By Mikayla van Loon
Being a touring musician for the better part of 48 years, Croydon’s Andrew McDonough has seen a lot but being forced out of his normal schedule of gigs because of a global pandemic, was not something he ever thought he’d have to experience.
Raising five boys throughout those years playing, Mr McDonough said he’d taken breaks from music but nothing like this.
“I had a break to have my kids and bring them up but I’d continue to play on and off then. This time, it’s the toughest it’s been for me in the 48 years of being a musician. No doubt about that,” he said.
“It’s been off and on and off and on, which was ok at the start, we could kind of live with that and cope with it ok.
“But the money has dried up for a lot of people. And it’s not just the musicians it’s dried up for. It’s dried up for people that have rehearsal studios or recording studios.”
Although Mr McDonough has a job to fall back on when times get tough, he knows that’s not that case for a number of people in the music industry.
He worries the mental strain of lockdowns and not being able to rehearse will cause people to abandon music, particularly touring musicians.
“I think a lot of the musos that play regularly or tour will probably reconsider the commitment they’ve put into music and how much they will continue to do it. I think a lot of them will struggle and I know a lot of people have given up and just said ‘no, I can’t do it’.”
Before Covid-19, Mr McDonough had a whiteboard, listing all the upcoming gigs he had at different venues for his two bands The Dead Pharaohs and The Masons – the list would sometimes have 15 gigs spread over two weeks.
Now, he uses this whiteboard as a shopping list.
As a regular performer at Brycee’s Tavern in Mooroolbark and Rack-em-up Pool Hall in Lilydale, Mr McDonough said it’s the absence of playing live to an audience that is really tough.
“Nothing is like sitting under the lights and looking out and just seeing people, there’s nothing like that. It’s why we do it but to not have that it’s almost demoralising. You lose your sense of worth somewhat,” he said.
“Just that lack of everything that you’ve known rehearsing even, getting together and rehearsing once a week and then playing live on stage.
“When it’s gone, it’s your passion and almost your life kind of sucked out of you. And you haven’t done anything wrong. There’s nothing that us musos have done wrong to deserve this. It’s just happened to us.”
Mr McDonough said another challenge his bands face each time they come out of lockdown is getting to a live performance standard after not playing together for so long.
“It’s really disruptive to the progression, because most bands will rehearse, or most musicians will rehearse every week, or every fortnight forever, just to polish the material.
“And then when you don’t have that, it’s not like riding a bike because you’re actually getting paid to do a good job and if you’re not rehearsed and you don’t do a good job that not only plays on you mentally it’s actually not a good performance, and people don’t want a poor performance.”
Having released an EP earlier in the year, it has already had air time on the radio, but Mr McDonough is looking forward to being able to play it live and tour the album when the time comes.
But more so than that, he is looking forward to the atmosphere of a live gig.
“To play and perform in a live venue is just a feeling that you can’t get from anywhere else really. So that’s what I think I am chasing. And I know a lot of my mates would be the same, just to get that feeling of performing and doing a great job in front of a crowd.
“I think that’s what I’m looking forward to enjoying again, coming off stage, pat on the back, sweaty, hot and someone shouting you a beer saying ‘well done’.”
