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Days of Rona: Andy Martin of Clamfight

The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.

In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

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Days of Rona: Andy Martin of Clamfight (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?

As a band we currently have about half of our fourth record recorded. We were in the studio the weekend of March 13th which is pretty much when shit hit the fan in the Philly/New Jersey area so it seemed like every time I checked my phone between takes there’d be another set new of restrictions or some new horrifying statistic coming out of NYC or Italy. Since then it’s been no practice, but we talk every day and Sean’s been writing a lot.

Sean has been killing it with new material but I’ve been pretty creatively blocked for most of lock down. I wrote a novel in 2019, some friends have read it and given me great feedback but I haven’t been able to get moving on the second draft at all.

Ken from Eternal Black roped Erik from Thunderbird Divine and I into his Swarm of Flies project, and that seems to have finally gotten me moving and creating again, which is great. Now that I feel like I can write again I’m going to attack some new Clamfight stuff Sean has sent me and hopefully get on with the second draft of the novel.

Personally, I lost my job pretty quickly and that stung but I’ve been lucky enough to land with a new company and I’m back where I belong, digging holes in farm fields.

How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?

The city of Philadelphia gave the bars St Patty’s Day weekend, and I wonder how many fewer cases our area would have had if they clamped down quicker. It was so bizarre being in the recording studio and reading about what was unfolding in New York and coming home to my neighborhood in South Philly and seeing the bars on Two Street packed. Since that first stumble I’ve got to give the city a lot of credit, they’ve handled it pretty well. Who knows though, Philly has a pretty terrible public transportation system and that may have saved more lives than the lockdown.

Parks have remained open and fishing has been allowed which has been a great way of retaining my sanity but otherwise we’re pretty similar to NJ and NY, masks in stores, with most businesses that aren’t grocery stores and Home Depot closed.

What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?

I think the response by the music community has been pretty great. Live-streams, people digging out show footage, putting out demos (Clamfight will hopefully be doing something similar soon), it’s all been gravy. As for the future of what live music looks like, I’m unfortunately less optimistic. I almost get cranky when I see people advertising shows later in the summer or even the fall, because I think the broader federal response in the US has been so criminally inept that live music, bars, restaurants, etc aren’t coming back any time soon. It just won’t be safe. Setting aside the question of how many venues even survive this, unless there’s a vaccine, playing a show or attending one is going to be a real act of a faith in the people around you. Are they being smart and safe? Would they even know if they were a carrier? That’s kind of where I’m at with the live music, it may happen, but it’s going to be a real question of who is actually willing to show up from bands or the audience.
That said, would I play a show in the woods with a generator? Yes, yes I would.

Personally, I’ve been all over the place in terms of my mood. I’ve had days where I’ve spent hours fly fishing and then made a big dinner with my girlfriend and then settle in with some wine and watched a movie, and days like that feel like vacation. And then there’s the days when I’m missing my family, or all my close friends in the UK, and those days can be crushing.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?

Because there’s been comparatively little Clamfight for me recently, I’ll explain it from the fishing and archaeology side of things.

For eight years I’ve been a part of the Ness of Brodgar excavations in Orkney. It’s changed my life and joining the team has far and away been the best thing I’ve ever done. For obvious reasons, the Ness and a lot of other research excavations won’t be happening this year. On a personal level it’s a heart breaker, because the dig team is a second family to me and I don’t know when I’ll see them again, but missing a season can have huge repercussions for the dig itself. I know times are tight, but if you’re an archaeology or history buff and have a few bucks to spare it’d be worth checking to see if there’s any digs or research projects you’d like to support because without those visitor dollars, they’re all going to be hurting.

I’ve really rediscovered my love of fly fishing during lock down, and besides giving me something to do it’s restored my faith in humanity a bit during this age of performative shiftiness and a total lack of leadership from the Federal government.

Fisherman can be really chatty, but there’s been a real shift in that chatter recently. There‘a been several times during this thing where I’ve been in the middle of the creek and either another fisherman, or a retired guy getting his steps in will stop on the bank and we’ll talk. Not just the simple “catching any?” chatter, but fifteen or twenty minute conversations, that segue from fishing to health and the state of the world pretty quickly. And these conversations always end with the same two words, “stay safe.” Usually accompanied by a big open palm wave from a retired union guy with a hand like a side of beef. I don’t know what it is about these conversations but that level of openness between strangers really makes me feel better and give me hope that maybe, just maybe, we’ll come out a little better on the other side of this thing.

So that’s what I’ve got for you gang. We are clearly a very long way from the end of this thing, so stay safe.

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