Artist of the Day | THUG SHELLS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
29.08.2020
THUG SHELLS
LOCATION
Edmonton, AB
GENRE
Hip Hop/Electronic
CURRENT MEMBERS
Thug Shells
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?
Edmonton!
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
I actually had a small tour in Asia planned I had to reschedule - whoops! I have an EP coming out next month - The Rainy Day EP - but the plans for that project remained unchanged, I've just been gifted more time to craft it with love and care!
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
At the start of quarantine with my new found time I had no choice but to work on music with everything I had - I decided to move to livestreaming! I learnt to DJ over the last few months, and now Tuesday and Thursdays I livestream freestyle raps - and Sundays I do a big online DJ show! In my spare time, I have been learning to sing, scratch, & play piano. When I'm not playing with the ferrets of hanging out with my pooch, I'm always kept pretty busy focusing on music. Creating a schedule for myself to livestream has been so rewarding because for the first time in my life I am making a living off solely music - and I can't imagine my life any other way now!
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
I'm still really keeping to myself, though everything is slowly re- opening I'm quite content adhering to stay home policies. I have a lot of pets and roomies to keep me company and I go out to the ravine a lot, so I'm not really itching to get back into public. I did go to a cool hip hop dance class at Dance Code Studio after they had me MC a breakdance competition they had for their open house!
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
SO many, my first time on stage in front of a sold out room was at Starlite and that'll definitely have to take the cake. I will never forget the exhilarating rush as a new artist!
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Whatever you want to do, that thing that sets fire to your soul - START TODAY. Go easy on yourself and take breaks - know your happiness formula and always listen to your body; but never give up. You will always have people with mixed opinions - but nobody is going to understand your process as much as you. Don't stop learning, don't stop pushing - and constantly figure out your weaknesses and turn them into your strengths. The growth you will see with consistent daily effort will bring you so much happiness and fuel your inspiration. I've been a lot luckier than most artists in the sense that I didn't rely on music as my source of income before COVID - without a forced re-evaluation of my priorities I don't know if I ever would have been brave enough to have made the jump to focusing solely on my music career. Now that I give music almost every moment of every day - I finally see how much work goes into making it and chasing that dream. It's going to take work, and it's going to take time... but when you look back and realize how far you've come, dang. You are going to be proud of yourself, and I will be too!
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