The global pandemic has brought with it truly the strangest of times. Not since the roll out of Napster have musicians been dealt such a brutal blow to their livelihood, but at least with Napster, touring remained a viable option. Rather than keeling over and accepting this unjust fate, creatives around the world are in the process of diversifying; pivoting to ensure there’s a place for them in the post-COVID world.
Aaron Gillespie of Underoath and The Almost fame has emerged the other side of this creative catalyst, launching Aaron’s Quarantine Shop, offering “Stuff to offset the madness” of the current unpleasantness with a list of otherwise unobtainable curiosities.
“In the music industry we’ve all basically lost our jobs, by some merch from a band or artists, listen to their tunes, drop em a line”, Gillespie said via socials. “I’ve launched a store where I’ve got custom songs, drum tracks, and handwritten lyrics to offset this drought in music, please check it out in the bio. I’ll be on here periodically playing some tunes/ etc. Peace and love to y’all”.
Rather than selling off old t-shirts and broken drum sticks, Gillespie is placing an emphasis on momentum, providing his services as a drummer and songwriter to other musicians to ensure their projects don’t fall victim to social distancing.
For US$500, Gillespie will track drums for the song that you’ve been putting off tracking drums for, “All pro recording, edited or not edited,” allowing you to once and for all get that single finished and released. For US$300 you can get a custom song written by Gillespie – “It can be to your lover, your mother or your brother.” With no iPhone demo vibes promised, this is the perfect opportunity for a fan to put their well-deserved stimulus cash back into the international arts.
Not a lot unlike Cameo, but without the cringe and with cash going directly to the artist behind it all (bar Pierce the Veil’s Vic Fuentes who donates his earnings to making dreams come true for children and young adults with life-threatening illnesses).
Also included in the items for sale is handwritten lyrics from Gillespie. A brief description of the item explains fans can request hand written lyrics from any song Gillespie has “been a part of personalised or not.” Though postage doesn’t allow international purchases at the time of publish (Blunt Magazine has reached out to see if there’s a work around for this), it’s a unique idea – one Gillespie decidedly hasn’t trademarked – that other artists could use as a spring broad for their own innovation in this trying time.
We’ll be sure to keep our fingers to the pulse of more such happenings and cover this whole damn place with springboards.
