Ezekiel Crow interview on Live Streaming in the COVID-19 pandemic

Sean of yuckmouf was one of the first people I interviewed When the whole COVID-19 started to happen. Ive expanded on the questions I'm asking as of right now and doing live zoom streams on this subject. 


please visit KITSCH MAGIK YouTube page for videos!

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpRau1fEZZWczx2pM5kkBw


 Check out Sean's projects here!

https://yuckmouf.bandcamp.com/

https://ezekielcrow.bandcamp.com/

https://wormtoothmusic.bandcamp.com/

KITSCH MAGIK -What's your project name and how long have you been active?

Sean Bar Rat - Ezekiel Crow is the name I use for solo work, and I also do noise/vocals in yuckmouf., The Mystery Eater, and Wormtooth.



KITSCH MAGIK -How are you doing during this pandemic? Has it made you more creative?

 Sean Bar Rat - I’m doing okay, insofar as I’m still symptom-free and able to work from home. The distance from other people has pulled some good poetry out of me (I think). On Saturday, I’ll be tracking theremin from home for at least 4 different artists, a process I’m looking forward to. 

KITSCH MAGIK - There has been a sudden peek of live streaming of performances since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Have you watched or played any? What was your experience if you did?


Sean Bar Rat -  Yes, The Mystery Eater played a streaming show put together by Lev Ziskind, who plays guitar in Witching and does noise as Full Contact Audio, alongside 18 Slashes and Hallucinogenic Bulb. It went really smoothly. One advantage is that the artist has virtually infinite time to set up their space, both visually and in terms of hardware. 

  On Monday, March 16th, after I found out work would be closing its doors. Darsombra, a psych band from Baltimore, had a vinyl dj night scheduled at Ottobar, which they streamed from their living room instead. While records played, they’d dance, play with their cats and pull out various props they had around the house.

Like a lot of people, I had been feeling anxiety and terror all day, and that totally turned my whole mood around. Darsombra’s been keeping the streams coming, as have Brook Pridemore and Rachel Brooke. Those are the three artists I’ve been watching the most, and would recommend them to anyone.

KITSCH MAGIK -Why do you think it took a global pandemic for a shift like this to happen? You would think the noise community would have jumped onto this beforehand, right?

Sean Bar Rat - It sort of seems obvious in retrospect, doesn’t it? This hadn’t occurred to me either, so I don’t have much to add besides agreeing with the premise.



KITSCH MAGIK - Do you think that a need to live stream performances has helped the noise community in a way, compared to other genres?  

 Sean Bar Rat - Well, I think country and other solo-acoustic artists are also benefiting for the same reasons. With noise though, it’s a niche enough thing that some artists might find more viewers streaming than they would in DIY venues, on a show-by-show basis. In this way, as well as the relative logistical ease, noise is a genre uniquely suited to this moment.

KITSCH MAGIK -Do you think that a need to live stream performances has helped the noise community in a way, compared to other genres? Do you think we are going to see more artists host live streaming events after this is over?



Sean Bar Rat -  I think it’s going to be a mixed economy of streams and in-person events. We’ve all come to enjoy certain aspects of this way of interacting with live music, but I don’t think it’s an either/or thing. The demand for streams doesn’t negate the demand for meatspace events. I think a balance will eventually be struck here.