We are living in strange times. Two weeks ago, I was wandering around the country playing music, and now most of the world is on lockdown.

I’ll start off by saying I never expected something like this to happen in my lifetime. Maybe I am just so busy in my own head the majority of the time that I don’t take a minute to look around and see what’s happening in real time.

Since the lockdown from COVID-19, it’s obvious that a lot of artists have taken a blow, between their actual day to day lives and their wallets. Entire tours, festivals, art shows, CD releases, local benefits, all being cancelled due to the quarantine. This is how SO many people survive on the regular. I personally am a full-time visual artist and musician, that’s where I get ALL my money. I’ve been scraping by with the quarantine in effect at least because I’m not shamelessly spending money on booze and my favorite take-out like I normally would. I am currently living at my parents’ house when I’m not traveling the country in my van, which helps too. Thanks, Mom and Dad! However, many musicians are a lot worse off. I have seen friends posting live feeds on Facebook for over two weeks now. People are spanging the Internet to try and make ends meet. A friend of mine wasn’t even able to afford food.

In tough times there will always be some people that are a glimmer of hope in a dark, seemingly never-ending void. I spoke with some folks who are doing some ridiculously great things. Two weeks ago, was the birth of something quite possibly life changing for a lot of people in the music scene. Coping with Dystopia is an Internet music festival streamed through Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. In its first two weeks, the virtual concerts have raised more than $2,500 for worthy, hand-picked causes. There is a slew of people involved, everyone has a job to keep the gears greased, and everyone does it for free in order to raise money for radical small businesses and organizations who are hurting during this time of crisis.

I spoke with a trio of independent artists about the festival, which has been a silver lining in these trying times. John Warmb is involved with the fundraising for Coping with Dystopia, and coincidentally plays in a band under the moniker, Rent Strike. Fatt Tony is half of the California duo Bearknuckle Honey, along with his super-talented daughter, Dolly. Ian Archibald is in Buffalo-based Cardboard Homestead, which brought Coping with Dystopia to homebound viewers and played the first edition of the festival, which has been streaming live on Friday evenings this spring.

John Warmb // RENT STRIKE

Rebel Noise: First off, how are you? Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by COVID-19?
John Warmb: I’m alright. I’ve been ranting about the coming collapse of capitalism for a long time, and it's scary to watch it happening in real time, but these times also carry with them the promise of great change. Trying to hold onto that. But it is scary in a real immediate sense too, I’m staying with my parents now and my dad is nearing 70 and has asthma. If he gets the virus, he may not recover. My friend Shelby tested positive and is pulling through it but only after being extremely ill for the past 10 days. We're going to be moving towards a future where we will all know someone who died, failed businesses never to reopen, and in the worst case outcomes, vulnerable communities being totally wiped out.

Yeah. I’m scared.

RN: Could you tell me a little bit about how your personal plans have changed since the outbreak?
JW: I was in school in Pittsburgh, my classes were cancelled on March 10th and that was when I knew that some big changes were coming, I guess. I dinked around in Pittsburgh waiting to hear back about a job but eventually bugged out and decided to move back home to Michigan to be around my family and friends who I’ve built organizing networks with for the past five years. Now seems like the time to be around your people. I also had to cancel a tour, which, I think everyone in the music industry is feeling that pain right now, but it still sucks. That was a lot of work put into something that I had to let go of.

RN: What are you currently doing to stay creative and active in your art?
JW: Since I’m obviously not playing live shows, I’ve devoted much of my time to recording demos of a new record (with very timely subject matter. It's feeling pretty urgent right now) and finishing up some writing for it as well. Creatively, I’m also planning for a garden here which has been a nice outlet for some of that energy. And of course, Coping with Dystopia has been a big time sink for me, and a really great way to keep busy and feel as though I’m contributing in a positive way to the world.

RN: Do you think it’s possible to build a constant Internet audience for this kind of online festival?
JW: I think that yeah, there is the possibility of building a steady audience. There certainly are enough people who want to play, we have well over 100 applications in our email inbox. The hard part for me will be maintaining interest and enthusiasm about our fundraising, which has netted us over $2,000 for the first two weeks that we were able to donate to the Prison Policy Initiative and ISLA, respectively. I would love to see that momentum continue, but am aware of the dire financial situations that many of our listeners and viewers are in with the mass layoffs happening.

RN: There have been a lot of people around the world extremely excited about Coping with Dystopia because they never thought they would get a chance to see some of their favorite artists live. Do you think you all will continue Coping with Dystopia after the pandemic has died down?
JW: We've talked a little about future plans! Nothing solid yet, but I’m thinking we'll have at least 4 months without any live shows. So, there's certainly room for us to operate until then. After, who knows? we're always looking for fresh perspectives and ideas and contributions, so if anyone reading has any thoughts, let us know!

Fatt Tony // BEARKNUCKLE HONEY

Rebel Noise: First off, how are you? Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by COVID-19?
Fatt Tony: I’m doing good. I deliver food to grocery stores so my work has increased a bit but I know A LOT of people whose jobs have shut down because of COVID-19 so it’s been kinda tense.

RN: Could you tell me a little bit about how your personal plans have changed since the outbreak?
FT: For now we’ve cancelled all our shows for the foreseeable future and we’ve basically stopped going anywhere we didn’t need to go and just trying to be mindful about washing our hands.

RN: What are you currently doing to stay creative and active in your art?
FT: To be honest we’ve been playing lots of video games and drawing a bunch. Dolly found out she’s really good at drawing Pokémon so she’s been drawing these really rad folk punk Pokémon trainer pictures. Other then that, just practicing our instruments and TRYING to write new music.

RN: Do you think it’s possible to build a constant Internet audience for this kind of online festival?
FT: Oh absolutely!! I think the coolest thing about Coping was that it was kinda like hanging out with the homies at a show but I’m in my pajamas with my shoes off and it’s cool to see who’s watching with you and stuffs. I’m sure other people felt that way too.

RN: There have been a lot of people around the world extremely excited about Coping with Dystopia because they never thought they would get a chance to see some of their favorite artists live. Do you think you all will continue Coping with Dystopia after the pandemic has died down?
FT: I for sure think they will, it seems like Coping with Dystopia was a total success not only in bringing a lot of people together but also in raising money for a great cause! I think all the people who put together Coping with Dystopia deserve a lot of praise for the amazing thing they were able to pull off

Ian Archibald // Cardboard Homestead

Rebel Noise: First off, how are you? Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by COVID-19?
Ian Archibald: I am doing well, Boredom has set in but that’s all I can complain about. I do know one person that has been infected but their family is expected to recover.

RN: Could you tell me a little bit about how your personal plans have changed since the
outbreak? IA: I’m super upset about Folk Shit Up. We were really excited to play it and see so many friends we don’t regularly see.

RN: What are you currently doing to stay creative and active in your art?
IA: Striving to play guitar just a little bit everyday really helps. Even if it’s just one cover a day. Sometimes it helps the juices flow.

RN: Do you think it’s possible to build a constant Internet audience for this kind of online festival?
IA: I do believe it’s possible and I believe we are currently succeeding in doing so. We aren’t anywhere near done yet and people are excited. Hell, we are excited.

RN: There have been a lot of people around the world extremely excited about Coping with Dystopia because they never thought they would get a chance to see some of their favorite artists live. Do you think you all will continue Coping with Dystopia after the pandemic has died down?
IA: I along with many others were very upset about not having Folk Shit Up. My band was ecstatic about playing and seeing some of our favorite bands and best of friends. I knew I wasn’t alone so I initially hit up, I believe, 13 people. Asked if they would even do something like this and as soon as I got John Warmb and April Hartman in a group chat together things just kinda started coming together. At first it was only the one and we felt we had to continue after CWD1. We will be going live every Friday until this is over. Maybe longer.

We have an amazing team of people from all over the country. We have April Hartman, Danielle Kolker, John Warmb, Frank Leelost, Matt Pless, Rose Ben-Porath, Marty Morgan, Brian Walker, Andrew Hambone, Chris Doroba, Jessie Zeltins.

Honestly, we are going week to week right now. I feel if people will continue to rally for good causes we will continue bringing them a celebration for their kindness.