Like the majority of you, all of us in the Philadelphia area are staying at home, learning to adapt to our “new normal.” MAGNET is checking in with local musicians to see how and what they’re doing during this unprecedented time. Photos by Chris Sikich.
Salvatore: COVID-19 has had a pretty significant impact on what we do. When we started this band three years ago, we had one phrase that dominated most of our conversations: “Everything we do is in service to the show.”
It says it all. The idea was to get out and connect with people in “real life.” To play shows in small, sweaty venues and build this thing one person at a time. So, obviously, COVID has kind of taken that away.
Fortunately for us, we have tremendous people who support our band. So, getting creative, whether it’s releasing new music (we’ve put out three singles this year on Spotify/YouTube), a livestream, a socially distanced pop-up show or selling limited-edition merch, they have been there for us.
And I think that’s the biggest take away that I’ve learned through all of this craziness. If you build a community, they will support you. I also think an important part of that equation is supporting those people in return. Whether it’s promoting new music by a band that you like, buying a T-shirt, promoting social issues that you care about, buying a gift certificate to your favorite record store, whatever it is, you have to show up.
I’m hopeful for the future because the people that we are around give me reason to be hopeful. But I will say, we can’t wait to get back to playing some rock shows!
