We checked in with Entheos’ Chaney Crabb and Black Sheep Wall’s Scott Turner on how they spent 2020, what they learned, and their thoughts and hopes for what 2021 will hold, as part of our New Year’s Evolutions Series!
Chaney Crabb – Entheos
Chaney Crabb, the vocalist of progressive metal band Entheos describes the past year’s shut down as ‘a magnificent chance to reset and center myself’. The time that would have been spent on the road instead turned into making a new album, finding new methods of performance, and creating, writing, and adapting.
I spent most of my time over the past ten months honing in on my interests, working on music and producing the podcast that I co-host, called KoperCrabb Podcast.
Aside from being a vocalist and lyricist, I also really enjoy photography, drawing, wood burning, and have found myself dedicating even more time to all of those things. I found myself dedicating even more time to my art and interests while being at home over the past year’s shutdowns.
There’s something that’s been incredibly moving about this entire situation. I’ve been even more inspired to draw, write lyrics, and work on other creative pursuits as the months move forward.
As a band, instead of spending a large chunk of our time on the road, we dedicated all of our time to writing a new album. We were able to come together and hyper-focus on the details of where we wanted to take our music and because of that, we were able to create something that’s really special to us. I’ve seen the shutdowns as a magnificent chance to reset and center myself.
There was a brief period over the summer when I could feel my mind slipping into a dark place more often than normal, though I’m not sure if that was due to being at home or just a part of my life experience– it isn’t the first time I’ve felt that way, touring or not. Creating art, music, writing, etc, really helped pull me out of those times. In a way I was able to feel those thoughts pour out into the art. Aside from that, because of the lack of touring the year was overall fairly mellow. As much as I love traveling, there is something comforting about… being comfortable. In your own town, in your own home, and not having to leave for a while. I’m very excited for touring to inevitably pick up again, but it’s really nice to be able to have a semi ‘normal’ year of being at home and focusing on things outside of the touring lifestyle that can become so busy and draining.
The idea that being a musical artist or artist in general could be fully sustainable online is a feeling that I’ve had for a lot longer than the last year, and when something as drastic as what happened in 2020 occurs, it really reaffirms that. There are so many working artists who were able to turn to online platforms such as Patreon and Twitch in order to supplement their income. We saw ‘from home’ shows, and my own band performed online for the Slay At Home Festival that was created by Frank Godla at Metal Injection. There have been a lot of really clever and interesting ways that artists have been working to stay afloat in a time in which live music, which generally makes up a large percentage of an artist’s income, is completely stripped away. To me it’s an incredibly inspiring thing. With that being said, there is nothing in my mind that can replace the feeling of a live show, from either the audience member or performer perspective. Watching a band perform a show on a screen is never going to have the same impact of witnessing a show live, but it is comforting to know that there are ways to survive without it if you’re creative enough.
I really do hope to see more positivity and togetherness this year. In some ways the last year has brought out a lot of ugliness and toxicity in people— maybe social media has something to do with this.
Of course, I’d also love to see a touring resume. But beyond that, I just wish health and happiness for the people around me. I feel like I’m really beginning to find my footing in this ‘new’ reality, so if things were to persist exactly as they have over the last year, I hope that I can continue to adapt and grow with the times. Of course, that will be something that I aim to do regardless of how this year goes.
Scott Turner – Black Sheep Wall
Black Sheep Wall returned from a five- year hiatus with a sludgy, nihilistic masterpiece, Songs For the Enamel Queen, coming out Feb 26 on Silent Pendulum Records. With Southern California experiencing one of the biggest spikes in cases, guitarist Scott Turner says the band was able to ‘uphold their social contract to humanity’ by staying inside and focusing on their back catalog and a uniquely dark new direction.
How did you spend this past year?
As a band I think we spent it as most people should have: inside as much as possible. Doing our best to uphold our end of the social contract to you know, humanity.
We found ourselves an awesome partner in Silent Pendulum Records that worked with us in tandem to bring our work to life in a way we never had an opportunity to do so before. Whether it be re-releasing our old output or our upcoming new record, we had the time and patience to do things right with Silent Pendulum to do something special not only for us, but ultimately our fans. Crazy vinyl variants, one-off artwork, and merchandise. All things that spoke to us and our fans.
How did you make ends meet to simply survive?
Truth be told, music has never been a means to an end for us. Amongst our ranks we have a master distiller, a medical supply specialist, a grade school teacher, and a dude doing PR in Hollywood. Some of us are married, have kids, are engaged, etc. We are beyond lucky and grateful that we have been able to survive on our jobs and still be
able to use our creative output in this band as mostly an outlet.
What new things did you learn?
Took a lot of programming classes for some basic coding. Not going to make a career out of it I don’t think, but things like HTML 5, Python, etc. Made me feel way smarter than I really am. Even programmed my own little shitty game. Also, started lifting a bunch of weights so I can try and look like the Incredible Hulk for a little bit so I can freak the fuck out of my family once we can go back to seeing each other. Will go back to being a lazy shit ASAP after the fact.
How do you feel about the coming year in terms of ‘getting back to normal’? Is there going to be a normal?
I don’t know. As long as we can see friends/family soon enough, and pro-wrestling, live shows, and video games don’t go the way of the dodo, I think we’ll be ok.
Follow Entheos on Twitter here, and Black Sheep Wall here.
Read the rest of our New Year’s Evolutions posts here!
