Philadelphia Globe Interviews Coping With Dystopia For Streaming Concert to Support Philly Punks with Lunch
By Brian Walker
Coping with Dystopia (CWD) is a charity streaming series that started in response to the cancellation of national music festival Folk Shit Up. This week they are hosting their twentieth concert since social distancing orders have started. CWD has raised over 14,000 dollars for various charities across the country. CWD has supported Philadelphia artists such as Erin Incoherent, Bern the Bastard, Khalil Ali, A Day Without Love and more. Today, the Philadelphia Globe spoke to April Hartman of Apes of the State about how CWD started and how they have continued to support the folk punk community and raise funds for various pro social needs. This Friday 8/25/2020 will be their 20th concert. Their concert will be benefiting South Philly Punks with Lunch. A non profit organization dedicated to building a community by providing life-saving services, along with harm reduction resources to underserved and marginalized individuals.
How did Coping with Dystopia start?
Back in Mid-March there was supposed to be a big folk punk festival happening in TX and a bunch of bands from all over the US were going to tour out to play. But then the COVID shutdowns happened and it got cancelled as did most of the tours. Ian from the band Cardboard Homestead made a group chat with like, 30 people in it from all these different bands asking if we wanted to do a live stream fest. Everyone sprung into action really quick planning and we had CWD1 that first Friday of the shutdowns. And then we figured, we are all going to be stuck at home and we already have the infrastructure in place so we might as well keep it going !
How does it feel to continue working 20 weeks of concerts?
Whenever I reflect back on the Friday nights I spent watching my friends play and chatting with everyone live it has honestly been one of the best parts of quarantine. I am quite an introvert when I’m not on the road. I spend the majority of my budget being extremely social when I’m touring and seeing my friends from all over, so without those connections I would be lost. It’s been amazing to get closer with all the organizers in the process of planning. And of course, learning about all the different organizations we have featured has given me a lot of hope. Despite the fate of world being in a constant state of uncertainty, there are many people out there doing amazing things to help others on a local basis. It’s inspiring and I’m proud of the community we have fostered.
Have you gained any new insights about grassroots fundraising?
That there are a lot more interesting and even niche organizations out there than I would have ever thought. We have featured so many different types of orgs from prison abolition orgs to grizzly bear rescue, helping black trans women with transportation, and even helping save a baby’s life. It’s just been awesome to see the community pull together to help in so many different ways. If there is a need out there, no matter how obscure, there is someone willing to help. And the amount we have raised (over $14k) is just incredible. It was a huge surprise to see how much we have been able to get each week. We thought the donations would slow down after a while but they haven’t much. Which just shows that people are more than willing to support as long as there is a spotlight on the good work being done.
Do you feel closer to your music community after communicating remotely ?
Absolutely! There are so many people that I feel like I’ve gotten closer with even though we have never met in real life. I’ve made friends with some people that have never been able to make it out to a show but have always wanted to be part of the scene. And thanks to this they can be. I also think it has helped the music scene become so much more inclusive in that people that are geographically isolated or who might have disabilities that make it harder or impossible to attend shows have been able to experience live music and be part of the show for the first time.
What have you learned about organizing streaming concerts since doing them for 20 weeks?
The biggest thing I learned is that the audience is way more forgiving than you would think about the quality. At the beginning, everyone was kind of clamoring to try to figure out the best setup to get good audio and video, and it turns out keeping it simple is honestly the best most of the time. My band did a few stream shows with a whole sound board running through OBS and an external webcam and a bunch with just an iphone and you can barely notice a difference. As long as the end product isn’t glitchy or lagging people will look past the grainy video or lofi sound.
From an organizational standpoint I learned that it’s honestly just as much work as throwing a real life show. We need our “controller” or A/V guy to run the stream just like you would need a person to run sound. You need the people to make the flyers and run promo. You need someone to communicate everything to the bands and make the event pages, etc. It has all the same components and they are more successful when you treat them as if they are a real live show in terms of promotion. We have a steady group of 30-40 people that always tune in, but we have had upwards of 200 people watching depending who is playing.
Do you think virtual concerts will continue in a post COVID world?
For the reasons I said above, about inclusivity, I hope so. I will certainly still play them.
How can we learn more about Coping with Dystopia and support?
Youtube
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To Support South Philly Punks with Lunch
Facebook Instagram Fundraising
More About the Author: Brian Walker is a musician, writer, and podcaster. He is the songwriter behind A Day Without Love, podcaster for Dreams Not Memes and enjoys writing about Diversity and Inclusion, Food, Music and ways to make the community a better place. Twitter |Instagram
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