IN FOCUS
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER PEOPLE?
We talk to some of the other people in the music industry to find out how this global pandemic has affected them, how the live music industry can and will change, things they've had to do to survive and how they could have been better supported...
so we were the last ones to receive any financial support (IF we qualified for any at all). There’s a couple of crew I know who didn’t qualify for any government support, including universal credit, their only support since March has been through Livenation in the US and their generous Crew Nation one-off grants of $1000. So it speaks volumes when the only support available is from overseas. Although I knew the UK government didn’t care for the UK music industry with the whole Brexit situation, but that’s another can of worms..."
DAN WOOLFIE / TOUR & PRODUCTION MANAGER
@danwoolfie (image by Lewis Evans) "I’m sure the kind of “nonmoshing” gigs, the type people would go to listen rather than to dance, seated gigs etc, they will probably adapt to social distant gig measures fairly comfortably compared to, say, a Rage Against the Machine gig." "I mean we’ve all had to be a bit more frugal about things while we don’t have any regular money coming in. We’re all in a situation where we don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to go back on the road again, so it’s still a bit too soon to do a complete U-Turn on the touring career and look at maybe doing something more financially secure, long-termcareer-wise." "I’m not going to sugar-coat it, I think it’s totally unacceptable how many touring crew have slipped through the governments “net” of support through this situation. The majority of us are self employed,
GEORGIE HARRISON / TOUR COORDINATION & MANAGEMENT
"I feel apprehensive about the industry restarting with such uncertainty, however, I know it is imperative that it returns as soon as possible because of what has been lost. With the industry returning, I wonder how we will ever play or attend shows again without serious restrictions in place, and I worry about the future of our touring industry. I hope that, in this current climate, where we can't yet tour or rely on the live industry, there will instead be a huge outpouring of creativity and beautiful releases. I believe there will be huge benefits from this bizarre time - so many artists have discovered that they can make music together, remotely, from their house. People can 18
communicate and organise this industry from their laptops - but what does that really mean for venues, promoters, fans, and for us - there are pros and there are cons and I feel we will only know which one outweighs the other with time and trying."
"IT SPEAKS VOLUMES WHEN THE ONLY SUPPORT AVAILABLE IS FROM OVERSEAS..." "Absolutely everything has changed and I've had to adapt my entire life to survive. It's been tough. For someone who tours non-stop to all of a sudden be sleeping in the same bed every night, eating from the same dinner table, and never leaving the house.... It was bizarre. There have been moments where I've been elated that I'm home and with my loved ones, and moments where all I want to do is be in a dingy venue production office on the other side of the world. But the hardest thing is missing your team, and missing those beautiful live shows. My identity is my job/ job is my identity, and so when that disappears overnight you have to adapt yourself and recreate yourself, to become somebody new, somebody entirely different. I quickly signed up to volunteer at a food bank and shop for shielded and vulnerable people, and now I'm busy with that, it's different but it's also very similar.... From
