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.
R-Son: It’s made me have to do a lot more on an individual level. Going back and getting my first EP streaming on my own was one of those things I know that I would have tried to outsource, but with so much just not happening or delayed, I had to figure it out. Plus, the team helped me figure out how to get recording on my own so we could finish the album, where otherwise we’d have used other sources.
It’s really been a matter of becoming more independent, not just meaning the lack of a label (which we ironically have now) but having to really get in on every level of making everything happen. Except publicity, that’s what we’ve got Fiona (Bloom) for, and nobody could do that better.
Dolio: As an artist, it has prevented us from the face-to-face contact that we love sharing with our audience, and the ability to travel to the places where they are. We’ve also had to modify our production process, with us all recording our parts remotely. Fortunately, we’ve been playing together for so many years, so we can still feel each other’s energy, and have the technological tools to still “meet” via videoconferencing and create. But we definitely miss being in the same spaces together.
