective of photographers, artists and journalists using their services to bring music to the world. There are countless more stories like these that Sense Music Media has been involved in. This article was originally written as an assignment in early 2021 for my Diploma in Journalism. Months later, COVID still breeds havoc upon the live music industry.
