Days of Rona: Sara Pinnell & Benjamin Blake of Young Hunter
The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.
Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Sara Pinnell & Benjamin Blake of Young Hunter (Portland, Oregon)
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How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?
Benjamin Blake: The timing was really interesting for us. We were living in a house together and got an eviction notice in January because it was being sold to be turned into condos, and we found a perfect new place down the street almost immediately. But the weekend that the Coronavirus stuff started to get really serious around here was our moving weekend, so we were finding out that we didn’t have jobs while we’re tackling this massive move. It was a crazy weekend, but luckily we landed in our new house right as the lockdown started. So we’ve been spending a lot of time getting settled in to the new place, and last week we recorded a new song in our living room, which we will likely do more of. We had plans to record our new album in California in April, so we are mentally adjusting to that getting postponed. For a second time, actually- we initially were going into the studio last autumn, but that one was postponed largely due to the PG&E blackouts surrounding the wildfires there. So we’ve been joking that if these apocalyptic events could just hold off for a minute, we could finally make this apocalyptic rock album we’ve been working on for the past few years. We’re all in good health, we are happy to report.
What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?
Benjamin Blake: Portland is currently in more or less the same type of lockdown as most major coastal cities, from what I understand. I don’t know that people are being fined or anything, but pretty much people are only going out to get groceries, go to work if they have it, or picking up takeout orders.
How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?
Benjamin Blake: It just seems like life in on pause for a lot of folks. I think all of us in the music industry and also the service industry are just in shock, making the most of the free time we don’t get enough of, but also coping with both a deeply uncertain future (it’s impossible to even entertain what plans to make or to try to establish a timeline around making whatever dreams we want to make real happen) and missing seeing the people that make up the community we look to every weekend at concerts that gives so much value to why we all do what we do. It’s strange to not know when anyone will be able to play a show or see a show, and it feels like we’re all just doing our best to cope until the day comes when that becomes a real thing again. Sara and I both bartend at a venue here, and we went in to grab something last week, and the sadness of not knowing when that place will fill up with life, music, creative energy, and noise was both eerie and sad- we’ve both watched the place fill up with those things that are its lifeblood night after night, and watched each night become it’s own unique thing for everyone there. Not knowing when that will happen again is just one of the many heartaches that we’re all coping with.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?
Sara Pinnell: I would say, we are feeling some amount of shock and moving through each day like it’s surreal and strange, We are also trying to find grounding energy, using this time to come together more than our work schedules would otherwise allow, and write/create any way we can. We are extremely privileged to be able to do that. We spend a great deal of time tapping into the larger picture, trying to understand how we can be of service to everyone affected by this pandemic in our communities, and also we are grappling with the great uncertainty of it all. We feel frustration, anger, sometimes rage about the grave injustice this pandemic alone is responsible for on a global level, and playing music together is what brings us back to the center. As much as we want things to go back to “normal,” we hope a major shift in the paradigm as we know it transpires from all of this chaos.
https://www.facebook.com/Young-Hunter-127424170682508/
https://younghunter.bandcamp.com/
https://thefearandthevoidrecordings.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheFearAndTheVoid/
