Photo courtesy of Ryan Kiolbassa

Although the new norm for Sy Smith is recording songs in the attic office of her 110-year-old home, it took some time for her to become comfortable doing so.

When the pandemic shut down the majority of the United States, Smith immediately took to the internet to create livestream shows with friend and fellow musician Dominique “Xavier” Taplin. Each livestream had a “theoretical” setlist, according to Smith, but regularly consisted of freestyling. During a soundcheck in November, Taplin began playing a chord progression that immediately made Smith think of “Feeling Good”. Despite not knowing the majority of the words, and the chord progression sounding nothing like the original song, something about it felt right.

With the lyrics typed out and taped to her fireplace, she performed it that day to nothing but positive feedback. They recorded the song in December and intentionally released it at the end of that month.

“I had my whole life's sources pulled from me in terms of touring and that kind of thing so I've had to really choose joy every single day,” she said. “This song was my way of putting that intention into the world and hoping that other people can take that too; choosing joy as a means of not just something we’re supposed to feel, but something we’re choosing every day.”

Smith wanted to film a video for the song as well, and called up another friend, photographer and video director Mike Quain. She knew exactly what she wanted the video to entail: Shots of her cleaning up a room, but instead of throwing away garbage, she would be throwing away negative attributes that were keeping her from reaching her goals. Once she would step outside, she would see bubbles holding positive attributes, and would catch them to place in her bag. The other scene would have an afrofuturism version of herself blowing the bubbles, with Taplin’s solo mixed in.

It was her first time writing a treatment for a music video, but she knew exactly what she wanted the video to represent.

“The whole point was not just about getting rid of the things that we don't need that set us off of our path and gaining the things that we do need, but it was also about me being the bubble-blowing goddess,” she said. “[It] was about saying that we can be our own source of everything we need, that it's all right there with us. We just have to tap into our innermost high to find them.”

Sy Smith has learned a lot about herself as she has been navigating her way through this global pandemic. She has learned to trust her own instincts and rely on herself when it comes to recording music. Looking back on where she was a year ago, she has seen how much she has stepped out of her comfort zone to accomplish her goals.

“The discomfort was really just because I was used to doing something a certain way,” she said. “Sometimes the discomfort is really just about the unknown and now that I know I can do this on my own or do it differently, I'm much more comfortable now.”

When author Jen Calonita began the discussion for her latest Twisted Tales novel, Go The Distance, she immediately knew which moment of the Hercules tale that she wanted to twist.

“Zeus, as you know, is the guy in charge when it comes to Mount Olympus,” she said. “I always imagined if Hercules asked him whether he could stay on Earth with Megara, he would say no. Hercules spends the whole movie trying to prove he's a God and then when he does, he stays on Earth for love. Immediately I thought, what if Zeus said no to that request? What if Hercules had to stay on Mount Olympus and Meg, if she wanted to be with Wonder Boy, had to prove herself and become a God in order to stay with him.”

When creating the storyline, Calonita had a few questions she wanted to address throughout the plot. Can Meg put her past behind her and use her quick wit to defeat monsters and gods alike, including the nefarious Hades? Will she finally figure out her place and contribution to the world? Or will her fear of commitment have her running away from an eternity of godhood with Hercules?

She also wanted to include as many nods to Greek mythology as she could as well as expand upon some of the stories already known.

“I tried to pull from some of the classic The Twelves Labors of Hercules and have Meg tackle them,” she said. “It was so much fun to plot, but also difficult to figure out exactly how it would all work.”

Calonita’s characterization is a mix of the characters Disney fans have fallen in love with and her honest portrayal of how she believes they would behave should this have been how the story went. It gives the reader the chance to dive more into Meg’s past, understand her frustrations and see an imperfect side to her that isn’t shown in the original film.

From being raised on Winnie the Pooh to the first family trip to Walt Disney World, Leslie Kay knew her adoration for Disney would easily transfer over into her adulthood. What she didn’t know was that one day she would be sharing that adoration with an entire community of fans.

She created a Tumblr account in 2011 to share her upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, her first visit since childhood. She was able to connect with other Disney fans and interact with them online as they shared their memories of the parks. One weekend, she decided to design outfits that resembled her favorite characters. She shared them on her blog, and suddenly her follower count skyrocketed. 300 followers turned into 30,000. Her direct messages were filled with requests to create more outfits. It started with Rapunzel, made its way to the other princesses, Mickey Mouse and more. The name she gave her blog promptly became a verb: Disney-bounding.

As DisneyBound grew in popularity, especially once Instagram became the trending social media platform, Disney itself was behind the scenes researching content for an upcoming fashion book. They came across Kay’s blog and reached out to her to see if she would be interested in being the author.

“It was crazy, the pressure was really on,” she said. “You want it to represent the blog, you want it to represent the community, but the community is so big and you can’t have a book that is a million pages long. I put a lot of pressure on myself but it was still really fun to work on and figure out the highlight reel of characters.”

DisneyBound: Dress Disney and Make It Fashion shares every step of the Disney-bounding process, from choosing items that complete an outfit to just how massive this community has become. As shared in the foreword by Disney Legacy Authority Jeff Kurtti, “Disney-bounding is a similar craft to costuming, but it’s a translation to another storytelling medium. It relies not on the making of a literal replica of a well-known wardrobe, but in the creation of nuanced visual cues in color, shape, texture, and materials; and the relationships of these to one another, in order to evoke a visual reminder or stimulate an emotional memory - even before any literal character connection is seen.”

It takes real time and effort to create each Disney-bound experience, and that time and effort is reflected throughout each page. Although Kay admits the hardest part of creating the book was the dread of someone feeling left out, she realized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was actually happening, and her dream was now a reality. Holding a physical copy of a book, a book with her name on the cover, was an indescribable feeling.

For the last decade, Disney fans from around the world have used Leslie Kay’s blog to explore the parks, resemble a beloved character and turn their love for Disney into fashion. Creating a book based on her blog was a bucket list item she didn’t know she had, but thanks to this ever-growing community, she has been able to share this dream with a whole new audience.

Jonathan, vocals/guitar: Lombardy was formed during the quarantine. The boys and I all have our own solo projects and main ventures, but after a night of pizza and listening to Rage Against The Machine, we thought it would be awesome to start a collective rock band. 

Photos courtesy of Maria Quintana

Coralie Herve, drummer/backing vocals: We were supposed to go on tour last March but this pandemic happened. So we had to think of what we could do to keep going because we didn’t, and still don’t, know how long that was gonna last.

We have actually been really productive; we recorded a new album and made videos for the new singles.

The process, of course, was different than usual. We didn’t practice the songs together with Tarah prior to the studio; we were sending each other tracks and videos of ideas for each song.

Our new album will be released in April and since January we are releasing a new single each month with a video for it.

I’ve been practicing a lot, giving my drum lessons online which is really different than in-person so I had to get used to it. I’ve been listening to a lot of music from awesome new bands like Ad Infinitum, watching movies and TV shows (especially comedies like Superstore or The Last Man On Earth).

I can’t wait to be able to play live again, I really miss it.

Tarah G. Carpenter, lead vocalist: A year ago, I was behind my desk trying to make the decision of canceling the tour or not. We did not know how serious the pandemic was and every state had different orders. We don't cancel shows; we take our tours very seriously, so it was a really hard decision to make. Staying safe, for us and for the people who wanted to watch us play.

Some promoters were really understanding, others less but once the lockdown was national, everyone started coming up with Instagram Live shows and other ways to make those shows happen.

We quickly realized that the whole Instagram Live thing was not really working because of a latency issue. We decided to focus on something else. I wrote a bunch of new songs and once the demos were done, I shared them with Coralie and Jason Orme, our producer. We were having Zoom meetings and we were sending each other tracks and ideas. We finally met one weekend to record and that was the first time we were playing the songs live! Which, if you don't know me, is a big deal! I hate to be unprepared. Before a recording session, I always want to make sure that everyone knows their part, and that we are all set for any situation so that we don't waste any time, etc. So I was a little apprehensive, but everything turned out great! Actually even more than great! It was a really weird situation because there were no hugs, and every time someone was next to someone else, the other would move away. We performed with our masks on, and when I sang I was facing the wall! We all stayed safe and that is all that really matters in the end! ;)

We also decided to shoot music videos that same week, so that we would have material to promote and release the singles.

We decided to focus on our online presence until we are able to play live shows again. So far, it has been really exciting to see the reaction of a lot of new people, and we are happy that the new songs have such a huge impact. “Pantomath” was our first single as a duo and now we are releasing our first album as a two piece. We hope that you enjoy listening to our new album :)

Although the last decade has lacked an album full of brand new Evanescence songs, the band has been hard at work concentrating on songs old and new.

They had spent the early months of 2020 working on four new tracks, and ultimately feeling like they were headed toward a sound that was both reminiscent of their hard rock roots and inspired by their love of the 90s grunge era. Needless to say, they were eager to see where the rest of the album would lead.

“The path starts making itself and you start following that road,” lead vocalist Amy Lee said at a media event to promote what is now their fifth full-length studio album, The Bitter Truth.

Unfortunately, there was no warning that a global pandemic would block their path.

The path back to one another took time, and when they found a safe way to get together and finish the album, that is exactly what they did. Except this time, they had a different perspective on the future.

The Bitter Truth goes deeper, darker and into more difficult themes than any of their lyrics have gone before. It’s a battle cry that speaks to a demographic far beyond the reach of their previous work, and shows a different, more vulnerable side of Lee.

“So much has happened,” she said. “There’s been so much to say, and we were already on that path when the world turned absolutely upside down, so it was hard to go to some of those places but it was healing for me. I don’t know what I would have done - I think I would have gone insane last year if we didn’t have this album to make.”

“Don’t you speak for me”, a lyric from “Use My Voice”, became a phrase that Lee found herself repeating while watching the news. Although the political climate wasn’t the original inspiration for the song, with its lyrics being half written nearly a decade ago, it soon turned into an anthem for injustice and how everyone’s voice matters.

Another song with powerful lyrics, “Far From Heaven”, was incredibly difficult to write. Lee said that the song is about questioning her faith, and the emotions that overcame that questioning after the passing of her brother in 2018.

“It was hard to admit the questioning and the real struggle that I have been facing,” she said. “But it’s so worth it when you break through.”

Lee said that she has learned again and again that it is not what happens to a person, but what they do with it. It’s about creating something good from something bad and giving it a purpose. That is what she wanted the album to touch on, and learning that lesson again made her realize that there would never be a time more perfect than now to release new music.

She also wanted to make sure that the album spoke to her bandmates as much as it did to her. Every album has had a slightly different lineup, but that didn’t deter her from making sure everyone’s personal taste and personality came out in each song. Lastly, she wanted to make sure the album spoke to its listeners.

“I have found over the course of my career and my journey with this band that our music is a very special place not just for us, but for other people, people that I don’t personally know,” she said. “Those stories and those experiences and those parts of people’s lives that our music has been there for them in, that’s all just become part of this bigger story that I feel like I’m a part of. It just makes it better. It just makes it bigger. It just makes it more precious and I’m just very grateful to have our fans after all this time.”

When Lee was asked what the bitter truth was, she said it was the driving force behind the album. Life is short. Time is precious. In order for things to get better, the truth must be accepted. Facing the bitter truth is what leads to a better place.

It’s been a year since the first shelter-in-place orders were put into effect here in Northern California. I remember the week before it happened vividly.

I work as an aide at a local elementary school, and I’d spent the entire week making copies of homework packets to send home to keep the students busy for the next two weeks - we were told the shutdown would be just two weeks. All the while I had a bad headache, so bad it would wake me up at night. These weren’t symptoms of COVID, so I didn’t worry too much.

Meanwhile, at home, my 15-year-old cat, Furokey, was dying. She’d been diagnosed with cancer the previous summer and had overshot the prognosis of 6 to 8 weeks to live. Sadly, I could see the cancer was finally winning.

Music-wise, I was in pre-production with a producer who was going to help me record a full-length album. We’d been putting together demos since October. I had a friend in Oregon who was slated to play drums on the album, and just the month before, I had recorded some of her ideas with my piano parts. The producer and I had been sifting through these session recordings, deciding what worked and what didn’t.

And then everything stopped.

Photo courtesy of Nina Gaulin

Bridget Stiebris and Haley Blomquist have been longtime collaborators and friends, with projects such as The Weekend Run Club keeping them busy, but when they found some free time in early 2020 they decided to write a song just for the hell of it. That song, “I Can’t Stand in Ice Skates”, led to their latest project, OK Cool.

Completing “I Can’t Stand in Ice Skates” was all the motivation they needed to keep this project rolling, and by the middle of the year they released their first EP, Anomia.

“The pandemic really gave us time to take this seriously,” Blomquist said. “We live super close and [Stiebris] has been in my pandemic bubble from very early on, so we had a lot of time to write and improve together.”

Blomquist went on to say that they were both getting their sea legs with writing Anomia, trying to get a feel for how this duo would work and the sound that would best encapsulate the project. For Stiebris, this was her first time diving into singing and songwriting, and found it difficult to get to a point where she was happy with the outcome.

“The most important thing I learned was how to better place my voice into the songs in a way that I’m comfortable with,” she said. “With the new record, I was able to think about other ways to write and perform that weren’t such huge downers for me to listen back to. I love thinking about the way songs are mixed and how much that can impact the final product.”

The new EP, Surrealist, is a more thought out version of the sound they want to focus on, and is composed of five tracks that really stuck with them throughout the writing process.

“When deciding to work on or not work on a song, it’s really important that both of us vibe to it,” Stiebris said. “We’re very honest about how a certain idea is connecting or not connecting with us as individuals. Sometimes you just have a really good day and you can do a five-hour writing marathon; other days, you sit at the computer for just as long and come up with nothing but duds. With these songs, we both felt that they had the potential to really shine in the recording and editing process, and we weren’t tired of hearing the demos a million times.”

They recorded everything on their own, minus drums, at Foxhole Creative, an award-winning production company with studio and creative space in Chicago. It made the process all the more rewarding, and gave them the opportunity to better themselves as musicians.

OK Cool hopes that the five songs from Surrealist are interpreted in any way that is meaningful to the listener, because that is the best part of listening to music - uncoding a message that will mean something different to everyone.