Interview with Byron Hawk of MNRVA
By Mick Michaels
COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Byron! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.
CV: Do
you feel that it's still possible for an unknown band today to be plucked out
of obscurity and make it to stardom? Can a dedicated core of fans sharing their
music make that possible or has the internet and social media changed the game?
Byron Hawk: Yes, to the first question. Bands are still plucked out of obscurity
by major labels and with good money and PR behind them they can still take off.
From the other, underground, perspective, fans sharing music online and on
social media is critical, but in and of itself may not be enough. The band has
to be dedicated too, be active online, be active playing live, write good
songs, sound good, network, and still will need the luck that comes
along with good timing. A lot depends on what stardom means I guess. There aren’t
going to be many if any more “Metallicas” just from the nature of the music
industry today. But there are many more “stars” than before at that mid tier
across a whole range of genre.
CV: Do
you feel that given the accessibility and social awareness of modern times that
a music underground still even exists today as it once did?
BH: It
definitely still exists, just not as it once did. The old tape trading and
fanzine underground still held a close tie to local scenes or cities. We put a
lot more emphasis on our region than our city. Local scenes seem to be smaller
and more niche now, but it’s easier and more efficient connect various local
scenes across a region and grow an underground scene at that level.
CV: What
do you see as the biggest difference in music and how it is perceived from back
say 35 years ago compared to music today? Has both the music and the artist
evolved from your point of view?
BH: This
is a tough question, because there are so many aspects of both music and artists
to think about in terms of evolution. I think the biggest difference is that
there is so much music now and access to it so much easier. It’s hard to find
your place in such a landscape. Fans move quickly from artist to artist rather
than delve deeply into a small number of artists. We get so much more access to
music on Spotify, for example, but the system doesn’t lend itself to really
sitting with and absorbing a small number of records.
CV: Do
you believe bands and artists who have the biggest impact on fans and other
artists are aware that they are or is there more of a tunnel vision sort of
process for them keeping them somewhat in the dark? Can influential artists see
passed their own work to be aware of the ripples they make?
BH: Bands,
whether small or big, can always see some of the ripples but can never see all
of them or maybe never see even most of them. It’s impossible to see all of the
effects and consequences of your actions, whether those are everyday acts or
artistic acts. Even a small band, and even back in the days of the pre-internet
underground, can circulate to countries they’ve never been to or even know much
about and influence artists and scenes in those places. It’s just too complex
and variable to really know how all of those ripples play out.
CV: Does
music need to be influential to be considered worth listening to in your
opinion? Or can music simply be just an enjoyable auditory experience devoid of
substance?
BH: Well
there is influential on some kind of large scale, which of course isn’t
necessary in any way, but even an enjoyable experience to one person is also
influential in both small and potentially larger ways. There’s an apocryphal
story about Bob Dylan or Eric Clapton, I think, who was down on his playing
after leaving the studio late one night and he just wandered into an anonymous
bar. There was a lounge singer performing to a small crowd and it reminded him
of why it is important to play and perform and he endeavored to keep going in
music. That one encounter turned out to be both a positive personal experience
and very influential.
CV: The
world has been rocked by the COVID
pandemic. The economy has been sent into a tailspin in its wake,
unfortunately. Bands worldwide were restricted from performing live and for
some, restricted from earning a living. How has the pandemic affected your
band? Are you hopeful that things will be going back to normal as COVID seems
to be taking more of a backseat these days?
BH: The
pandemic definitely affected MNRVA a great deal. At the beginning of 2020 we
were just starting to shop our record around to some labels and all of that
came to a halt. We ended up spending 2020 writing a slate of new songs and in
early 2021 ended up pitching the record to Black Doomba Records. I think a lot
of bands just shut down during 2020 and some even in 2021 still. But because we
kept playing and writing I think we got better as a band, so when shows came
back here around in mid-late 2021 we were ready.
CV: What do you feel artists and bands can do right now to stay relevant, especially in an environment, such as the present, where performing in front of a live audience is being restricted? What immediate options do you see available?
BH: In addition to spending a lot of time practicing and writing songs, we spent a lot of time building up our social media and working to get into the habit of being active on it. Currently, shows have been coming back and we’ve played a lot in the Southeastern region of the US with bands like Space Coke, Doomsday Profit, Holy Roller, Dayglo Mourning, Embr, Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf, and Bog Monkey. There’s a good scene here for stoner, doom, and sludge bands. We also managed to make it out to Texas and open for the Gravitoyd Heavy Music Festival, which had an amazing lineup—The Atomic Bitchwax, The Well, Valley of the Sun, Howling Giant, Horseburner, Tia Carrera, Yatra, Thunder Horse, High Desert Queen, Switchblade Jesus, Doomstress, Temptress, Silent Monolith. Even though there has been a reprieve from the virus so far in 2022, which opened a space for us to play all of these shows, there are already reports of cases on the rise again in the US from another variant. I don’t think things will shut down like before, but it will still have an effect.
CV: As
an artist, what have you learned from the events of 2020-21? Are those lessons
learned different for you as a person than as an artist or are they one in the
same in your opinion?
BH: Definitely
different. I almost think it has been tougher personally than as an artist. We
managed to navigate it all as a band as well as can be expected. Personally,
both physically and socially, I found it really difficult to slow down and
isolate and also difficult to speed back up and get out there again. Things
will never go back to the way they were in January 2020. But we can go forward.
So I guess I’ve learned to always focus on that and how important it is to keep
going.
CV:
What's next? What can fans expect to see coming in 2022?
BH: Our
album Hollow is coming out May 20thon Black Doomba. We’ll be playing
an album release show and are booking more shows for 2022 in support. We’ve
already got songs for the next record written, so we are planning to sneak some
recording into 2022 as well.
CV: Thank you again Byron for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was such a pleasure. I wish you all the best.
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