Fall 2021 and Looking back

Happy fall everyone! This time I decided to take a minute before posting on here. Obviously Covid has been an insanely disruptive time for us all, and it especially impacted my peers and myself in the entertainment business. Selfishly, the world slowing down and locking up couldn’t have come at a better time for me. March 10th my daughter Sydney was born and three days later they announced Covid as a global pandemic. Two days after that all my upcoming tours were cancelled or postponed indefinitely. 

The first three months of Covid were extremely quiet, and it afforded me the much need time of being home with my daughter and being there with Liz for all the crazy new experiences an infant brings!

I did the odd studio session here and there and immediately started teaching virtually from my home studio and doing remote sessions from there too. It was however a thrill when I was booked on a project that was actually the first day Union Sound studios opened back up, and it felt so euphoric to all make music together again in the same room, with the sense of hope around the corner for our industry. From March last year until now I have been fortunate enough record on over 20 albums both from home and in various studios. 

Now to the topic of drive in shows. At first , drive in concerts seemed to be the constant joke of memes on instagram…but sure enough by August I was doing them regularly. My first one was Ottawa blues Fest with my longtime friend Kira Isabella, and yes it was odd to have car honking at us instead of clapping and yes it felt a bit detached and surreal but then The Reklaws started their first of many circuits of them in September and within a few weeks I was very used to them. It was a pleasure to still keep busy during these insane times and I feel so grateful towards all my artists for pushing through it and creating opportunities for the band and crew. Other drive ins I have done up to date were with, Johnny Orlando, The Abrams and Scott Helman. 

In October I took part in a very fun virtual experience with Johnny Orlando where he filmed his full concert live at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto with slight differences for each country it aired in. It went to The Philippines, Indonesia, India, Spain, Italy, Germany, UK, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the US. Each country had their own designated night and it was a great success! 

Next The Reklaws did a virtual taping of a show, spliced together with history of their upbringing sort of done in the style of MTV Road home. Universal Music put it out and it’s something I’m very proud to be a part of!

Come 2021, things started looking more promising with the new vaccine. My first real concert back with bodies in the crowd was the Calgary Stampede with the Reklaws and what a thrill it was! They were hot from the success of their latest single “What the truck” and man….the energy in the crowd was just so electric!! It was clearly a total release for people just to be able to enjoy music in the old way again! These past two months I have been experiencing this every night whilst on the New Found Glory tour, playing with the opening act LOLO. It has been seven weeks in the US, starting in Dallas and ending in Orlando and we pretty much played almost every main stop in the States. It’s been an extremely successful and fun time and great to know people are feeling safe coming out to the shows having to show their vaccination passport or get a negative test onsite.

It was lovely having Liz and Sydney and my parents come out to the Kansas City to visit my sister who lives there and to see the show that night! I am very much looking forward to being home with them all next week in Toronto and then starting up the next chapter of music back home.

I hope you all have a cosy winter and definitely please stay safe out there!