Artist of the Day | NORTHERN ROYALS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
07.08.2020
NORTHERN ROYALS
LOCATION
Winnipeg, MB
GENRE
Rock and Roll
CURRENT MEMBERS
Evan Chandler
Kendra Emms
Bo Neufeld
Kyle Maskiw
Codey Emms
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?
Codey, Kendra and Evan were all in Mexico when COVID-19 became "real" in Canada and our home province Manitoba. In Mexico it was a topic of discussion, but we never thought borders would be closed as as result. We returned to Winnipeg on March.16th which was the day flights were no longer taking passengers out of Manitoba. Seems like we made it back just in time to begin our 14 day quarantine and months of self-isolation after that.
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
Our EP release show was scheduled for May 2020. We had plans to release singles leading up to the event as well as shoot music videos and live performances. We had to put everything on hold until we were given things started opening up again. We were also planning an eastern Canadian tour to support the EP in the fall which was also cancelled. It was devastating to lose all those dates, plans, and just having to sit on our music for way longer than we would have liked. Despite the obvious horrific reality of what COVID-19 is doing to the world, the economy and just the day to day stress it's brought on to people. It surprisingly brought some of us a little bit of relief to not have any plans, no releases, and no schedule. We were able to relax a little, think about the music and come up with new release dates. We just released our first single "Waves" off the upcoming EP, and we scheduled the EP release show for Oct.09th at The Park Theatre in Winnipeg, MB.
Not all of us in the band were able to stay at home during the pandemic though. Some of us went right back to work when things were at their worst. We have been fortunate in Manitoba that our numbers have always been really good compared to other areas of Canada and the world. Our province was able to get control of the virus and flatten the curve until we were going weeks with almost zero new cases. Unfortunately, numbers are going back up and the famous second wave seems to be in full swing. I also would like to add that without our emergency services and front-line workers, people like us would not have been able to stay home safe and sound while the world recovered and adjusted to the new normal.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
We all had different ways of passing the time when we were stuck at home. Some of us have kids to keep us busy, some of us dived into video games and some went into song writing and practicing. I think we all did a bit of everything, but not being able to practice with the band was a pretty tough time for us. It's been our normal for 10 years now and we've never really gone more than a few weeks without getting together. I will say that there are some great new tunes already in the works and we do have to wonder if we would have created the same music without that time to write.
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
We got together to practice as soon as possible. When things began to slowly re-open we started getting together with a portion of the band then eventually led to all 5 of us when we felt it was safe to do so. We never did the online rehearsals or anything like that because we never had the equipment, but we did have a few drinks together online. A few other things we did was a cold drink on a patio with the sun beating down. That, and of course a good old fashion rock show. Except it was nothing like any rock show we've ever seen. Being restricted to our chairs and tables, no dancing, no standing, no walk-up bar service and tables covering the dance floor, it didn't feel like anything I remember. After the music started playing and the beers were flowing, we realized how much we missed live music and how it really doesn't matter how or where we hear it. Shout out to Ex Omerta and Deep Dark Cave for putting on a wicked show, it was our first show since COVID hit.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
Really loving the "It's Five O'Clock here!". Still checking out all the content on the website, live music streams, blogs, band features and lots of love to supporting local venues which we love to see. The episode "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" is a current favourite, looking forward to watching more.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
If you made it this far we want so say thanks for taking the time, learning about independent music and thanks for being on a sweet website that also supports indie music. If you want to know more about us or check out some Canadian rock n roll, go to any of the pages below and check out our new single "Waves" on all streaming platforms.
Northern Royals
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