Expect anything but ‘Silence’ when this local band kicks off the Car Park Concerts series
There’s an old adage in live entertainment, that many people may have thought wouldn’t be true this year — “the show must go on.” Covid-19 may have put a damper on what promised to be a wild summer of music, but come next Wednesday, those five words will ring true again.
Live music is coming back.
The Car Park Concerts series, presented by Riverside Concerts, kicks off on Wednesday, July 15 in the parking lot of 125 Live (125 Elton Hills Dr NW). These shows, of course, will look and feel different than what live music aficionados are used to: attendees with tickets will drive to the show, tune their car radios to a predetermined station, and listen to the music entirely through their stereo.
(Ticket reservations go live a week before the show, so make sure you don’t miss out on your spot — details on how to reserve tickets are at the bottom of the article.)
The first band to try out the socially distant show format will be Winona’s Karate Chop, Silence, a rollicking indie-jazz four-piece with satisfying grooves and impressive soloing talent. The band has become a crowd favorite in their hometown in their four years of existence, while recently branching out to play shows in Minneapolis and Rochester as well. (You may recognize them from the ROCKchester and Rochester Thaw music festivals held last summer.)
We were able to chat with Mason Smith, singer and guitarist for Karate Chop, Silence, about the challenges of making music in a pandemic, how the band plans to make the most of the summer, and what they’ve learned playing in the Island City and the Med City.
What were your plans for summer 2020 pre-quarantine? How have things changed?
Our plans for summer 2020 were to play a lot of shows with a lot of great folks, and to release our sophomore album, Lightninging. How haven’t things changed, really? All of our shows got cancelled. Shows and fests that we hold near and dear were taken away. Shows like People Fest, Mid West Music Fest, and even our pal’s wedding, which were all set to be great times, were either (in MWMF’s case) changed to an online streaming format, cancelled, or postponed. I think the bottom line is that we miss people. Playing shows is what we love, not to mention our only source of income, save for miniscule checks from streaming services. It’s all about connecting people, and COVID has driven a pretty significant wedge in our ability to see people dance to our tunes.
What’s exciting about the new format, and playing shows in a new way? Will your show be any different?
With the format switching more to streams, I am personally most excited about being able to edit videos to keep things interesting. There’s also something special about playing in our own little jam space and broadcasting that to potentially thousands of people. It’s like a fun little glimpse into the “starving artist” setup. We just streamed from Dante’s house with our sound system, and there’s a very authentic feel being broadcasted from your own home.
This set will hopefully be more interactive, as there will be a tangible audience (albeit in parked cars). I’m looking very much forward to hearing honks after songs. Maybe we’ll do a little call and answer with car horns. I’m just excited to be able to connect with an audience again. It’s been too long.
What does it mean to be able to play to people in person again?
They say that you don’t really value something until it’s taken away. That’s not the case with an in-person audience. There has always been so much value in connecting with the people we’re playing for. Without the audience, it just feels like what most of us were doing before we started Karate Chop: making music in our house. The single most valuable thing that has come from all of this, for me personally, is seeing how our music makes people happy. When I first saw people at Ed’s [No Name Bar] in Winona singing along to our songs, before we even released our debut album, I thought, ‘it doesn’t get much better than this’ - and I was right. There is no better feeling in the world than making people dance and sing. It’s such a pure and wholesome form of human expression, and I’m just excited we can bring that to some people.
Why is it important to support artists and musicians through tough times like this?
It’s important to support us, because we’re already struggling. That’s kinda the M.O. for local cats. We don’t do it for the money. Hell, most of us make sandwiches for a living. The important thing is that we find enough time - and funding - to keep doing what we love. As a band, each member takes $0 home from every show. We put it into a bank account to fund things like a van for travelling gigs, albums, merch, you name it. Without art, the world as we know it would not function, so if you like something, support it any way you can!
As a Winona-based band, I'd imagine the music scenes of our two towns have quite a bit of overlap. What can each town's musicians and venue owners learn from each other?
As a Winona band, there is definitely a lot of overlap. We see artists like TOPO and My Grandma’s Cardigan, who start off in Winona and end up moving to Rochester. We also just end up making connections because the two scenes really are just one scene. In terms of learning, I think it’s an evolving scene. I really do believe that Southeast MN has something truly special happening, and that musicians should just keep on trying to prove that to people. We’ve got bands and artists like Sleeping Jesus, Tabby, and General B and the Wiz (to name far too few), most of which started in the area, or frequent the area, because they know its value. To venue owners, I would say it’s an opportunity. Local acts, of course, have good local standing, so from a monetary perspective, you’re going to want to book these cats, but it’s important for artists and venues to know, and never overestimate their current value. This is all just the ramblings of a small-town artist, but if you establish your worth early on, and prove it time and time again, only good things can come of it.
Reserve your free ticket to see Karate Chop, Silence by calling Riverside Concerts at (507) 328-2200. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.
