In the mid-1960s, Simon & Garfunkel hit No. 1 with the thought-provoking “The Sound of Silence.” In 2015, Disturbed likely couldn’t have imagined how big of a hit its version would become. Fast forward five years, and one thing is abundantly clear: the song has taken on an unprecedented literal interpretation regarding today's music scene.
For all the tragic events that disrupted concert gatherings in the past – the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 during the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival and the Manchester, England, bombing that same year at the end of an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 – no one could foresee an invisible threat that reportedly emanated from a laboratory or seafood market in China shutting down life in general, let alone concerts, for nearly 2½ months.
"When this started happening, I thought it was going to blow over really quick," renowned San Antonio drummer Bobby Jarzombek tells Alamo True Metal.
That 2 1/2-month milestone aims to embark on another path of history, the road to recovery, this weekend in "The Heavy Metal Capital" and surrounding areas. A sprinkling of cover-band shows and assorted gatherings will take place tonight prior to a condensed version of the fifth annual Memorial Day Metalfest at 5 p.m. Sunday at Fitzgerald's, featuring at least 10 local bands, with capacity limited to 25 percent at all bars.
But before that occurs, it's important to understand how Coronavirus, aka the Covid-19 pandemic, brought us to this point. More importantly, to examine how the scene has been affected since mid-March. It has resulted in phrases added to our vocabulary such as “social distancing,” “shelter-in-place,” “essential businesses” and “the new normal.” Covid-19 has reportedly accounted for 96,662 deaths in the United States. It has required the majority of the population to work from home, wear masks when in public and encouraged everyone to stay 6 feet apart from one another. It has put a deathgrip, literally and figuratively, on lives and livelihoods. It has also given musicians a chance to reconnect with families more than they could when constantly touring and allowed them to explore other facets of their lives or finally work on procrastinated projects.
Those changes have occurred locally.
"This is the longest I’ve gone with no live shows and touring in 20-plus years," The Heroine vocalist Lynnwood King says. "It’s been very frustrating when it comes to my professional career, but as for my personal life, it’s been awesome bonding with my wife and children with all this extra time."
And nationally.
"Our first tour dates were supposed to be Memorial Day. May 22-23 we're supposed to be in Ohio and then Detroit the following night, " Keel singer Ron Keel, who now fronts his Southern rock and metal outfit Ron Keel Band, says. "Those dates aren't going to happen. The Canadian tour's been canceled. I'm still waiting to find out if there's going to be a Sturgis Bike Rally this year, 'cause that's one of the big ones for us. We had six nights lined up at three different venues. We'll wait and see and hope for the best. It's starting to hit home for me. I feel worse about my band and crew. I miss those guys. I count on myself to put food on their tables. I miss high-fiving people in the front row, but we'll weather the storm."
And globally.
Testament, Exodus and Death Angel toured Europe earlier this year and experienced several illnesses within their camps after returning to the States in March. Death Angel drummer Will Carroll spent 12 days in a coma before recovering. Jarzombek, the drummer for Fates Warning and former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, counts Testament bassist and Covid-infected Steve DiGiorgio among his friends. But he says the virus hit closer to home when his 59-year-old brother Ralph tested positive.
"He had it early on," Jarzombek says. "He had it for a couple of days and kept going to work because he thought it was just aches and pains. When they diagnosed it, they didn't even say he had Covid-19. They said he had an influenza-like illness. He went through the whole cycle of it for six weeks or whatever. He's still testing positive for it as of a couple of weeks ago. He said it was terrible, but he recovered from it."
While Americans have been furloughed or laid off and filing for unemployment as they struggle to survive economically, the area's metal scene has had its own share of difficulties. Musicians, venues, promoters and of course the fans have been affected in their own right.
"Hardships are plentiful for music venues," Sharon Perkins, co-owner of Fitzgerald's with her sister Karen Perkins, says as she prepares to host cover band Black Molly tonight and the Memorial Day Metalfest tomorrow. "Rent, utilities, and personal debts continue to accrue, but no funds are coming in to pay for them. Keeping acts who are already scheduled to perform as well as rescheduling and getting new shows on the books is proving to be problematic. Our livelihood depends on having at or near capacity live music shows often. Tons of people are scared, so even if we are allowed to open at reduced capacity, some musicians will still choose to self-quarantine, leaving bands without members and venues without bands.”
On the promotion side, representatives from Din Productions, Twin Productions and Kronic Productions were contacted but did not reply as of press time. But several area musicians had plenty to say. Jessikill, for one, was supposed to make history today by playing the prestigious annual Rocklahoma for the first time. Instead, they had to settle for a recent livestream while celebrating the birthday of singer Jessica Alejo.
"Personally, I almost landed into a state of depression the first two weeks of March, (but) I feel like this is spiritual warfare, and it is a time to either lose or triumph for your soul," Jessikill guitarist Jyro Alejo says. "If you have the will to do what you love, nothing can stop you. This time off has definitely been positive. We have been writing more music, and amazing ideas come to us at random hours of the night. I feel like this time off is definitely helping us brew up the most powerful Jessikill album yet with the messages that need to be heard for the right people."
Jessikill drummer Jordan Ames said he has taken a respite from music not because of Covid-19 but because he's about to become a father.
"I'm focusing on what's to come," Ames says. "However, Jyro and I have recorded a few more complete demos for Jessikill's next album. I'm not worried about the future of Jessikill. I'm more concerned with the political climate and the potential negative effects on our civil liberties in the aftermath of Covid-19. On the positive side, I've made more time to give drum lessons to my 8-year-old stepdaughter, and since her school closed down for the year, I took her to work with me almost every day."
Many musicians, bar owners and yes, even journalists survive not on their passion for heavy metal but via their day jobs. The metal serves not only as a labor of love but as an outlet from the monotony, headaches and frustrations and/or boredom of their lives away from music.
"To date, our recording schedule is completely in free fall," X.I.L. (Exile) singer/bassist Austin James says. "Personally, we can afford to miss a few local gigs, no big deal. But of course, with a statewide lockdown comes all the travel bans, and that's when they get us by the balls. We've been set for a number of months to hit the studio to record our upcoming debut full-length effort Rip & Tear, and our recording schedule just so happened to begin at the start of April. The head of our label (Confused Records) got us a studio all the way out in the valley, which is a good 4-5 (hour) drive, and that's a lot of counties you'd have to get by, each one apparently coming with their own traveling restrictions. The band agreed to limit rehearsal to once a week; though it's important to take isolation seriously in times of an outbreak, we as a band still need to operate, not only to rehearse the songs we have ready for the album, but just for our own sanity.
"Me personally, I chose to stay home and take off from my little job as a plumber's apprentice," James continues. "So all my time now is indoors, and for certain people, that can be really tough on their mental being. Going for a walk around the woods outside my neighborhood and working out from home helps to maintain some sense of ground and stability added to the now occasional band practice. If all this continues possibly into the next year or longer, the only thing we can do as a band is adapt to all these changes and find whatever ways to turn them around to our advantage the best we can."
Therein lies perhaps the largest concern among a slew of them in the minds of those who make up the scene. Even with events trickling back this weekend, the limited capacities barely allow bars to break even. They also bring up the uncertainty of how many fans will take a cautious approach, how many will come back as if nothing ever happened, and how many will stay away for a longer period of time or at least until they see the rise (or drop) in Coronavirus cases following a week or two or more after the opening of venues, gyms, restaurants, salons, barber shops and the like.
“Covid-19 has affected my family, friends and myself more negatively then positively,” says original Syrus guitarist John Castilleja, whose band played the Headbangers Open Air festival two years ago in Germany. “Going out and socializing like we once did is at a standstill, and things aren’t going to be the same for a very long time. The music industry is gone for a while. Who knows when people will feel safe to attend large concerts and festivals?”
