Artist of the Day | JOHN HEWITT
ARTIST OF THE DAY
31.07.2021
JOHN HEWITT
LOCATION
Edmonton, AB, Canada
GENRE
Folk/60's influenced Pop/Rock
CURRENT MEMBERS
John Hewitt
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?
At the time my group "John Hewitt & the New Americans" had released our debut album "American Hotel" a week before the first lockdown. As a result the album was never officially released in a live setting as most artists do a launch. The band was booked for many summer festivals, of which as we all know were canceled early on. This left us in a very awkward stage as we had physical promo material without a proper launch and were unable to mail it out due to the pandemic.
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
Every major gig was canceled from local venues to festival stages. We were not lined up to tour but were setting up the summer circuit locally to lineup with our release. As a result American Hotel became the only physical release by the band and still has not been launched in a professional venue.
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?
To be completely honest as soon as everything shut down I began writing. I was walking through a grocery store with carts stacked higher than the people pushing them. It was surreal. I know historically artists will create art no matter what happens to them in the personal or public lives. I immediately looked for a job where I could support myself and supplement my income since musically I could no longer work. I worked a 40 hour work week working for a delivery company at first delivering supplies to the U of A hospital and just last week I was delivering vaccines. Immediately after my creative juices started flowing I setup my home studio and the group began to work on music as safely as we could. We released an EP "Hollywood Reality", two non-album singles and several music videos including a skit show we filmed ourselves that ran for 8 one hour episodes. As an unexpected turn of events, even with a full time job I have been more prolific and creative than ever in my life, and as for my mental health, music and film is my mental health and it has balanced me through this whole ordeal.
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?
Since the reopening in Alberta I have started booking solo and trio gigs under my name as well as a session musician I have been called for some hosting gigs and several sideman gigs. I play bass for Tim Isberg and he is back to being booked as well which is great. I look forward to filling up the schedule and getting back to where we were stopped dead in our tracks last year.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
Being contacted to be artist of the day via Andrea Kotylak-Boyd, after a year and a half of not knowing which way things will turn it's great to be included in something like this.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
In 1943 Henry Fonda quit acting and became a naval officer to fight for his country. He fought for 3 years in the sea of Japan. When he returned he went back into acting. During 911 Steve Buscemi volunteered at his old Fire station 12 hours a day for several weeks. Artists have the power to stand up, take action and become a part of the solution. Although I never fought in a war or witnessed the atrocities of major world events as such, the past year and a half is something that I can be proud I stepped up and did my part, and I encourage anyone and everyone to do the same to the best of their abilities.
If you would like to be our next ARTIST OF THE DAY please email us at:
JEN@CONCERTWORKS.CA
