Bills, Lack of Thrills and Headaches: How the pandemic has affected newly formed bands.

The idea of starting a band, of headlining a gig, of being a real Rockstar is one of those cemented dreams, so exhilarating and exciting to think about that it has almost become cliché. There are likely thousands of guitars bought hastily, collecting dust in the corner of a room; hundreds of drumkits used only twice, only for the user to realise that maybe Ringo is not as useless as they had been led to believe. However, there are a few for whom starting a band is not some far off fantasy they wistfully return too on those monotonous moments every day; for some, being in a band is a reality. But with a lack of fantasy comes a lack of perfection, and for the modern band the realties of modern life, especially in light of the pandemic, are increasingly affecting their ability to make music.

Luke is one such person for whom the dream of forming band is his reality. He formed post-punk band Bruise with some friends at Truck Festival in 2019, but the novelty of being in a band soon wore off once the Covid-19 pandemic seeped in. At the start of 2020, things looked good for the band; having played a successful gig at Tunbridge Wells Forum on Valentine’s Day, they had “about 4 or 5 gigs booked around April-May time”, but, due to the pandemic, they were all cancelled. Luke says that the cancelling of these gigs really affected the band’s passion for music: “we’re all very surprised that we’re still together” he revealed, “at first with the group the idea was to get gigs under our belt and just keep moving up and hopefully make something of ourselves, but now I see it more as just for fun”. It has even affected Luke’s passion for making music as a whole; the lyricist as well as the singer, he feels that the effects of the pandemic has affected his ability to write lyrics: “I hardly write any of my own stuff anymore cause I base most of my music off my own experiences and I’m just not having those experiences”.

Luke touches on a possible consequence of the pandemic that has not been particularly talked about: how will the pandemic affect the lyrical content of music? Will there be a total dearth of realism and personality, as songwriters abandon the truth to offer some variation in their lyrics, or will there be a trend of lyrics based around the common emotions of loneliness, grief and depression that are consistently associated with the current COVID climate?

The realities of higher education are also having a huge effect on Bruise’s ability as a band to rehearse together. Originally based around Kent, before the pandemic the band members could easily go and rehearse at a venue close to them, however now it is far more difficult. Luke goes to university in Manchester, whereas the rest of the band are situated down south, meaning it has become incredibly difficult for Luke to travel down to rehearse or even play gigs: “I have to spend upwards of £60 to get to a gig we’re not even gonna make any money off”. Luke is not under any delusions that they deserve to be paid much as a band, as he feels that Bruise is “playing for experience not money”, but clearly this view can only go so far. It is untenable and unfair to expect young, struggling musicians to pay so much in order to play gigs for which they receive no compensation. Luke also highlighted how the pandemic affects his ability to form a band and find gigs in his local area: “I wanna start a band in Manchester but I can’t find anyone who wants to do what I want to do and again that has been down to being limited to seeing the people in my halls and not really anyone else”.

However Luke is still optimistic about Bruise, he wants to keep it up “for as long as possible”, and he is holding out for the summer: “Hopefully we can get a tonne of gigs and just keep playing, we’re mates with a lot of bands in our scene so it should be relatively easy to get support slots at our local venues and such and hopefully we’ll play some gigs in Manchester”. Hopefully, with the growing number of people vaccinated, as well as the relaxations of Covid-19 rules, small bands like Bruise will be able to grow in popularity, and the harsh realities of starting a band currently will be there no longer.

Bruise consist of Luke, Isa, Taylor and Ben and their absolutely incredible recent single, 'Country’s a State', can be found here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/0uq1LDgYkqijcqzeGRRoQf?si=Gl0zOnXgRW2PMm3GCGmClg