Artist of the Day | IZZO BLUES COALITION
ARTIST OF THE DAY
15.11.2021
IZZO BLUES COALITION
LOCATION
Montreal, QC, Canada
GENRE
Contemporary Blues Rock
CURRENT MEMBERS
Tino Izzo, Bob Telaro + special guests
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
We released our first album in 2019 and were just getting going with our first bookings to go out and perform live. We applied to every blues festival in the country for 2020 and had actually scheduled our first European blues festival in Belgium when, sadly, everything came to a screeching halt.
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
We put aside all our plans to play live and used the lockdown period to write and record our second album. The extra time allowed us to work at a very relaxed pace and allowed us to put together a better, more focused, album which we released on October 1st.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home? How are you supporting your mental health through all of this?
Besides recording the album, we've also been working on improving our individual playing skills to stay in tip top shape. We also put together a series of viral videos (pieced together from long distance performances) which helped us to further develop our sound and musical identity. Being able to play music with friends definitely helped in terms of maintaining our mental stability.
As things are reopening & restrictions are lifting have you booked any new gigs? Tours? Etc? If your region is still under restriction, how are dealing with the Covid third wave?
We're just getting started to book gigs for 2022 and are now doing interviews (mostly by phone) to promote the new album. Aside from a slight scare in September, it seems the 4th wave has not hit Quebec too hard thus far and things are slowly starting to get back to (a new) normal again.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
Just discovered it thanks to Eric Alper. It's a very cool concept and a great way to discover new emerging talent!
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Go check out our new album and spread the word if you like what you hear! Support local musicians once they start to perform again as it's been really tough for the musical community across the country. Most of all, stay safe! Cheers!
If you would like to be our next ARTIST OF THE DAY please fill out this FORM & send a high resolution photo to:
JEN@CONCERTWORKS.CA