This shouldn’t catch anyone off guard, but everything is cancelled. Sadly, rock ’n’ roll is no exception. Among the casualties was Vancouver alt-rock band Limblifter’s show on March 27 at Lucky Bar (the show has been rebooked for September 12). In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of musicians have been forced into quarantine, and Limblifter drummer Eric Breitenbach is busy finding new ways to share his talent with fans.
When the pandemic presented itself overseas, Breitenbach says that the crisis was starting to feel serious, but his band chose to go ahead with their tour.
“We were on tour playing in Ontario, and gatherings of more than 500 were starting to be outlawed,” says Breitenbach. “Our shows were for more than 500, so that was a little sketchy. We played for sold-out audiences in Ottawa and Toronto.”
As the virus spread across BC, Breitenbach says that the band was forced to reconsider their plans.
“I guess Vancouver put a ban on shows over 500—it wasn’t really up to us to cancel,” says Breitenbach. “The city put a stop to all events.”
Breitenbach says it was at that point that he returned home to self-isolate in Vancouver.
“Obviously we would prefer to be on the road, but I think that right now it just doesn’t make sense,” he says. “If we all work together to contain this thing, hopefully it ends sooner rather than later. It’s better to be overly cautious than to try to continue on.”
Canadian musicians generally work on a slightly smaller scale than their American counterparts—Breitenbach says he expects some bands to take a major financial hit as a result of COVID-19.
“Playing live is where most artists make their money, so it’s just a huge loss for everyone,” says Breitenbach. “So many of my friends are musicians who are off the road right now. No one really knows what they’re going to do because it’s such an uncertain time. It’s not just musicians—everyone’s in the same boat, so we’re all in it together.”
It wasn’t just the Limblifter shows that got cancelled. Breitenbach had a tour booked playing with Alexandria Maillot that would have taken him to the UK, Germany, and the US. Despite these setbacks, Breitenbach says he still spends most of his time in the studio working with a number of bands.
“Nothing has really changed on the recording side of things,” says Breitenbach. “The main difference is that I’m doing most of it alone, and then trading files. I’m still busy drumming anyways.”
First appearing on Limlifter’s 2015 album Pacific Milk, Breitenbach has since officially joined the band as their full-time drummer.
“We’re working on a forthcoming record that doesn’t have a title yet,” says Breitenbach. “We’ve got a few songs, though. I can see it coming out soon. Now that playing live has come to a halt, we are totally focused on finishing the record.”
Breitenbach says he is currently working on seven records in the studio. In addition to Limblifter, Breitenbach is working on a solo album as well as five albums with Greg Valou on their project New Age Doom.
“I have a recording studio that’s about five minutes from my home in [Vancouver’s] Chinatown,” says Breitenbach. “I spend a lot of time there. I’ve been going full blast on a new album from New Age Doom. The first album came out last year, which was heavy on improv, but we’ve shifted the focus, incorporating more songwriting and microtonal guitars.”
Breitenbach says that he still hasn’t seen the first film he and Valou scored because the February premiere was cancelled.
“We just finished doing a film score for a period piece—it’s a feminist punk movie,” says Breitenbach. “One of the things that got cancelled because of the virus was the film premiere that we would have been performing at and seeing the film. It was for a project called Crazy8s in Vancouver. I think the premise is filmmakers have eight days to make a short film. We wrote the theme and scored it. It’s a good way for our music to get out there.”
Beyond playing with Limblifter and New Age Doom, Breitenbach is working to help develop the local scene with his webseries The Spot Sessions.
“It’s basically like a low-budget KEXP kind of thing I do from my studio,” says Breitenbach. “A lot of people are familiar with that format. It’s a free service for bands looking to produce live content. So many of the venues we played at were closing down, so The Spot Sessions started out of necessity. I just thought it was important to produce live content and document the arts and culture of our city, and with all that’s going on it feels even more important now.”