When the Coronavirus shut us down, clubs and festivals ceased, and everyone was essentially forced inside with no definitive end in sight, DJ Times wondered: How is our tribe coping? How are DJs getting by? So, we sent out our “Coronavirus Questionnaire” to DJ/producers from all musical genres to find out.
During the crisis, DJ Times will be presenting the questionnaire responses from talented music-makers from all over the world. Here’s our latest installment, this time from Barcelona: Dutch bass-bomber Spag Heddy (aka Mischa Reining.)
Spag Heddy, Never Say Die Records, Barcelona, Spain
What’s it like where you are? Locked in my home in Barcelona – Spain has been hit hard by the virus. The streets are empty. There are only Corona-related shows on TV. At 8 p.m. every night, people step out on their balconies or just hang out the window and applaud as support for the sanitary workers.
What income-producing work have you lost? I was in the U.S. and just past the halfway mark of my U.S. tour. We had to postpone 11 shows, so yeah… that was a huge impact for all of us involved.
Are you doing anything now that can or will produce music-related income? Working on new originals and collabs at home – and currently planning some streaming, as well.
What are you doing now that’s ultimately constructive to your music life/career? There are a few different things in motion, and I think streaming is a promising one. It would give me something to do when I’m in between shows, or just not doing shows anymore at some point. I’m also a dad nowadays, so I gotta think of those kind of things. However, I’m pretty bad in front of cameras, so this is still just kinda in the phase of “let’s see if it’s gonna be fun for myself at all…” let alone for other people to watch it [laughs].
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve realized during this period of social distancing? How some, or actually most, people complain about staying at their gigantic houses with gardens. It’s embarrassing to see sometimes how our first-world standards compare to the lesser worlds and we complain about literally anything. If you got your house and your health and your food, be grateful that you can even afford to be bored like this.
Have you considered doing anything online like a video stream? Nah, that is definitely not something for me. Like I said, I’m considering doing some live streams, but sitting down and doing some production work and just interacting with fans. I have honestly not seen any DJ streams so far. It’s not even because I don’t want to – I’m just really occupied with my daily family life and squeezing in some studio time in there…. even in this lockdown, perhaps even more because of it [laughs].
Any theme tunes recommended for the moment? “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.
Any advice on staying sane & relatively positive through this situation? I guess you should just stay busy, and preferably stay off social media. I think it’s healthier to take this time and focus on yourself and your family and work on your hobbies or passion or on fixing those curtains or doorknobs [laughs]. Just be grateful you’re alive and realize we really don’t have it that bad. We’re blessed. I’m generalizing but, yeah, I don’t think I’m very wrong here!
To check out more Life in Lockdown features, click here.
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