When The Bassline Stops
A summer without festivals and clubs. How are DJs and musicians coping?
10 August 2020
Endaf and Aleighcia share their experiences of how their musical life has taken a 180 degree turn in 2020.
DJ Endaf Roberts on nightlife's 'new normal'
For the past 10 years DJing, organising events and clubbing has been a huge part of my life. So much so, in the past year I gave up my 9-5 job to focus on it full time.
Pre-lockdown I was DJing flat out - holding down my residency at Cube Nightclub in Bangor every Saturday night, travelling all over the country playing gigs at nightclubs and festivals, and DJing at the BAFTA Cymru afterparty and Wales Sport Awards in some really exclusive venues. Plus some not so glamorous private parties at obscure pubs!
I miss the feeling of the bass rattling my bones and the sweaty handshakes from some random guy at the front of the crowd when I drop a naughty track.
Not only was it my job, my passion, but also like everyone else in the club, I was there to have fun. I just party in the DJ booth instead of the dance floor. It's a release from the pressures of normal Monday-Friday life, and it keeps us sane! I miss the feeling of the bass rattling my bones, talking to random people in the smoking area, even the sweaty handshakes from some random guy at the front of the crowd when I drop a naughty track.
My Saturday nights now consist of bingeing Tiger King, baking banana bread with my girlfriend and socialising with my cats Dan and Lola, but that's also pretty cool! I can see this on social media too - my friends up early going for walks, taking up new hobbies like art, cooking, learning to play instruments. Even some DJs I know are now taking up music production and making their own tracks which is amazing!
The obvious replacement for performing live was streaming, and like every other DJ in the country, I streamed performances from my studio. It kept things almost normal for a while. I was DJing from my home instead of nightclubs, designing a poster, promoting online, and sorting out set times for the line up.
When lockdown began and everyone stayed at home, I realised the best thing about DJing and the clubbing scene in general is that it brings people together, and it's so much fun seeing everyone let loose grooving to my music! DJing live on Facebook alone from the home just wasn't the same without all those people to share it with.
I asked Saytek (a DJ who's performed all over the world) how streaming compares to performing to a crowd, and I can 100% relate to his answer:
'It's fun doing live streams, but it doesn't really scratch that itch. It's the kind of music you need hundreds of people dancing to, to make it work properly, and there's a lot of me feeding back off the crowd, and you can't really do that through live streaming.'
On the other hand, the side of clubbing most people don't see is the hours spent in the studio producing the soundtrack to nights out all over the world. Lockdown has actually been a great opportunity for producers to stay home and make amazing music. We haven't had the chance to experience these tracks in a club yet, or a festival stage on a huge sound system. This excites me, when we finally do go back to normal it's going to go off!
Award winning UK reggae artist, Aleighcia Scott, on life as a musician in lockdown
If someone had told me at the start of the year that a pandemic was going to take over the world and keep everyone inside I wouldn’t have believed it.
It was such a strange feeling going from being a creative, travelling musician who performs every week to having to stay inside instead. This summer for me was supposed to be about the release of my debut album, which I’d been working on for the last three years, both in the UK and in Jamaica. Unfortunately, this has had to be slightly pushed back, which of course is gutting. But, I still will get to release the album, videos and singles and as odd as this may sound, I actually gained a lot of positives in lockdown.
I figured that if I couldn't go out and perform for people, I would bring the show to me鈥� live stream performances!
I always seemed to be ‘busy’ before lockdown, which often meant spending a whole day travelling, or in studio sessions and shoots, which sometimes meant I didn’t always get to look at other aspects of my career so much, such as connecting and networking. I figured that if I couldn't go out and perform for people, I would bring the show to me… I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to broadcast across the globe from a setup in my room via Facebook/Instagram and even luckier to be able to bring good vibes to people who may need them at such a scary time.
To begin with, it was a bit of a strange feeling not being able to see or hear an audience. After the first couple of times though, I felt as if there was an audience with me as you can see the comments from people engaging with the stream and letting you know which country they’re in.
Whilst it doesn’t quite feel the same as a live performance to an audience in front of me, it has brought me lots of joy to be able to bring a show to people in their homes, in these times of uncertainty and take their mind off things.
I’ve been able to take more time planning things for the album and it’s also meant I’ve had the time to have online meetings and discussions to help to develop the release, as well as one major thing I guess I was missing out on… REST!
As much as I would like to try my best to remain positive throughout all of this though, I still know that our industry will be the last to go back to ‘normal’ (which is kind of scary as we cannot predict what the future will bring, especially as performing is my full-time income). With this is mind, I have tried not to focus on what can’t be done, but to focus on what CAN be done and look forward to the day everything is back on a safe track.
