An indie artist recognizes the detriment to human connection this pandemic has caused and sets out to do something about it.
Do you know that thrill you get when you are connecting with an artist live in concert? There’s a fresh breeze in the air. You can feel the ground vibrating beneath you. And, wait, yep! There are the chords that begin your favorite song.
What could be better than creating an experience together in such an organic fashion?
According to Greg Hoy, not a whole lot. Greg is an artist out of East Bay Northern California. He plays enigmatic pop-rock that grabs the listener with its catchy melody and thoughtful content. Divide and Conquer has likened his music to Jack White and Jack Black.
Greg believes that when we’re making something, we are “closer to the divine.”
So what then, would it be like if live music died?
There would be a serious dopamine crash for starters.
When asked what the world would look like without live music he responded with,
“Live music is the common language between all species on earth. Whales are really bad lyricists. Birds can’t rap. Save music and save the planet.”
A short and quirky answer, but he’s serious about the risk to live music this pandemic has caused. That’s why it’s his goal for 2020 to keep live music alive. To help achieve this, he’s created a four-part video series for his new EP ‘Cacophony Part 1,’ which challenges the thinking of the viewers and listeners to consider how important it is to keep making art and how much we need each other both physically and emotionally.
Through his new release “Messed up world”, Hoy exposes viewers to the juxtaposition of wild fun with the containment of the creative spirit that so many artists are encountering due to the pandemic.
Since Greg says that live music is “mindfulness without even trying” it makes sense that the theme of his newest music would be self-described as “self-reflection and motivation during these times of severe isolation and disconnection.”
In the video, you’ll see screen after screen within a screen within another screen. As entertaining as their content may be – you don’t know which one to pay attention to, which one to believe, or which one to be distracted by.
Everyone stays inside; nobody communicates. Hoy uses this design to highlight the situation we are in right now, afraid or unable to go outside and explore, and unable to fulfill our need for human contact.
At the end of the video, one girl tentatively looks out the window. Though we are unaware of what she sees, Greg did mention that she is looking for something more in life and that she’ll find it in one of the subsequent yet thematically connected videos.
When asked about his own daughter and what he is doing to make the world a better place for his new daughter, Greg gets serious and shows his respect for women by saying to “Let the women take over” and “that we need to stop eating factory-farmed animals, killing trees, filling the skies with poison. We’ll do this because, now, we have no choice. And her generation will put it right. The old systems are done.”
Greg Hoy recognizes the detriment to human connection this pandemic has caused and he is set to do something about it.
And that despair you feel when you imagine a world without live music? Let’s keep from getting all the way there. I asked Greg what listeners can do and he gave me the following list of actions we can all follow to do our part:
- Follow the #saveourstages movement
- Vote for politicians that believe you should be free to watch live music, see live theater, watch a movie in a theater
- Spend money on art, and give it to the artists with as little technology in between as possible!
- Buy vinyl LPs, Bandcamp digital downloads especially on Fridays, hats, and T-shirts directly from artists.
- Shop Etsy versus amazon.
If I may add something to the list, it’s to check out independent artists like Greg Hoy. After all, they may surprise you.
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST:
www.avaliveradio.info/featured/greg-hoy-new-release-messed-up-world
LINKS:
https://open.spotify.com/track/51nAHZsZrBuLIdawOhAZSL?si=1FcZI3QvQm-2HM4WO-9bFA
www.thegreghoy.com
twitter.com/thegreghoy
facebook.com/greghoyandtheboys
instagram.com/thegreghoy
Article by Juliette Roanoke