Get Along or Go Along | 21 Everyone’s an Industry Plant | 26 Traffic Circle

Local Talent

Traffic Circle

Tastemakers recently spoke with Zack, Gianni, Sydney, Ryan, and Ethan of Traffic Circle about their music, backyard shows, and their duck.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Tastemakers (TMM): Where did the name Traffic Circle come from?

Zack (Z): We knew this was coming, and we don’t have a good answer. There was a period of time when we were picking random names and having that be our name for like three days, and if we hated it we would just change it. We just did that a few times, until eventually we just came up with Traffic Circle. At the end of the day, I think we kind of just leaned into the traffic theme at some point. So now we collect traffic signs, and we bring them on stage and stuff like that.

TMM: Speaking of things you bring on stage with you, what’s the story behind the duck?

Z: Ethan the duck! Does Ethan want to explain it?

Ethan (E): So Ethan the duck used to be a real duck. He died, someone taxidermied him, and was selling him at a yard sale.

Z: So I guess we just started bringing him to our shows–

Ryan (R): He’s the good luck charm.

Z: Now every time we go to a show people expect to see him.

TMM: We were talking about this a bit before the interview, but I would love to hear more about the Turnpike and how that all started.

R: We moved into this house during the pandemic, so we were kind of in like a year and a half long period of not doing any shows. We were worried that our neighbors would be mad about noise, and one night we were out in the backyard when someone yelled down “Hey are you guys the musicians?” And we were like “Uh oh we are about to get our comeuppance for making noise in the neighborhood.” We followed with “Are we too loud?” And they were like “no we love it, you guys should play a show in the backyard!” And our other neighbors who were outside agreed, so we did that. safely while following COVID protocols. Everybody loved those shows, so once everybody started to get vaccinated we were like “Well we’ve got the perfect place to have a real outdoor backyard show.”

Sydney (S): Because everyone was kept up inside for so long, the reaction to these shows was so overwhelmingly positive. Our first show, they went absolutely nuts. One girl threw her bra at Zack and was like “Oh my god your drummer is so cute!”

Gianni (G): I don’t know about that…

S: That got us excited about being a band again.

Z: So our first public show was over the summer and we were releasing our single “You Want Love.” We played with our good friends, like Eli Olson, who also goes to Northeastern as well as–

G: Maya Lucia–

TMM: Oh, she was in Tastemakers.

Z: Yes, a Tastemakers alumni!

G: And Lip Service.

Z: Yes Lip Service from Berklee. We spread the word on social media, and we turned the Ethan the Duck Instagram account into the Turnpike Instagram account. We were completely blown away by the amount of people that came to that first show.

S: It was wild.

Z: We definitely want to book local Boston acts. We kind of want to be a hub for local musicians to be heard.

TMM: What’s the songwriting process like for you guys?

Gianni: It really depends on the song.

Zack: Sydney mainly writes the lyrics.

E: Well a lot of our songs are written by different people. Like our song “Attack of the Clones” was written by Ryan.

Traffic Circle, Afterhours

Photo by Olivia Leon (Writing and Communications)

needed to interview someone for a prompt. I interviewed Ethan and he was playing guitar while I asked him questions. I just kind of wrote the lyrics around his words.

R: Everyone kind of writes the part for their instrument. Someone is like “I have an idea, here’s my idea for the structure.” And everyone else will just take that and run with it.

S: I think the best example of the process right now is “You Want Love.” Ryan had the original idea for that song, and then we took a trip to my parents’ house in upstate New York and we worked on it for two days straight. I was kind of in my own hole writing lyrics as I was hearing them play. I think that’s closest to what we do now.

Z: When we went to New York, it was probably our most productive writing session we’ve ever had because we were able to focus purely on that with no distractions.

G: We got three songs out of it.

Z: They’re all coming out on an EP in late October/early November.

TMM: I do have one song in particular to ask you about, which is “Bug Facts.” Do you switch up the facts each time?

S: Oh yeah.

Z: The rule is that if you repeat a fact...

G: You immediately die. E: I don’t want to find out what happens.

Z: The song is based on the Cool Bug Facts meme from like 2019. Ethan wrote this metal riff and we all thought it would be funny if we said a bunch of facts about bugs and half way through the song the facts stopped being about bugs.

R: Every single show we have a discussion of like, do we stop playing “Bug Facts?” The answer is always no because people like it.

TMM: So you’ve got a brand going, with Ethan the duck and “Bug Facts.”

S: I didn’t really think about us having a brand but at our July show, my friend told me “You guys are just so eclectically curated.” And I was like “That. That is exactly what it is.”

G: Eclectic curation… that’s good.

TMM: Is there anything you guys are really looking forward to doing as a band?

S: I’m really excited for all of these shows, and then for the spring when we will make some new music. We were thinking of going on a bit of a tour in the summer, more of a DIY type thing.

• Jessica Gwardschaladse (History, Culture, and Law)

CONCERTS IN COVID

It’s hard to social distance in a mosh pit.

After surviving through a pandemic for more than 17 months, concert and festival venues are starting to reopen their doors for artists and music lovers to enjoy the art of live music once more. Many artists who had albums that were released during the thick of the pandemic are kick starting their national tours, and music festivals like Firefly and Governors Ball are preparing for the weekends ahead. It seems like the music scene in Boston and across the country is finally coming back to life; however, just because tour tickets are being posted does not stop Covid from continuing to flourish.

According to a June 2021 article by Vox, “the recovery for the event ecosystem is happening faster than expected.” Many professionals believed that the nature of live events would be damaged significantly by the pandemic, but it just made people more excited to go to stadiums and concerts than ever before.

Around April of 2021, all American adults became eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. With the influx of vaccinated citizens, the pandemic suddenly seemed less daunting than before. Cities around the country, including Boston, relaxed their mask mandates and people jumped at the opportunity to have a Covid-free summer. Shops, bars, and restaurants fully reopened with indoor seating, and movie theatres and music venues started producing tickets for upcoming events.

This summer also introduced an overwhelming amount of new music. Big artists like Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat, Kanye West, Billie Eilish and Lorde released albums for the first time in years, and with these releases came word of large national and international tours. In addition to the tours for new releases, popular names such as Phoebe Bridgers and Harry Styles announced their tours and festival appearances for the music that was never able to travel due to the spread of Covid before or during the time their albums came out.

According to TIME Magazine, around 485,000 people attended Lollapalooza to see artists including Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Jack Harlow and Megan Thee Stallion. Despite the pandemic, the volume of people was barely less than it had been in previous years, with the tickets sold in 2019 being around 500,000. In addition to solo tours, music festivals all over the country released lineups ranging for the end of 2021 through 2022. After over a year and a half of living by the rules of Covid, people jumped at the opportunity to see their favorite artists once again and mosh without the need to socially distance. After a year of silence, it almost feels like 2021 has marked the revival of live music.

However, life without masks was fairly short lived.

According to the CDC, the newest varant of Covid nicknamed the Delta variant is “more infectious” and leads to “increased transmissibility,” even among vaccinated people.

On July 27, the CDC reissued guidelines for people to start wearing masks again, no matter their vaccination status. The Delta variant came from India and eventually swept through the U.S. with tremendous speed, soiling the idea of a Covid-free summer. The Delta variant proved to be as contagious as chicken pox and more deadly towards the unvaccinated, bringing all grand openings to a halt. Large gatherings were no longer safe, and cities have since returned to mask mandates and maximum capacity rules.

The City of Boston website cites that about 64.5% of the Boston community is fully vaccinated, but even though the vaccine is recommended as the best form of protection against Delta, precautions have to be taken. Boston has adopted a five point plan for the delta variant, which includes a mask mandate for all public spaces and improved air ventilation for schools.

Although Delta has impacted many new rules and guidelines, it has yet to cancel any concerts or festivals. Protocols have been taken at many venues in order to put safety as a priority and make sure that the number of Covid cases stays at a minimum.

At indoor venues like the Royale in Boston, masks are required unless actively eating or drinking, and either a proof of vaccination or a negative test must be presented in order to get in. Some venues will let patrons bring a copy or picture of a negative test or vaccine card; others will only accept physical copies or not allow any kind of access at all.

Artists also have opinions on vaccine proof at their shows. In preparation for Lucy Dacus’ tour for Home Video, she posted on her Instagram stating that she is going to try to have as many of her shows require vaccinated proof only. As a result, a large number of her shows state that unvaccinated people will not be allowed inside, no matter if they have a negative test or not.

Other artists have changed their plans entirely. Phoebe Bridgers had originally put out information about the Reunion Tour for her 2020 album Punisher on July 12, but changed her tune a month later after Delta cases started to sky rocket. She changed most of her scheduled venues to new venues that were outdoors, and postponed shows to different dates in the interest of safety. However, not all artists and venues are so cautious in the eyes of the pandemic. Lollapalooza, a large annual music festival in Chicago, Illinois, caused a lot of outrage because of the size of the crowd and lack of social distancing.

According to an August 2021 Block Club Chicago article, photos of “massive, tightly packed crowds on the CTA and around the downtown area” circulated around the internet. However, reports that came back after the event from

sources like CNN and NBC Chicago stated that there were only 203 Covid cases that resulted from the weekend. Nevertheless, festivals still pose a much bigger threat than concerts to the spread of Covid-19. Some artists, such as Stevie Nicks, have even cancelled, postponed, or pulled out of performances because of health concerns.

In the words of Nicks after she cancelled her performances at multiple festivals including ACL, BottleRock, Jazz Aspen, and Shaky Knees, “I want everyone to be safe and healthy, and the rising COVID cases should be of concern to all of us.”

There have also been cases where performers or their band members have contracted Covid during their tours, and as a result have had to cancel multiple upcoming shows. Artists such as Still Woozy, Aminé, and Lucy Dacus had to postpone concerts as close as the day before due to positive Covid results.

After testing positive, Sven of Still Woozy posted on his Instagram, announcing that his Los Angeles shows have been postponed until 2022 even though they had “implemented all the safest protocols at the venues” and encouraged people to get vaccinated. Such a last minute cancellation would have been a big deal pre-pandemic, but now it may become a new normal due to unavoidable circumstances.

Although Covid still lingers on for the foreseeable future, the fact that tours and festivals have gotten the same amount if not more customers willing to be safe in order to experience live music is a sign no virtual event will ever replace the experience of in-person concerts. Despite all that can go wrong, people are still drawn to seeing their favorite artists live because of the powerful feelings it provides.

Nora Holland (Journalism and English)

CROSSWORD

ZOOMED

ACROSS

2. What artist settled for copyright infringement for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “Won’t Back Down”? 4. Samia’s mom was in which movie? 8. What was Britney Spears’ first song to reach #1 on the Billboard Top 200? 9. Who is the most streamed female artist of all time on Spotify?

DOWN

1. What group are Bladee, Ecco2K and Tha a part of? 3. What is the real name of the artist Role Model? 5. What astrological sign is SZA? 6. Before Bleachers and fun., Jack Antonoff fronted what band? 7. Which artist wrote “Windows Down” by Big Time Rush?

Can you tell which six album covers we’ve zoomed in on?

Arlo Parks Collapsed in Sunbeams

Wallows Nothing Happens Lorde Melodrama 2nd Row:

Julia Michaels Inner Monologue Remi Wolf I’m Allergic to Dogs! Sami The Baby 1st Row:

7. kesha 6. steel train 5. scorpio 3. tucker 1. drain gang Down:

9. billie eilish 8. baby one more time 4. hocus pocus 2. sam smith Across:

LOCAL PHOTO

Christian French, Brighton Music Hall

Photo by Amanda Stark (Behavioral Neuroscience)

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

We’ve put together some of our favorite Lorde and Marina songs!

Find the playlist at open.spotify.com/ playlist/5aNjN2b46SwxoUPA7wTojh

• Sofia Maricevic (Finance and Marketing) 1. “Teen Idle” — Marina 2. “Royals” — LordeI 3. “Bubblegum Bitch” —Marina 4. “Buzzcut Season” — Lorde 5. “How to Be a Heartbreaker”MARINA 6. “Ribs” — Lorde 7. “Are you Satisfied” —MARINA 8. “Writer in the Dark” — Lorde 9. “Happy” — MARINA 10. “Liability” — Lorde 11. “Orange Trees” — MARINA 12. “Supercut” — Lorde 13. “Handmade Heaven” — MARINA 14. “Homemade Dynamite” — Lorde 15. “Purge The Poison” — MARINA 16. “Oceanic Feeling”— Lorde

FIND JUSTIN

We’ve hidden Justin somewhere in this issue. Find him and maybe something cool will happen...

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