Bryan Dowd - Life and Art in Isolation
“I think it's likely that things will be different because of this, however, in my opinion, the music industry will always change quickly and adapt to its surroundings.”
In this interview from our Life and Art in Isolation series, we travelled (mentally not physically) beyond the boundaries of our city to London, Ontario. We had the great pleasure of hearing from Bryan Dowd, drummer of the London band Sneaker Club, about his experience as an artist in the COVID-19 shutdown.
You can find our full Life and Art in Isolation series here.
photo courtesy of Bryan Dowd
How has isolation disrupted your daily routine? How has it disrupted the activities of your band, Sneaker Club?
Luke (our bass player) and I have been working at grocery stores in London while our other two members have been laid off. We also all live separately from each other, and due to two of us going out for work we've decided it's safest to hold off on practicing as a band until this is over. We haven't been able to practice as a group since March, and it's admittedly challenging not being able to practice with my friends.
Our band had to cancel our first headlining show in London, we were only two weeks from performing before everything shut down. That was disappointing for us since we put out a single to promote that show, but of course it was necessary. We've been working on an EP for the past year and have had to halt our plans on that since we were going to use future gigs to fund the rest of it. We are working on figuring out how to practice over chats now, and maybe we'll write a bunch of music while we wait, so there are many positives ahead for us, we've just got to be patient.
What else have you been doing to stay healthy and busy at home? How do you continue to practice your craft?
Having to work throughout this, I've found that keeping a positive headspace is the best medicine for me. I'm optimistic that we'll get through this as a band, in fact I'm trying to use the extra time to plan creative merch/show ideas which will be fun to start setting into motion when venues start to open up again.
I've been practicing playing drums on a practice pad in my room, about 30-60 minutes a day if I can fit it in. We're looking into gear so we can start writing/workshopping songs across the city and hopefully have more material to play for our friends.
In the future, do you think the music industry will be changed as a result of this?
I think it's likely that things will be different because of this, however, in my opinion, the music industry will always change quickly and adapt to its surroundings. My main question is how long it will take to ramp back up to speed, since a lot of musicians planned on the summer being their source of income from live shows. Not sure how many people are going to be excited to spend thousands of dollars on studio time unless they've played for a while. I think livestream shows might become more mainstream in the future, a lot of video games are taking advantage of this and I'm sure will make it more lucrative in the coming months. I'm curious to see how it unfolds, although a semi similar situation to this was how New York City's music scene survived after 9/11. After the attacks, no one wanted to record/play there for a while resulting in New York's local scene to help sustain itself, but they managed to keep studios and venues alive in the times they needed it most. If they could do it, so can we.
Do you have advice for other musicians and artists in your position?
Be patient. It definitely sucks, but this will pass eventually, and when it does people will likely flock to shows once they start up because everyone is going to be thirsty for some live music. And I would tell them to be thankful we live in Canada with a liberal government that will help support artists in a time like this, most countries don't fund arts like we do.
What is your favourite work of art (all genres) that you can enjoy from home? Something online, on video, in a book, on your walls, in your house?
My favourite art to appreciate from home is honestly video games and films right now, since I find those are specific to my house. Music and visual art I can appreciate anywhere, I love music more when I'm on walks or driving the car to work. But I've been finding a real appreciation for the sound design in both, not to mention how visually stunning they are becoming.
Find Sneaker Club on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Listen to them on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and Youtube.
Listen to our latest episode of Purple Glow Pod where we discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on artists and arts workers in the city on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play Music.
Here is our list of places artists can find financial and mental health relief during COVID-19.