Hearsay 17

Streams and Valleys Musicians continue connecting with audiences while waiting out the pandemic. MUSIC

BY JEFF PRINCE

Way back in 2020 B.C. –– Before Coronavirus –– working musicians weren’t prone to livestreaming performances. Live shows in packed clubs were their livelihood. Giving away the goods online made little sense. Artists didn’t want fans sitting at home watching a screen. The entertainers wanted boots on the ground, butts on barstools, and warm bodies on the dance floors applauding, creating a vibe, guzzling drinks, tossing bills in tip jars, and buying CDs and T-shirts.

In March, COVID-19 changed all that. The bars and music venues are shuttered. Events are scrapped. livestreaming is the best way to reach fans, and musicians are

flooding social media with impromptu videos.

“It’s actually been a fun and different way to connect with people,” said Kris Williams of Danni & Kris. “It’s been a great way for people who live in other states to watch us, who normally wouldn’t be able to. The feedback has been positive, and we’re getting more requests, engagement, and merch sales.”

The indiepop duo has livestreamed several shows from home in recent weeks, usually on Wednesday evenings. Tips come in via online payments. The money doesn’t match what the band was earning at club dates, but the duo had few expectations since the pandemic had created financial hardships for so many people. Danni & Kris just want to remain linked to everyone.

“We aren’t sure what the future looks like for live performances, so we’re still planning to livestream even after things are opened back up,” Williams said.

Hearing Brandin Lea play a show in years past meant bellying up to a sticky bar, doing shots with friends, and dripping sweat –– and maybe blood –– by night’s end. You know –– rock ’n’ roll. Lea, a songwriter, producer, and sound engineer, has been one of North Texas’ most celebrated rockers since his former band, Flickerstick, won VH1’s Bands on the Run and was signed by Epic Records almost 20 years ago.

By contrast, Lea’s recent shows are formatted like everyone else’s these days –– sets performed in empty rooms. Viewers don’t touch or breathe the same air but chat with one another in real-time in the comments section and send little red hearts and blue thumbs spiraling across the screen.

Lea’s first livestream was part of MASS’ Social Distancing Concert Series, which has featured Sam Anderson (Quaker City Night Hawks), The Unlikely Candidates, Cut Throat Finches, Cameron Smith, Cory Cross, and many other local artists. The MASS owners approached Lea early on about doing a show.

“I agreed to play after hearing from so many people on social media that it would provide some relief in the midst of this ongoing catastrophe,” Lea said.

Playing to empty tables and chairs was “bizarre but not necessarily in a bad way,” he said. “It doesn’t in any way, shape, or form replace having a live audience with a pulse, who you feed off of and collectively create a physical live experience. Like everything else, it’s got its pros and cons.”

Among the pros is wider audience appeal. Some local artists are lucky to draw 50 people to a live show. MASS’ livestreams are drawing thousands of viewers. Ending livestreams once the clubs reopen makes little sense now, Lea said.

“Streaming is not brand new, but with Blake Parish (right), shown with accompanist Kris Luther: “People have really gone above and beyond to help us out.” Facebook.com

HearSay

New Music Is Good for the Brain One upshot of the lockdown has been new music. Not “new” music like Xina Xurner or Sun Ship-era Coltrane –– I’m too stressed out for that –– but familiar music I haven’t heard before.

Perhaps you’re in the same, um, ship. It’s all credit to streaming. We’ve written about all of the local livestreams until you may want to livestream yourself in the face with a plastic butter knife. There’s lots of good, juicy, new local tuneage in them. There’s also a ton on streaming services. For them, business is booming. Spending on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and other streaming services is up 20% compared to this time last year, according to Earnest Research. This portion is much smaller than the ones for video streaming and, at the top, video games, but it is still Trump’s-ego-sized impressive.

Clearly, lockdown’s novelty is wearing off. Many of us are demanding new, familiar tunes. You can light candles in the dark and listen to “The End” naked only so many times before it starts to press down on you like the grimy heel of The Establishment’s boot. What we are desperate for is something like “The End” but not “The End.” This is science talking.

Our brains are hard-wired to desire familiar music, according to the research in a recent Pitchfork article, and listening to unfamiliar music is kind of a chore. Familiar music can cruise down well-trod pathways in the brain while unfamiliar music has to chart its own territory. The plasticity of the brain is key.

“When a specific sound maps onto a pattern,” Pitchfork’s Jeremy D. Larson writes, “our brain releases a corresponding amount of dopamine, the main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions. This is the essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions and why, as an artform, it is so inextricably tied to our emotional responses.”

Dopamine is not a reward in itself. Recent research has shown that it’s actually a cousin to our motivation to seek rewards. We are clearly seeking out new yet familiar music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. And I am clearly telling you to seek out new music on your internet machines. New local music.

Former Woodeye frontman Carey Wolff has released “ Long Damn Day,” a crackling, slow-burning, minimalist mod-rock track that’s hyper-cinematic and driving. And rootsy. (Eff you, dude.) (Love you.) There’s also a new EP by Son Volt-y singer-songwriter Jacob Furr.

Return is five tracks of gritty, bristling Americana full of crunchy guitarwork, pounding beats, and Furr’s trademark lyric emotiveness. And at 3pm Saturday at Panther City Vinyl, The Bong Hits are celebrating the release of their debut album. This is for real. The Facebook invite says nothing about live streams or anything, just that the band is, well, celebrating a release. Have not heard of them but am digging their listed influences: “Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Sweet, Jeff Beck, ZZ Stop,” that’s what it says, “UFO, Tom Petty, Paul Westerberg, Cheap Trick.” What is not in doubt is that The Bong Hits –– frontman Jeff Satterly, virtuoso guitarist Darrin Kobetich, drummer Mike Ratiff, and bassist Brady Stephens –– are legit. Can’t wait to go. Virtually. –– Anthony Mariani