Our live to the radio concert didn’t go exactly as planned. Originally we were invited to play a show live from the radio, in a separate isolated sound booth, apart from the radio host. But as the pandemics restrictions increased we needed to change our plans… we thought about performing on the street outside the radio station. And then it seemed to make more sense to perform live from our home in the Slocan Valley. However, streaming with the low bandwidth internet out here was not going to work… So we decided to record a concert live from our home and then send the file to the radio. We tried to make the experience authentic. You can hear our children chatting in the background, you can hear us making breakfast. We pause, we help, we walk to the other room. We play old songs and new songs. This seems to be how the pandemic is; making plans, having to change them, re-imagine something, be flexible and then go with what works. Our band usually includes members from across BC and the Pacific North West, but during the lockdown, it’s just me and my partner. We miss our bandmates and collaborators. Since the lockdown began we have released a record that we made last year and recorded and pressed another. The pandemic feels like it is extinguishing me as an artist. Touring is how I reach audiences and gain new experiences and gather inspiration and sell records, so being unable to travel feels like it holding me back. I also feel like the music that I make is “live” music… and I miss the interaction and spontaneity of playing live shows. I hope that this very candid recording captures the essence of an ok Vancouver ok performance in a pandemic setting. We chose to go with a “live on the radio” format because it seems like the most accessible way to reach folks out here in the Kootenays, many of whom do not have internet or even electricity. This is the first time we’ve recorded something specifically on a computer, so it was new for us. We typically record to 8-track tape cassettes. We learned a lot about how complicated things can be when we rely on technology.
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