Lockdown Chat With Document

During the hight of the COVID-19 lockdown, I had the pleasure of catching up (online) with dark Manchester post punks Document.

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This is what they had to say.

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When did the significance of COVID-19 come to the band’s attention?

We were aware of the virus when it first started breaking into the media in January however, like most people we had no idea of how it would affect us in such a big way. Myself, Will and Josh found out about the lockdown situation when we were playing a wholesome game of monopoly, it seemed like an omen of things to come in hindsight as every man and their dog is playing it in lockdown.

When did you realise the extent of the impact it would have and why?

A: Seeing the death toll rise across the globe and with Europe essentially going into lockdown a few weeks before the UK, it gave us time to evaluate the situation and realise how serious this virus was. I think everyone knew it would be making its way over to the UK anytime soon so, when it actually started affecting our personal lives, I think that’s when it hit home.

Would you be able to go into some detail about how the lockdown and social distancing restrictions affected your recent EP launch?

Luckily for us, we released our EP on 20th March which was a few days before full lockdown and the release didn’t get affected too much. We had a headline show booked in at Gullivers for 27th March but, sadly we had to cancel this due to the virus. We were looking forward to getting out there and playing the EP live for everyone however, it seems we are just going to have to wait a while longer before this can happen.

What plans have you made so that you can continue with your work during

this time?

Chaz has been demoing a lot of our newer songs from home with the aim to use them as the blueprints for our next batch of singles for when we finally get back in the studio. As well as this we have been using zoom to catch up with each other and organise more live dates for post lockdown.

There have been a lot of discussions surrounding the self-employed and freelance workers. Do you feel that the creative arts are being supported?

Personally, I feel like a lot more could be done to support the creative arts industry during this time. As you mentioned the majority of workers within this industry are self employed and rely on others to generate a steady income, many local venues and events will suffer hugely from this pandemic and may not be able to get back on their feet after it has all blown over without support from our government. It is reassuring to see artists we admire such as Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Johnny Marr standing up for artists and questioning the UK government about their approach to helping them during this uncertain time.

Live music is a vital part of the music scene across the UK, especially for independent artists. What repercussions do you expect will follow the lifting of these social distancing measures?

Unfortunately, I worry that even when the lockdown situation has been alleviated, the live sector won’t get fully back on its feet until 2021 at least. If all large venues and festivals were back up and running straight after a pandemic it increases the chances of the virus coming back to fruition and would send us back to square one. Hopefully, by the end of the year small gigs will be allowed to take place but I can see more stringent venue caps being put in place for the foreseeable future. We just have to remain patient and positive until this virus slings its hook!

-Huw Lloyd-