Days of Rona: Stephan Möller of Iron & Stone
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
Days of Rona: Stephan Möller of Iron & Stone (Hildesheim, Germany)
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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?
The most obvious thing is we haven’t been able to rehearse for almost 2 months now. It is easy to practice the songs at home, but you simply cannot recreate the dynamics of five dudes in a rehearsal space playing music at full volume. So this is something that we really miss. Fortunately we found out that rehearsals in our space are possible so we will be able to start rehearsing again.
Otherwise things have not changed that much. We stay in touch via Whatsapp or phone. Pretty much everyone of us is able to work on the music at their home, so the writing process goes as usual and we are working on another EP (the first in a series of three) which we are planning to record in the summer.
We had to cancel a couple of shows and since nobody knows when the clubs will be able to open again it is hard to get any new shows for the future. Some local festivals we were to play this summer have been moved to 2021 and we stay in contact with promoters.
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?
I think the government did a pretty good job so far, especially in the beginning. Of course, there are a lot of ways it could have been better, but overall we have a rather low number of deaths and the number of infections is developing in a positive way too. During the early days of the pandemic it looked like fighting of the different parties stepped back a little and everybody was working for the greater good. So we can only hope that this will continue (which does not seem to be the case right now).
As in almost all countries there is a good amount of “woke” people rubbing their bullshit-theories into everyone’s face and they seem to become more and more stupid by the hour. Much more alarming is that some far-right groups try to undercut the otherwise un-political corona-critical-groups. This may turn really ugly.
On a personal level it (strangely) feels like something has changed for the better. Henning (our singer) and me are neighbours and we live in a very small village in a rather rural region. Me and my wife work from home and through those last weeks life has decelerated a good amount. We drive to the city once a week to shop groceries and the other days we enjoy the countryside and hike the woods and fields or work in the garden. Everything is quiet and more peaceful since there are less cars driving through our valley. If there weren’t people dying off the virus it would be a beautiful time around here.
Christopher and Torsten on the other hand work at hospitals so they are affected by the whole situation in a much more direct way.
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?
By what I have seen so far the scene reacted quite well. From streaming live-shows to those Bandcamp-Fridays there has been a lot of creative actions and it seems like people are working together to get through this.
We all have our regular jobs so we do not depend on the band financially. But as a band the whole situations is surely frustrating to a certain degree, since we cannot rehearse and had to cancel or postpone some of the few shows that we are able to play each year. But on the other hand we are highly motivated to return to the stage and we are working on new material to record later this year. So no time for boredom, we are highly motivated.
The clubs and venues however are in real danger of not making it through the crisis as well as the bands that are doing music as a full-time job.
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?
I feel like this whole situation is chance for us all to focus on the really important aspects of life. We will get through this together and we will not fall victim to all those loudmouths preaching their hate and anger and conspiracy bullshit. Our scene will get through this, there will be live shows again, I am confident about this. We’ve got to be careful and reasonable so we can all stay healthy. Support each other, we’re in this together. Peace.
https://www.facebook.com/ironandstoneband/
https://ironandstone.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/handofdoomrecords/
https://handofdoomentertainment.bigcartel.com
