Artist of the Day | DEPPISCH
ARTIST OF THE DAY
13.11.2020
DEPPISCH
LOCATION
Edmonton, AB
GENRE
Electronic
CURRENT MEMBERS
Deppisch
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?
March 12th; I was at a rehearsal with Melafrique after a long day of work getting ready for their show the next week. During a break, I was in the other room looking through my phone for the first time in a while to check the scoop, and that's when I knew everything was changing. Bandmates, event organizers, and friends had all been messaging me about how everything we were planning together was getting postponed due to the health safety concerns surrounding COVID-19. Every gig I had left in March and April was canceled in one evening, dozens of events, just gone. I came back into the studio from my break, and everyone in the band was sitting in silence as we had just got the message that Melafrique's show would also be postponed until further notice. None of us knew what was going to happen next, none of us knew just how much things were going to change, but we finished our rehearsal anyway and enjoyed each other's company. It was the only thing we had left after all.
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
So many of the projects I was in had plans for this year; festivals, mini-tours, shows, all gone. Brasstactics had something big in the works with a certain organization, the HonourRoll Music collective was planning on getting out to Vancouver for some shows, I was about to start a new education series at some elementary schools, and every band I was in was getting ready for festivals. My schedule went from being packed to being completely empty and it was the first time since I was a kid that I had this much free time on my hands.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
Well, I finished my debut album CUTE that I had been working on for two years! I wanted to be able to have a big show for it but I've settled for the much more quiet online release instead due to obvious circumstances. I've had a lot of time to reflect as well on my life. Having all this time on my hands made me realize just how much of it I was giving to my music career and how damaging it has been to my health both mentally and physically. I really like to throw myself into as many things as I can! After this pandemic is over and things start returning to normal I'll be finding a new work balance in my life so I can keep playing music into old age and not burn myself out. I also cleaned my house up a lot and played lots of video games, as you do.
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
I went camping the last couple of months with my family as I figured it would be the safest thing to do while getting out of the city for some scenery change. I hadn't been camping in a long time due to my work schedule and wanted to see the mountains again and spend some quality time with the fam jam. It was a much-needed reprieve from everything going on right now.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
I got two:
Moon Hooch with the Edmonton International Jazz Festival, that show was bonkers! I had a long week that day and hearing those boys play the most mind-melting of music with just their saxophones blew my mind!
When the Brasstactics played on the rooftop of the building, it just filled me with so much joy getting to do something exciting again with music.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
I'm not gonna lie, things suck right now. Everything feels frustrating and people are struggling every day with what's going on in the world, but we can't give in to despair and resignation. We have to give ourselves hope of a better tomorrow, of a brighter future.
That hope will give us strength and that strength will get us through this together.
It'll be hard, but nothing that's ever worth it is easy.
I look forward to the day we can all come together in person again, but until then I can't wait to see what the community will do to reach the hearts and minds of the people to bring us joy and happiness.
Also if you can, check out my album CUTE! It's out on all major platforms and I hope it brings you some joy in this mad mad world.
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