It’s been over three years since BlackMarket took to the stage for the very first time and its been over 18 months since we last stepped foot on one. On Tuesday the 17th August we will once again return to the stage in St. Albans with our old friends Assimilate.
You may not know that when we first started out our only bookings were that of the sound of summer competition with Jägermeister. In the very first stage we were put through to the next round by two judges who also happened to be local musicians in the popular band, Assimilate. Not only were they keen to push us through to the next round of the competition but they were keen to get us on the bill for their upcoming show. After that, the offers kept coming in.
We had gigs booked far and wide, from China town, all the way up to Nottingham. But that all came to a stop with the rest of the world last March. Lockdown had hit, we had to get back to the drawing board. Nowhere could put on live music and we couldn’t even get into a studio to finish recording our debut album. So, our only option was to record from home, one by one, sending in different takes of vocals, drum loops, new guitar riffs and much more.
Before lockdown we had already begun building our own home studio. So you could say we were relatively fortunate to have that to work with already. But of course that was just half the battle, it was still going to take us weeks to finalise vocals or guitar riffs. Before that we could get things done in a weekend purely because we were able to just sit with each other.
We pushed through the year and managed to complete our debut album. Sadly, we couldn’t throw the usual BlackMarket party to celebrate.
Hitting the stage again with Assimilate has brought back so many good memories for us. So with only a few days left before the show, we decided to catch up with them to find out how they’ve been getting on since our last gig together, nearly two years ago now. Like most bands they’ve also felt the pinch when it comes to laying down new tracks in the studio. Whereas they were hoping to get their next album recorded throughout 2020, they’ve had to push this back and are planning to release this to the world later this year. Although it was harder than they anticipated to get this down throughout the restrictions we’ve had, they are over the moon with how this has turned out and can’t wait to release it!
Assimilate have been lucky enough to have played a show already following the end of lockdown. We asked them how this compared to shows they played before March 2020. They told us that, although the first couple of songs of their set came with a slight feeling of uncertainty, it didn’t take long for the second nature of performing to start coming back to them. They felt crowds were definitely happy to be back, and although they weren’t expecting it due to pandemic only being a recent memory, they were graciously met with a packed-out room of fans.
As a singer I wanted to know what Jake, lead vocalist of Assimilate, had missed the most about playing shows over the last year and without a doubt I share the same feelings. He said what he missed the most was hearing a crowd sing back the lyrics to your songs. For BlackMarket, this was something we were only just getting used to before gigs were brought to a grinding halt. This isn’t something you can re create or even try to imagine after experiencing it. This can only be felt there and then in that live performance.
For me, I've missed this music business like I would miss my right hand. But we are back, and we won’t be going anywhere people! Get in touch now to get tickets for the 17th August with Assimilate, we want to hear you singing those tunes back to us
