Australian tour postponed + release schedule update
Hey everyone,
Our heart goes out to all of you sharing in the anxiety and disruption caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide. Having been fortunate enough to travel widely over the years, we send big love not only to our Australian fans but also our friends in Asia, NZ, greater Europe and America. SMW and our team are all doing our best to remain calm and rational while also taking the pandemic seriously.
An unfortunate consequence of this is that we cannot proceed with our Australian tour this year. It's not only that the Australian Government directives render events unfeasible - we also believe that it's our duty to minimise community transmission of the disease in Australia. Our hearts are heavy making this call, but we firmly believe it's the right thing to do. Our intent is to reschedule the shows and to retain Rolo Tomassi on the lineup, but that could be a long way off, potentially even as late as 2021. Any tickets bought will be valid for the new dates and we'll announce details as soon as we can.
We also need to push back the release date of the EP trilogy to July 17, as some of this music still needs to be recorded and produced. Otto has just returned home to a two-week stint in quarantine, and it's not out of the question that someone else in SMW could find themselves in a similar situation. Giving ourselves this extra time to complete the recordings means we can deliver them to you without any serious creative compromises. We are aware that some of you have already paid for these releases, so this decision is not made lightly and we do appreciate your patience.
In light of this, the first EP 'No Safe Place' is now streaming online in full at www.sleepmakeswaves.bandcamp.com
The economic impacts of this pandemic will be vast. For musicians specifically, the cancellation of live shows is a necessary evil that puts the main income stream of any given indie band on ice. This also has flow on effects through the live music economy, as we are just one of a number of bands that can no longer provide work to our tour manager, live mix engineer, guitar techs, light operator, backline/production spec providers, etc. You get the picture.
If you want to support bands and artists, Bandcamp is waiving their merchant fee for 24 hours from 6pm Sydney time (12am PST and 7am GMT) so please hop online and do your buying there.
If you want to support the wider industry, please make a donation to https://supportact.org.au or buy our tour manager's fundraiser t-shirt "RIP LIVE MUSIC 2020" https://imprintmerch.com.au/pages/backstage-darling
It's taken a disease to remind us that we are all human and that we have to work together. We encourage you to find that part of yourself that can stay cool under pressure while not ignoring or dismissing the gravity of the situation we are in. If you are in a position to stay home, please do so for the sake of minimising transmission in the community. But don't forget that "social distancing" does not mean social isolation. Reach out to your friends and family, so we can all be resilient as a community.
Cheers,
Alex, Otto & Tim