Bands finds creative ways to keep the music going during quarantine

SATURDAY, July 25 — Working class musicians are facing a conundrum. The success of their careers depends on their ability to pack a ton of people into one room. We all know that that isn’t exactly feasible right now. 

But some musicians have found creative ways to keep doing their thing: livestreams, homemade music videos or just releasing a flow of new songs. Michigan band Y-Not, which includes members from Lansing, Grand Rapids and Detroit, just dropped a recording of a fan-favorite that never made it to tape, “Be The Change.” 

Tony Geren, 25, formed the band in early 2017, so he could have a better chance of getting his music out into the world. Until then, he played gigs as a solo acoustic act. With the help of a wider cast of musicians, Geren hoped he play bigger venues and attract bigger audiences. “Our music is focused on empowerment. We wanted to make music that you can get into through your heart,” Geren said. “When we play, people don’t connect it to themselves. They connect it to a spiritual sense of who they are.” 

When Geren asked his friend, Tyler Herb, to join the band, he was hesitant. He was worried that his guitar skills weren’t up to par. But Geren persisted and eventually convinced him to hop aboard. “If you’re interested in us and willing to do the work, then you’re on the team,” Geren said. “It was really beautiful to have the connection I have with him. He’s an empathetic human being.” 

Geren built the band up to include eight members, including a trumpeter, a saxophonist and a violist. He said that the band was just hitting its stride and starting to pack venues when the COVID-19 outbreak began. But Geren felt determined to keep the band alive despite the pandemic.  

“Somewhere along the way in quarantine, I started to realize that this is a very important moment in history,” said Geren. “I wanted to get some music out there. Because our music is about how we have the capacity to change the world. It was around the time that protests over George Floyd’s murder began taking place all over the country.” 

Geren decided to record “Be The Change” because it captures his feelings about the state of the world, spirituality and social progress. He said the song promotes the idea that humanity innately desires a better world, and that it must work together to make that goal a reality. 

Since the band members already knew their way around the song, the recording process was simple, lasting only two days. Geren said he only needed a single vocal take. “We hadn’t practiced at all during quarantine, but we knew that we could do it,” he said. “We just got in there and slayed it.” 

“Be The Change” is only the beginning of a series of projects that Y-Not undertook during quarantine. Midway into lockdown, Geren came to the realization that he needed to use this time to “put as much positive energy into the world as possible.” He’s writing new music, planning acoustic livestreams and pulling tracks together from his back catalog for a new EP. 

Seeing environmentalists, MeToo activists, Black Lives Matter, indigenous protesters and several others unite to protest for George Floyd inspired him to create nonstop for a month. “Right now, this is like the one common denominator in the world,” Geren said. “We’re all going through the same thing.”