HOW HAS COVID HIT THE TEESSIDE MUSIC SCENE?

The Teesside music scene has missed out on many events this year.

It may not be well known but Teesside’s music scene is thriving. Or at least it was before Covid-19.

When lockdown one hit, Teesside’s venues and promoters cancelled events and bands moved online to play live-streamed gigs.

One local venue which has struggled is Base Camp in Middlesbrough.

In lockdown one, Base Camp was made Covid-friendly and when events returned they were held in the spacious warehouse.

When the new lockdown returned they were shut yet again.

Base Camp’s owner, Carmel Ramsay said while they knew that they’d have to close again, it happened earlier than they expected.

She hopes to return in Spring and carry on over Summer as they did last year, but she believes Covid will just be something we have to live with.

“We miss gigs so much. When it’s allowed, I think we’ll fling open the doors with a free music festival to celebrate the utter joy of live music,” She said.

Many promoters have cancelled events that they’ve planned. One of which is Art Mouse Promotions, formed by Billingham’s Mouses.

Mouses have organised Mousetival every August since 2017, but cancelled last year when lockdown wasn’t lifted.

Ste Bardgett, co-founder of Art Mouse Promotions and lead singer of Mouses feels that Covid has had a huge impact on them as promoters.

He said:“When the first lockdown hit, we were in the middle of booking lots of events and it became clear that we had to cancel everything, it was a really strange feeling.”

Ste said that Art Mouse are absolutely going to do something special for the return of gigs, although they’re not planning anything yet.

H e said: “We’ll be doing a Mouses tour for the new album, it’ll be out this year, the tour will just come when it’s allowed. We’ll definitely throw everything into the next Mousetival.”

 

Bands have missed out on opportunities due to Covid, for example, Bugeye, from London.

Bugeye were set to tour in March, but cut it short due to Covid.

They also released an album in July, but due to Covid they couldn’t play any of their new songs live or even organise a release event.

 Bugeye said: “Touring is a huge part of any album or single release plan so we were concerned that our album would fall through the cracks and get lost.”

“Thankfully that wasn’t the case. It was well received by media and fans and even made a few best albums of 2020 lists.”

Bugeye said that their hopes for 2021 are that we finally see the back of this pandemic and that gigs can return safely.

The band are holding off on tours until they feel it’s safe, but they’re currently writing their second album, and are continuing with their podcast, Bugeye’s Rock, Pop, Rambles.