The live music scene is one of the biggest casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young musicians can no longer perform together, let alone perform at gigs for audiences.
Young Blackheath guitarist Oscar Dalkin is currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music after being taught by many inspiring Blue Mountains musicians - from Marion Walker before he even started school; Nigel Foote during his earlier school years; and then Kim Poole and Eliot Boyd Reynolds while he was at Korowal High School.
Since 2019, Dalkin has been performing in the band Before the King, which was due to launch its fourth single, Mary Lou, the same week that Greater Sydney went into lockdown. Months of work writing, rehearsing, recording, creating a brilliant video (which can be viewed on Before the King's YouTube channel) and developing a marketing campaign, all fell in a disappointing heap at once.
The band was particularly disappointed they had to cancel a Blue Mountains tour for the single launch, which was planned to support the anti-slavery group The Freedom Hub.
Despite these setbacks, the song and its video have been getting rave reviews on social media, radio and all streaming platforms, like Spotify. The band members were thrilled when Mary Lou reached # 10 on the Triple J Unearthed Rock Chart a couple of weeks after its release.
The band's singer, Dean Smusko, told music masthead, Blunt: "Mary Lou is an unusually upbeat take on the perils of traversing a tricky relationship. The title character is painted as prickly and volatile, and the music tries to woo her with jangling guitars, and crooning '60s vocals".
"Lockdown's been pretty rough," said Dalkin. "We've had so so so many plans which we've had to cancel or postpone, which has been so demoralising, and I know it's been the same for many others. But besides that I miss my long-haired band mates. It's a struggle to stay motivated and productive during lockdown, especially when the end date is so uncertain, but I like to come up with creative texts to harass the band boys with, and to sing in the shower until it runs cold. The best way to support musicians during lockdown is to send emergency rations round to their houses, as they often forget to eat."
The other way to support them is to listen to their music on Spotify, watch their videos, leave reviews and share, share, share.
