The week the world changed.

Well since we last wrote the world has changed immeasurably, in a week, reality is blurring, it's like being in a film, families crowded around the wireless listening to daily updates reminiscent of world war II. Households quarantined, the majority self isolating, or trying to, or at least social distancing. Pubs, theatres, cinemas, restaurants closed, schools shut, public transport grinding to a halt, hospitals overcrowded, overflowing with cases. Everyday is like a Sunday, or Christmas Eve; people ducking out of shops with bulging bags, waddling home, neighbours comparing their finds, from a distance of course. "What's a pandemic?" my 3 year old said to me, "This is it!" I replied. "A pandemic is us all stuck at home in a permanent cycle of washing up and clearing toys away and plucking your sister out of harms way as you launch yourself around the living room at a 100 miles an hour. It's why I have grown my nails after 2 decades of bitting them. It's why we are short with each other and why you're in trouble more often. It's why nursery is closed and you haven't seen your older brother for three weeks cause he's stuck at his mother's house. It's why we go out once a day in the car to an empty beach and run around in the swirling wind. It's why we nip into shops at peculiar times and hurry out with things we don't normally buy. It's why walls are changing colours and shelves are finally being put up. It's why me and your mother are on our phones more than normal and why you haven't seen your friends for weeks. And it's why we have no toilet roll and you're wiping you're bum with a flannel. This is a pandemic!" I say. 

"Huh?" he scrunches his nose up.

Thank god the weather's better my partner says as she slips out into the garden. The youngest is eating snails on the patio. 

These are strange times indeed and everyone's lives have been impacted, some far more than others. But I can only write about what I know, being a musician, being leader of this band we all love and the reason we are reading these words in the first place. How has this affected us? The Odd Folk? Badly, we're all self employed, a category that has been a little left behind in the government bail out. If we're lucky we might be able to claim £80 a week, while PAYE can claim 80% of their salary! We've lost the first 4 gigs of the year and expect many of the rest of follow suit, I can't see much happening this summer and depending on what you read even autumn could be sticky. I can't help thinking that this was our decade year, we were going big this year! It's almost quite fitting that we don't play a single gig. People say to me, perfect time to record an album and I agree, except we're scattered all over the place and we can't get in the same country, let alone the same room! 

So where are we all and how is this impacting us? 

Well as you can tell I'm at home being a full time parent which is something I haven't ever done before, my life is such that I often work away and play away and so being in permanent father mode is a challenge and I suddenly don't like myself half as much, but I have a lot more respect for my partner these days!

The piano player is in Portugal, he went out in the new year and has been stuck there ever since. His girlfriend is a native and they are staying with her parents. He's been planting vegetables in the garden he tells me and trying to launch a separate solo career but that hasn't quite gone to plan, the timing wasn't great, the world can only manage what's in front of it. We have no idea when he will be back, perhaps he'll stay there forever!?

The bass player and I had returned from Austria some 10 days ago, the day before the world changed, in fact a day later we would have been stuck there in a quarantine house. And like me, he has been at home with his partner and child. I'm not sure he's working, I'm not sure if they are even making films and if they need his audio editing skills. You'll have to ask him, he's due to write again for us sometime soon.

The accordion player is living in a cabin in Cornwall, having just finished a very successful tour of his side project, literally in the nick of time. The following week all theatres and venues had closed. I saw the piece in question, RAT and it was terrific. His plans to busk around Spain in the spring look dead in the water.

The drummer is still in work, yippee! Having been laid off twice in the last 5 years this time he's still in full time employment, albeit at home. He's very kindly offered to subsidise the band's loss of income and keep us on a retainer so we're all incredibly grateful to him for that ;)

These are strange times indeed. Some bands are pleading with fans to contribute to their Patreon sites in order to keep them afloat, and while our industry is certainly feeling the pinch, it doesn't quite sit with us, we're all feeling the pinch, all under the cosh. And when some sports minister was urging the Tokyo Olympics to continue because athletes need to earn too, I found myself shouting at the radio, like a typical Dad. "How ridiculous putting people at risk cause athletes need to get paid, we all need to get paid" I scoffed "and besides athletes get paid rather well, they should be alright to sit on it for a while!" 

"What's an athlete?" my 3 year old says to me, big innocent eyes full of wonder.
I don't answer. I can't answer. Often I have to walk out of the room, to self isolate from my family, just for a few moments, these symptoms don't last long and I nearly always make a full recovery. I am worried. It's impossible not to be. For my parents. For our healthcare. Our economy. The future. 

So let's stay safe. Let's learn from other countries that are hit worse than us.
And I hope this finds a conclusion soon. Good luck x