Artist of the Day | THE WHISKEY JERKS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
10.11.2020
THE WHISKEY JERKS
LOCATION
Saskatoon, SK
GENRE
Klezmer Infused Folk & Rock
CURRENT MEMBERS
Gillian Snider
Anna Bekolay
James Daikuw
Peter Abonyi
Nevin Buehler
Aidan Weiman
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 had just played our first JUNOfest gig the night before (March 12th) at the Black Cat Tavern here in Saskatoon, and we were getting geared up for our show the next day (March 14th) opening for the Jim Cuddy Band at the Broadway Theatre.
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
As with most folks, a serious wrench was thrown into our plans for 2020! Aside from JUNOfest, we had quite a few shows and festivals booked up until September in Saskatchewan and a tour west to Vancouver was in the works for August.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
Haha! Well that's a good question. There are some of us that are more industrious than others. Three of our members are teachers so they had to adjust to teaching and connecting with their students online, and our drummer Aidan never stopped working as his job was considered essential. Speaking for myself? Aside from a few online shows, I spent the first couple of months at home drinking wine, knitting and reading a LOT of books! Once we felt comfortable enough to get together to rehearse, we started writing and recording again (we'll be releasing a song along with nine other artists for CFCR and CJTR's Got It Covered album TODAY, November 10th) and we made a couple of videos for The Whiskey Jerks (one of which will be released on October 31st as part of Jasper's Habitat for the Arts' "Habitat Hallowe'en Spooktacular"). We played our first socially-distanced live show on August 23rd (which was wonderful!!), played a couple of private backyard shows and if the pandemic spike doesn't prohibit us from travelling, we'll be playing our first out-of-town gig on November 21st! We also have a couple of online shows booked for December.
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
Several of our members went camping, and I finally got take the postponed April 1st trip out to Vancouver to visit my daughter and move my son out there for school. It was a glorious trip!
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
Reading the Artist of the Day interviews!
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Take the time to embrace this pause that we've been given, go for a walk or read a book. And remember, we're a resilient species! We'll be back on our feet in no time.
The Whiskey Jerks
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