Struggling to stay creative in lockdown

by Ahren Rau

For these band members, getting lost in the music was part of the process. But then, a new challenge came along— keeping the music from getting lost as one venue door after another was forced to close.

Members of Swansgate. (From left to right) Gabe McKinney, Michael McKinney, and Stuart Draughn

photo courtesy of Swansgate Stuart Draughn and his bandmates were perfectly OK with being lost. They had been lost before. The whole point was to get lost. They needed only to listen to each other for direction. The drums guided the tempo, the bass set the rhythm and the keys led the emotion. The sounds of the band playing erupted throughout the night in the quiet suburban neighborhood surrounding their house.

The three members of Swansgate, an art rock band from Charlotte, were used to being lost in their music—it was their sanctuary. However, the COVID-19 pandemic led Swansgate to be financially lost. Restrictions on live shows and large gatherings sabotaged Swansgate’s opportunities to perform for audiences and garner exposure.

The COVID-19 global pandemic ravaged the music industry in March 2020 and stripped away the ability of artists to perform live concerts. Many bands and acts rely on live events to make the bulk of their revenue through ticket and merchandise sales. For six months, musicians large and small across the United States bandaged the damage by live streaming concerts, releasing music videos and accepting money from fundraisers for struggling artists.

According to data from Nielsen Music, a music sales data researching company, music video streams rose 14% and music streaming applications like Spotify skyrocketed 38% during the early months of lockdown restrictions.

Draughn and his bandmates have struggled to find shows in the midst of restrictions against large gatherings, so they have filled some of that time with rehearsals and YouTube performances on their new channel, Swavy's Place.

photo by Reuben Hayes, courtesy of swansgatemusic.com

Back in Charlotte, Draughn loosely handled his coffee cup as he jetted down an old, dimly lit staircase to the basement inside his home. The cup barely maintained the liquid through the disrupted inertia. Morning sunlight illuminated the silent room through the cracks in the curtains as Draughn entered and set his cup down on the floor next to him. Draughn’s long, blonde hair was styled by his bed and sat just above his shoulders that sported a shirt saying, “International Club.” The emotion on his face escaped and left a focused look while he equipped his headphones. Armed with varying keyboards and synthesizers, Draughn began his workday with a grueling, self-inflicted practice session.

Draughn, the lead keyboard player in Swansgate, and his two bandmates have struggled to find shows amid the COVID-19 restrictions against large gatherings.

“It’s really isolating, feeling like you don’t have a job. Like, I’m working, and I do a lot of stuff, but it’s all mostly by myself,” Draughn explained.

With one hand on the synth to his right, and his left hand on another, Draughn increased the tempo and changed time signatures when he got too comfortable. Like a body builder lifting weights, Draughn did repetition after repetition until failure.

“Damn it!” Draughn yelled out, after a mistake only a trained ear could have caught.

A gray cat laid curled up in the corner of Draughn’s home-studio listening to the sound of fingers striking keys. The home-studio was still very much a home. A bass amplifier blocked the empty fireplace, the drum kit sat where a couch should be, and acoustic panels covered the walls in lieu of photographs.

An abrupt phone call from a friend ended Draughn’s practice early. Draughn tied on a pair of Reeboks and loaded a bicycle into his Ford Focus before driving to downtown Charlotte. Draughn listened to rap during the entire 15-minute drive on the way to meet up with his friend to ride bikes.

Drenched in sweat, Draughn struggled to keep up while he videotaped his friend, Ethan, land bicycle tricks all around the city. The emotionless face returned to Draughn when the camera was in his hand. His artistic focus intensified.

“These are sick,” said Ethan, critiquing Draughn’s videography, “Perfect for my project.”

Draughn drove back home early in the afternoon to the looming uncertainty of the COVID lockdown restrictions. Beyond the shortages of money and exposure, one of Draughn’s main concerns was maintaining his and his bandmates’ motivation.

“I feel like in general the mindset productivity-wise was not the same. At the beginning of the pandemic we were in like lockdown mode mentally,” Draughn explained.

A few months into the lockdown, Draughn noticed artists and bands ranging from Katy Perry to Pearl Jam switch to online streaming platforms in efforts to promote their music. Pearl Jam teamed up with other Seattle musicians in June to stream a concert through Amazon’s Twitch account.

Draughn said he always planned on increasing the band’s exposure through the internet, but the pandemic forced their hands to begin those steps at the end of the summer. The group decided to begin enforcing mandatory practices every night at 6 in preparation for recording live videos to upload.

“Can I borrow your iPad to work on the logo?” Draughn asked Gabe McKinney, his bandmate and roommate, who was playing a game of Madden, a football videogame.

Draughn sat on the couch and the emotionless face returned as he got lost in another project, this one on an app for the iPad. He meticulously fixed the lines of a blonde character dressed in a black tuxedo with purple jewels covering his eyes.

“This is Swavy. He’s kind of like the mascot for Swavy’s Place,” explained Draughn. “It started off as something funny Michael drew, and we just thought it was cool.”

Swavy’s Place is the name of Swansgate’s new YouTube channel and home-studio. The band created both as an effort to garner exposure through online creations like their music videos. Draughn speculated at the idea of eventually inviting other bands to create content for the channel.

Draughn glided the stylus across the iPad and continued to work on the YouTube logo while waiting on the final bandmate to arrive.

After working all day at a mortgage firm, Michael McKinney, 25, walked through the door 45 minutes before practice was set to start. Michael changed into comfortable clothes and then plopped on the couch.

Gabe, 23, is quiet in comparison to his brother, bandmate and roommate Michael. After being let go from a job at Volvo due to COVID-19, Gabe moved in with the two to begin taking the band more seriously.

The three gathered in the living room and talked about subjects that did not veer far from music. When the clock read 6, the band walked down the stairs into the studio to begin.

“Let’s set this vibe right,” Michael said, laughing, as he adjusted the colorful lighting in the studio.

Gabe explained that the focus of the evening's practice was to tidy up the live performance of the two new songs they had recently finished. The plan was to record the videos and upload them to the new YouTube channel that weekend.

The quiet basement turned loud quickly as Michael kicked drum pedals and slammed on symbols. Gabe danced around the room with the bass. Draughn stood surrounded by the keys with an emotionless look on his face. The music broke after 30 minutes.

“Well, the song is a little over three minutes long, so we can fit in, what, almost 20 more for the next hour?” Draughn asked his bandmates, who had already played the song 10 times.

With a sense of direction for the band, Swansgate played, laughing and carefree. Only 20 more minutes went by until they were lost in their music again. n

1) Buy band merchandise, such as a poster or t-shirt. 2) Subscribe to a band's YouTube channel. 3) ViEW livestreams on Instagram, Twitch and other venues. Plus, Twitch allows donations. 4) Build a Spotify playlist to help others learn about your favorite band.

Source: altpress.com/features/help-bands-during-coronavirus-music-scene

photo: Pexels.com, CC0