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Days of Rona: Adam Kriney of The Golden Grass & Rattlesnake

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

Adam Kriney of The Golden Grass Rattlesnake

Days of Rona: Adam Kriney of The Golden Grass & Rattlesnake (New York, New York)

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?

Well the situation has been quite upsetting for my two main groups, The Golden Grass and Rattlesnake. The nature of being collaboratively artistic and practicing regularly are very core to our collective life paths, and so the loss of the regular creative commitments left us with a void. The being said, it is not lost on me whatsoever just how privileged we were to be able to engage in this world of music/subculture/records/touring/festivals etc.

There was a global underground infrastructure that we were both a part of and that supported what we do, but every single element of that infrastructure has been shaken, halted and possibly even shut down, in the worst cases, due to the pandemic. It is surreal, devastating and quite traumatic what we are going through, and I mean ALL of us. It especially pricks deeply in our little subcultural world though because as outsiders to the populace, there is an amazing feeling to be part of this living, breathing, exciting and functioning world of ours, and it was a safe place of sorts, that even when the regular world was falling apart and full of garbage, we AT LEAST had this…but now, everything is frozen, and the delicate fragility of our little world has been revealed, and I don’t have any idea what the future will hold for us weirdos and this secret universe we loved so much…

On a personal level, I am very fortunate the both bands had a very light schedule of live performances planned so far this year, so the cancellations of tours/gigs etc has barely affected us, but i can’t even imagine what all my buddies are feeling, on all sides of the live music world such as bands/booking agencies/promoters/logistics, who’ve had to cancel their plans, especially those whose incomes are significantly connected to the underground music industry, it’s really awful.

And then there is the record labels/album release situation that also affects many friends, and this connects with me a bit more. The Golden Grass was about halfway done writing our new album and Rattlesnake was already about 20 percent done with recording/mixing our debut LP when we had to quarantine, so both of those projects are frozen at the moment. And the Marmalade Knives LP that I produced has just been given a delayed release date on Electric Valley Records due to vinyl plant closures. But these are all slight inconveniences, the situation at large is a bit more worrisome, and last but not least, it really puts in to perspective that maybe all this privileged stuff we do is merely a luxury, and can we really bitch about it when tens or hundreds of thousands of people are about to innocently die because of this? What a mess…

Beyond that, everyone is healthy in the bands but about half of us are unemployed by the situation.

What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?

We are all based in NYC so we’ve been hit first and hardest by this and have been in quarantine on various levels for about three weeks [as of April 5]. Obviously there have been no rehearsals, no hangs, and everyone is just focusing on their own little worlds taking care of their situations. Everyone is in touch on various social media platforms all the time, so we’re all staying connected but the overall mood is solemn.

How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?

As far as my neighborhood, it’s eerily quiet, and to be in NYC and see this level of constant non-activity only adds to the weird vibe. We’ve been social distancing for weeks now, and for the past week everyone has masks and gloves on, it’s being taken quite seriously here.

The NYC music scene is obviously devastated. I had so many friends active and working in nightlife, as DJs, bartenders, promoters, performers, etc, I can’t even think about what the outcome will be for venues that were already fighting for life in this town, it’s terrifying.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?

I’m frightened. I’m confused. I’m exhausted. I’m getting better with keeping a schedule, and giving myself a plan every day to stay focused. Some days I am super upbeat and others i go very low. I allow myself to go through all of these emotions. This is an absolutely alien traumatic experience. No reaction to this is normal or abnormal, and to be honest I think as a species we’re kinda doin’ OK, so far anyway….

So (mostly) every day I do my stretching and yoga, I eat super well, mostly vegetarian, and am not doing any substances except smoking grass through this. I know it’s LITERALLY a matter of survival, this is the reality sci-fi movie we get, it’s here and now, and wow holy shit, will I be a survivor on this show? will I thrive?!

What about my music? Since the bands are all mostly at a standstill, I am going hard with practicing drum techniques and rudiments every day and actually developing a pretty cool community of drummers who are sharing exercises, posting videos and tips with each other and that’s been a nice warm twist in this chaos. I miss my bandmates and my drum kit (I can only play my pad in my NYC apt) but I just try to stay in musical shape and use the time to get better at things I never had time for before. I’m also trying to use this time for a massive archival digital release schedule, as there are dozens of unfinished, unmixed, or just never finalized albums I’ve made with various bands/projects over the past 10-15 years that I can finally find the time to clean up and issue. This archival project actually started with the release of a 2013 album from Zoned Out, my since-disbanded jazzy, proggy Krautrock group. There’s so much more to come (you can follow my label page at http://www.facebook.com/inforthekillrecords to see the action).

But at the same time, I am constantly faced with the insignificance of this all. Such privilege and luxury to have even in this moment. Is it pointless? Who cares if I finish the album or get really good at flam rudiments? Will there be an other side? what will it look like, are there bands there, or shows, gigs, a scene? Or are we going to be living in bombed out bunkers in some post-WW3-like dystopia, ready to kill anyone/thing that comes near us?! Are all my friends going to die? Is everything going to be fine in two months, one year, 10 years?

I do get momentarily paralyzed by these thoughts throughout every day lately. But then somehow this energy comes to me from somewhere, I pack my bong, grab my sticks and run through my drum rudiment exercises yet again, taking great care to feel and learn deeper, maybe just to be hot and ready for the next gig when the world is reborn…

http://www.facebook.com/thegoldengrass
http://www.thegoldengrass.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/RattlesnakeBoogie69
https://rattlesnakeboogie69.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/InForTheKillRecords
http://inforthekillrecords.bigcartel.com

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