INTERVIEW Pt 4: Find Out What Some Of Your Favorite Artists Are Celebrating As 2020 Finally Ends
INTERVIEW Pt 4: Find Out What Some Of Your Favorite Artists Are Celebrating As 2020 Finally Ends
Pt. 4 Features: Lesibu Grand – CrowJane – inTeLL – Frontside – Quinn DeVeaux – Racquel Jones – Whitehall
As 2020 finally rounds to a close, so many of us are looking towards a brighter future. With the most hopeful attitudes bands and artists begin rescheduling their once canceled tours, new music get release dates, smaller businesses begin to thrive again as more people see the importance of shopping small — 2021 looks brighter for many. But before we can start executing all of our new goals, we have to get through these last few days of one of the most heinous years — which made us beg the questions, despite 2020 housing some of the worst moments, what’s the best thing that’s happened to you? Lesibu Grand, CrowJane, inTeLL, Frontside, Quinn DeVeaux, Racquel Jones and Whitehall share their 2020 highlights.
Whitehall: “It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. This year has been absolute madness. As much as we hope that 2021 has better things in store for al of us, the chances that things stay at least a little crazy are at a high. That’s why, to take some of that mental load off, we wanted to describe the best thing that happened to us this year. Hopefully you can relate or at least get a little kick out of it.
It was a hot day, unlike many summer days in Charleston, SC. The humidity made everything particularly sticky and the end was nowhere in sight. With Charleston being as old as it is, many homes don’t have proper, working air conditioning, so there’s little escape from the sun’s influence. Well, one activity we take part in to help cool down is what’s called a Carolina Snowball fight. This is where you gather as many friends as you possibly can into a sizable field of grass and split them into two teams, arm everyone with cold milk and all-purpose flour, and basically make them pelt each other until one team is entirely caked in cold, milky flour. That way when the flour soaks up the milk and interacts with the hot sun, you have yourself an endless supply of people sized cupcakes. Who do you know that doesn’t like cupcake?! Since there’s so much clean up involved, and with Covid risks, we only got to do this once this year, but boy, did it make all the chaos worth it. It shows that, even when we can’t hold each other close like we’re used to, we can still throw stuff at each other and it satisfies a similar basic human need. We hope that this silly story can give you a little glimmer of hope that we can still thrive like we used to!”
CrowJane: “During 2020 I got signed to a record label and released a solo album I was sitting on for years. I kept putting it off and getting busy with other bands and my makeup career. The pandemic introduced a moment of pause and I was able to pay attention to something that was neglected. Along with this release I remembered my love for photography and got to do a bunch of photoshoots for the interviews/ reviews, I got to collaborate with friends on music videos, learn stop motion animation, learn how to direct , make story boards, produce, learn what filming underwater is like, and learn modeling tricks. I got to reconnect with people I haven’t talked to in a long time via phone / zoom. Also, I got to learn about activism and organizations that exist and how to show up for others in need. There have been good experiences with these bad 2020 pandemic nightmare moments. So it’s not all ‘ bad’ and it’s not all ‘ good’ either, and if those are the only two categories then I guess it’s both. I’m grateful for the experiences I have had through such a weird time in the world.”
Josh Grady [Frontside]: “In 2020 we’ve taken the bad and tried to turn it into something good for ourselves. We’ve signed on with a new label in Revival Recordings and having a team behind our next release has made a world of difference for our reach. As well, the time that we would have spent rehearsing for gigs and playing live shows has been spent crafting our sound and continuing to write for a future release(s). While 2020 has taken away some of our favorite parts of being a band, it can never take away our time together and we have continued to utilize that in an effort to make the best music we possibly can!”
Racquel Jones: “The best thing to have happened in 2020 for me was getting a chance to sit with myself. For the past 4 and a half years I have not had a moment of consistently normal days, where I wasn’t hopping on a flight, checking into a hotel or waking up in a different city. Then 2020 happened and as scary as it is/was, I finally got solitude and stillness. I got to really see myself. Examine myself. Deal with some things I haven’t dealt with within me, reestablish, reconfirm and strengthen my spirituality, and do a lot of shadow work and self improvement.
It was raw, scary, excruciating, revealing, yet the most profoundly beautiful and life changing experience of my life. I got to really understand humility, empathy and true self love. Oh, and I also got to make the visual side to my record, which are paintings for an exhibit to go along with the release of IgnoRANT. 2020 was still fire for me.”
While this year didn’t exactly go according to plan, don’t forget to celebrate all the victories 2020 made you fight for – no matter how small. Here’s hoping that 2021 allows us to attend more live shows [safely], hear more killer music and discover more stellar artists. To all the nurses, doctors, EMT/paramedics, first responders, frontline and essential workers, thank you for everything you’ve sacrificed, done, continue to do for all of us. To those who have lost a loved one, is suffering or knows someone suffering due to the mayhem that this pandemic has caused — our hearts and love are with you. Stay safe, wear a mask and remember to tell everyone important to you that you love them.
