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ISOLATION DRILLS

Isolation Drills: Sacred Monsters

Like the majority of you, all of us in the Philadelphia area had been staying at home over the past year, learning to adapt to a “new normal.” MAGNET is checking in with local musicians to see how and what they’d been doing during this unprecedented time. Photos by Chris Sikich.

Kathleen Poliski (vocals, bass): Back in November, I posted a Craigslist ad in the Philadelphia musician’s section hoping similar musicians, with a similar attitude would reply. “I want to create music with people who are goal-driven, fun, dedicated and when we safely are able, play shows with” is what I wrote.

Oddly enough, even during a pandemic, I found three other musicians—Nick (Cervini, drums), Joey (Franko, guitar) and Kelly (Vinett, keyboards)—who were also looking for the same thing. We had a “theoretical” full band—but could we make music? To put it in perspective, we all basically closed our eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped into the deep end, hoping we would swim.

We agreed that Google Drive was the best way to collaborate. We didn’t have an exact system or plan, to be honest, but decided to begin with one song I was working on called “Bones” and go from there. As it turned out, not only could we swim, we could swim fast.

And through Google Drive, Zoom and texting we were able to write and produce a five-Song EP that’s out now! Without ever having met before until this MAGNET photo shoot!

At the end of the day, being a musician has given me a lot of light this past year during several moments of dark. COVID forced us to learn how to collaborate and create in a way that I would’ve never imagined and will actually continue to do once it’s over.