Harry Thynne is a survivor. He’s also a great Australian musician and drummer. He, like most musicians in the world was negatively affected by the pandemic. The lockdowns and social distancing rules put a real damper on most live playing gigs and in many cases, a great deal of musicians simply found themselves completely out of work entirely.
Harry, how has the pandemic affected your career in the last two years?
We had been playing around the states pretty successfully for a while, but when the pandemic hit, we were somewhere in Tennessee. We’d picked up four months of touring in mid-large venues. It was the biggest tour I’ve booked since moving to America. But a week and a half in, the whole thing was canceled, and we had to find our way back to LA. It was a sad and desperate moment. That was the beginning of a lot of hardship and a lot of re-thinking about what I was doing, why exactly I was doing it and what I was going to do to earn money to live and stay afloat in LA.
A musician’s life is rarely easy. Add a pandemic that closes almost all the doors to making a decent living and you’ve got an existential disaster on your hands. The financial question, that is, how to support myself through the pandemic, has always been front and center. It has been really the most crucial dilemma in most musicians’ lives during this very difficult time. I stepped into a more active role with Exhibition records as a booking agent and PR/release strategist. It’s been a really interesting ride learning the new ropes of a marketplace that is almost entirely online now and the way social media has adapted with really sophisticated targeted marketing. Also, the amount of freelance companies offering label services out there is astonishing. Despite the live music industry taking a colossal hit, online services and recorded work has just kept booming. So aside from putting the label Hat on, I’ve also been involved in a ton of recording and producing remotely which has kept the lights on so to speak. That said, I can’t wait to get back on the road and feel that good feeling’ again.
