I’m back in Glasgow after an aborted tour in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. All shows were cancelled by promoters, whom we worked with and unanimously felt this was the best idea. As I’m now back home, I thought I’d write this post.
Without going into the politics of the situation, which by no means I’m an expert on, I figured I’d share some thoughts about things we can all do in the meantime:
- If you’re not in a country in lockdown, please limit your social activities to as little as possible, even if you feel you’ve had no opportunity to be infected. Even though the virus isn’t entirely deadly like others, it’s speed of infection can overwhelm the health system. This is called “flattening the curve”.
- If you’ve been travelling, stay home for 7-14 days. I’ve just returned from Berlin and I know what I’ll be doing. This will be quite hard for folks that work in jobs that deal with the public, and with their workplaces closing.
- If you feel you might be ill, Covid or otherwise, stay at home and take the advice given by your medical authority.
- Check in on your family, friends and neighbours to see if they need any assistance. I’ve seen an amazing network of support show up during this time and your community will need you more than ever to help. I will be checking on my own friends and family over the next little while to check in to see if they’re doing fine. Self-isolation can be very difficult for people, especially those with mental health issues so let’s keep each other buoyant and positive in the best way that we can.
If you’ve cleared yourself for a recommended amount of days and don’t have any symptoms, do things outdoors that don’t require much social interact. Go to your local park or any nature in your area and take a walk and reconnect with it. I know for myself that being out in the nature definitely levels me out quite a bit.
It’s likely even after restrictions ease up that the knock on effect of the economy will be with us for quite a while afterward but we just take things as we can.
And like me, give yourself lots to do when you’re at home, even if it’s not entirely creative. I’ll be doing a lot in the meantime:
- I’ll be aiming to do a lot of writing in FILM KLUB, giving out my own recommendations for films and other motion picture material. A lot of stuff that’s fun and interesting with the intent of choosing films that can be accessed online for folks to watch.
- I’ve got a number of video projects I’ll be working on over the coming weeks. Without letting too much information out there’ll be a new Soft Riot album out in May likely entitled Chin Up. It’s a very different record and sort of a companion piece to the recently released When Push Comes To Shove. Both records are to be on the Possession Records label.
- Re-working older tracks for the live set, as well as re-recording older tracks that I feel could get a nice re-vamp — mainly for fun.
- Lots of little things I’ve been neglecting for ages around the flat and in my own digital archives.
Finally, as most artists are having to cancel live performances and tours, many of them — especially those with whom those activities provide the bulk of the income — will be looking for support through sales of albums. Support them if you can by buying their releases.
The title of this post is a play on the title Love In The Time Of Cholera, a novel by the Colombian Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. The photo behind the title is from where I grew up in British Columbia, a vast wilderness of nature.