Culture
Local Music Losing Crucial Momentum: Sneakthief’s Daniel Palmer
By: Emily Votaw
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Between March 12 and March 15, 2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine banned all gatherings of more than 100 people in the state of Ohio and closed all Ohio restaurants and bars as a part of the state’s harm reduction efforts in containing the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious coronavirus. As a result of this, nearly all regional music events have been canceled or postponed as to adhere to the order.
Regional musicians are a part of the rarely discussed “gigging economy,” which is in disarray after the firm and fast movements on the part of the State over the past week. In this series, WOUB Culture is investigating the myriad of ways that these disorienting (but necessary) measures have impacted regional musicians.
Daniel Palmer is the lead singer and chief songwriter of local acoustic pop punk act Sneakthief and a regional mixing and mastering engineer that has been a part of the Athens music scene for the past two years. In the past week, Sneakthief, like many other bands, has had to cancel upcoming shows because of decrees made on a state level to keep the populace safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and to adhere to CDC recommendations to refrain from gatherings of more than 50 people for at least eight weeks.
Currently, Sneakthief’s painstakingly planned first East Coast tour, which was to take place May 14 through May 20, is up in the air because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Palmer spoke to WOUB about one of the aspects of the current situation that hasn’t been widely discussed by many outside of the music scene: the way in which having to refrain from public performances has interrupted the difficult-to-maintain-in-the-first-place momentum that is necessary for starter bands to thrive.
Check out Sneakthief on Facebook and Bandcamp, and listen to their self titled EP, embedded above. Check out their appearance on WOUB’s Radio A Sessions, embedded above, as well.