Life in Lockdown #214: Lance Fairchild

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 this period, DJ Times will continue presenting the questionnaire responses from talented music-makers from all over the world. Here’s our latest entry, this time from America’s Desert West, the Tucson, Ariz.-based tech-house talent Lance Fairchild.

Lance Fairchild, Tucson, Ariz., Modarnity

What’s it like where you’re living? How are you spending most of your time? I live in Tucson, Ariz. Our state actually recently opened, so I’ve been working on lining up gigs again. I just played Sunbar with VNSSA and OMNOM. Before these shows came back, though, I’ve just been producing and streaming on Twitch as much as I could.

Have you lost important gigs, or income-producing work? I missed out on a couple large festivals I was looking forward to playing here in Arizona, as well as any other paid gigs I was getting regularly.

Are you doing anything now that can or will produce music-related income? Riding that gig-worker unemployment. That was definitely a life-saver for the last year.

What are you doing now that’s ultimately constructive to your music life/career? Just producing and networking mostly. There’s so many communities I’ve immersed myself in on Twitter, Discord, and Twitch. I’ve been able to also build relationships with artists, who I’ve been looking up to for the past few years, and that is pretty crazy to think about.

Any new releases? Yes, we just released the “Work Yo Back” EP, which also includes “The Computer,” on Modarnity.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve realized during this period of social distancing? I would say the biggest thing I realized is there is a world of dance music outside of my home state. I’ve built close friendships with friends all over the U.S. I think it was shocking to think that our dance-music community isn’t essential in the grand scheme of things in the midst of a pandemic and it made me cherish what we have that much more.

Have done any live-streams online? Have you seen any DJ video streams that impressed you? I stream every Thursday on my Twitch channel, which you can find at Lance_Fairchild. I’ve also been really fortunate to play on Two Tails’ Arctic Pulse Fest, The Clam Jam, and Gestalt Theory. I would say the most impressive stream to watch visually is Justin Martin’s on ItsGoodTV. His green-screen work is insane. You would have to see it to believe it, but also everyone on ItsGoodTV does such an amazing job.

Any theme tunes recommended for the moment? “What’s My Age Again?” by Blink-182 because I just turned 23 [laughs].

Any advice on staying sane & relatively positive through this situation? Seek therapy, if you can, and try to be open and honest about your feelings with your loved ones. You’re not alone in this and things will get better soon just wait and see!