As the need for social distancing sweeps across the U.S. amid an intensifying fight against the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, musicians of all stripes are suffering all kinds of disruptions. Sweet Lizzy Project — a rock band from Havana, Cuba, whose members moved together to Nashville — has lost the first leg of the tour behind their new album Technicolor, which was to take them to SXSW. With the duration of the pandemic anything but certain, there's no telling if the group will be able to keep their dates in late April and May.
In order to offset lost revenue and keep fans engaged, the band has followed the example of artists across the country. They launched a series of livestreams on YouTube dubbed "Sweet Quarantine Sessions," the fourth of which was streamed on Wednesday.
Now that they've had a few days in self-quarantine, the band has had time to film a quirky introduction for the series, in which they cruise empty streets in their colorfully decorated Ford Taurus and pile out at their home with armloads of quarantine supplies — strong sitcom-meets-crime-drama vibes. The quintet has converted a living room and an adjoining dining room into a rehearsal space and makeshift production studio, complete with lights.
The loose format of the stream offered an inside look at Sweet Lizzy Project's rehearsal process. Frontwoman and band namesake Lisset Díaz explained that, despite the band's inability to tour, doing the streams has opened up a new creative avenue for them. “Remember,” she said with a grin,” We have no idea what we are doing.” Meanwhile, their engineer, visible at stage left, served as an emcee, while those watching from their own quarantined homes would type messages of encouragement and song requests in Spanish or English into the sidebar. It was an informal combination of an AOL chatroom and a night of hanging out at your buddies’ practice space while they jam.
The hour-long stream was light on music, with lots of breaks for banter and explanations of songs. In addition to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” the group played cuts from Technicolor, including the title track. They also did a version of “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” that played up the cues they take from The Wall-era Pink Floyd and included an impressive instrumental break with more noodling than a Never Ending Pasta Bowl.
All told, the streams don't seem like they'll ultimately replace live shows, but fans seemed glad just to be able to support the group during this weird time. You can watch the archive of the stream right here, send a donation via PayPal here, and buy their new album and other merch via their website. The band is set to be back online Thursday at 9 p.m.
