Beartooth: The Show Must Go On
As the UK rolls out mass vaccination plans, lifting of restrictions, and sets in motion the return to live festivals, for the first time it feels like this never-ending and unattainable mirage of COVID-free concerts might actually be real. After both a financial drought and mental drain, the fans and the bands are equally reeling in anticipation for this return. We thought it best to sit down with a man who, given enough time, could put the world to right but we didn’t have enough time for that – instead we discussed live music’s long-awaited revival and how it’s impacting musicians with BEARTOOTH frontman, Caleb Shomo, who couldn’t be more excited to bring the chaos back to concerts with their new album Below, that is yet to see it’s live debut.
“I think for me, not having shows, has made me realise how important it is to my physical and mental well-being to be out on the road, and to be playing.” Our conversation starts off by discussing AC/DC, of course, there’s no bigger fan than Shomo. But quickly we delve into how the act of playing music live, feeling the drums pounding through the floors, the crowd roaring, and an electric guitar ripping through the air, is a lifeline to so many artists. “You know,” Shomo begins, “I tend to run around a lot and try to keep myself active while I’m on stage, which is just really fun. I love running around and feeling like when I get up there, nothing matters. It’s this moment of, I can go around and look as crazy or as dumb as I want. And it doesn’t matter at all. We’re all just like having fun. And nobody’s judging each other. It’s just like pure enjoyment.” Whether it’s running around on stage or in the pit, the live music community became a solace for many, especially those misfits and outcasts of the rock and metal world – with no place to call home in lockdown, times have been tough for many.
And oh boy, have we felt those tough times. Reports from The Guardian, Evening Standard, NME, and a slew of other major publications reported headlines like “UK music industry will halve in size due to COVID”, “Inquiry into COVID’s effects on nightlife finds a sector ‘on its knees”, and “New study finds nine in 10 musicians’ mental health has deteriorated in the past year”, all in the past year alone. That last headline alone shows the detrimental effects from the very top to the very bottom, on and off the stages, and is something Shomo echoes. “I’ve never went on stage and been in a worse mood when I got off. Every time I’m walking back to the dressing room or whatever, I just feel like emotionally cleansed in a way. That’s been the main things that I’ve missed, the emotional release.” It’s easy to imagine how hard it’s been for musicians like Shomo, putting all the work into an album just to be restricted in how you can share you work with the world. To subdue his cathartic, need to perform, the frontman chuckles while explaining how he’s set up a microphone and stand in his studio, found live recordings of the band, and put together this massive set of pure insanity, or in his words, “I just turn the lights off and run. I just go crazy, like I’m 12 years old, like rocking out in my bedroom.”
Bringing the roof down (quite literally, as he’s still confined to his home studio), isn’t the only way the BEARTOOTH mastermind has been preparing for the return to live concerts, Shomo explains how this time away from the stage has given the band a chance to create a more unique live experience for their fans upon return. “We’re (BEARTOOTH) doing everything in our power to just continue to make it a better, more enjoyable and a more worthwhile experience for anybody who buys a ticket. I know a lot of people say this, and it’s become kind of cliche, but it’s very true. We couldn’t do a thing that we do without the people getting the tickets. The more that we’ve gotten bigger, those ticket prices have gone up, and the rooms have gotten bigger. That means for us, we have more opportunity to create a bigger show. So that’s what we’ve been really trying to focus on.”
As music fans it’s easy to overlook how musicians have been impacted by this lockdown, but we’re all in the same burning boat. Shomo’s perspective is useful to understanding, quite frankly, what a dumpster fire and depressing pit it’s been for artists who so desperately want to make their art and share that with the world but can’t. Things are looking up though, following trial events in collaboration with the government to monitor outbreaks of COVID at live events and implement safety procedures for larger events moving forward, such as the Download Pilot event which turned out to be a massive success as reported by Leicestershire Live, concerts and festivals are slowly phasing their way back into the UK and other countries with things looking up for the first time in a very long time.
Below is out now via Red Bull Records.
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