WATERLOO, IA – The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive turnaround in every aspect of our daily lives. Of those affected include musical artists and bands. On Mar. 17, Spicoli’s Reverb announced on their Facebook page that they will be closed at least until the end of March. On top of that, all their shows this month have been cancelled.
Even so, the natural response to change is adaptation, and that is exactly what many artists and those who support artists are doing.
Tomorrow, Saturday, Mar. 28 from 6:00-7:00 p.m., Hardship, a hardcore act from Waterloo, will be performing at Spicoli’s Reverb, not in front of people but in front of a camera. This is because the concert will be livestreamed on both Hardship’s and Spicoli’s Facebook pages. Spicoli’s will be offering takeout chicken wings for $10 a basket (cash only) as well as brand new Hardship merchandise. All of these items will be brought to the customer’s car outside the venue.
This new Hardship merchandise was ordered for upcoming shows and their tour in May. The band was booked for two shows in Minneapolis and the Quad Cities, both of which were cancelled. Their May tour is still in question.
“We put almost all the extra money we had into ordering merch for our upcoming shows and tour that might not even happen,” said Danny Shea, the vocalist for Hardship. “That was, like, a $2,500 merch order.”
The pandemic has been difficult for Hardship, as well as most other bands. While it is causing shows and tours to be cancelled, there are still other complications for artists.
“The only thing we’ve been able to do is practice,” said Shea. “Sometimes our drummer’s family is there and his roommates, so that’s more than 10 people, so we’re like ‘can two people leave so we can actually have band practice?’”
Streaming services are also making an effort to support the music community. On Friday, Mar. 20, Bandcamp announced a waive of all revenue shares, meaning that 100 percent of the money spent on a digital or physical purchase went straight to the artist as well as the label if the band was signed to one. In the following days, Bandcamp calculated the results, and reported huge numbers.
“We want to thank everyone who joined us last Friday in supporting artists and raising awareness about the impact of COVID-19 on the music community,” said Bandcamp in an official statement. “…fans bought 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch. That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.”
Hardship’s concert can be livestreamed here.
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