No Touring, No Deadlines, No Problem for Halifax’s Neon Dreams
HALIFAX – Drummer Adrian Morris and Neon Dreams vocalist Frank Kadillac both took the downtime during Covid-19 as an opportunity to reach new creative heights, develop more skills and foster a deeper connection with their fans.
The alt-pop duo was in the midst of their first U.S. tour, with plans to perform at the South By Southwest festival when Covid-19 hit. When they returned home to Canada, they embraced doing things themselves for the release of their new single and the shooting of the music video.
“Before, we were really hands-on with making our music videos and stuff like that, but as soon as we realized that we had to take full control of it all I think we adapted right away,” said Morris.
Instead of working with a video director on an idea or plot for a music video and helping him develop it, they brought their ideas to life from concept to reality and learned as they went.
“I think we’re going to come out, once things get back into a full normal touring schedule, with so many more skills than we had before,” he said.
Neon Dreams began performing in 2015 and released their first album in 2019. The pandemic inadvertently gave them the chance to slow down and focus on writing and creating the best music they could without the stress of touring, travelling, and meeting deadlines.
“This was the first time where we felt like we had like an open slate of all this time to really focus and get the best music product we possibly could,” he said, adding reinvigoration is reflected on their new album, The Happiness Of Tomorrow.
“We learned a lot about ourselves as musicians, a lot about ourselves as humans, because normally when you’re on the go non-stop, sometimes it’s hard to remember to do the things you love and enjoy,” Morris added.
Neon Dreams previously focused on their live shows, believing they were integral to the band, but the pandemic made them examine different ways to create content and release and promote their music online.
“We were doing [social media before] but not in the way that we’ve been doing it right now,” he explained. “We weren’t showing enough of who we are as people on social media and now it’s become a lot more personal for us.”
Neon Dreams won Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2020 Juno Awards and currently nominated for five 2021 East Coast Music Awards.
Morris credits the band’s growth and a stronger connection with fans through the sharing of content, such as behind-the-scenes clips and videos of live performances, on social media.
“We were able to break another country with a single and that that’s something that we’ve always wanted to do – we always thought it would be through touring, but it happened through the Internet,” he said.
The grassroots success in South Africa of their 2019 song, Life Without Fantasies, broke them out on an international stage.
“That was really cool to be able to actually follow it and watch it grow and see how it went from a few people sharing the song to having hundreds of messages a day,” Morris added.
Last November Morris and Kadillac embarked on a 10-date Atlantic Bubble concert tour, performing in cities from Moncton to Gander, and prepped for how their live shows would be different.
“Normally we get everybody to jump during a part, but everybody is sitting down so [we were thinking about] how are we going to do this differently,” he said. “We wanted to incorporate a lot more storytelling and banter in between songs and stuff to still create a concert experience for people going.”
Morris said he was touched by the reception from came out. They messaged both he and Kadillac afterward to share how they gave them the first sense of normalcy in a long time.
“I think that made it 100 percent worth it to try something different like [the tour] because people haven’t been out and people haven’t been experiencing live music,” he said. “There’s a totally different connection in person than digital and I think it brought a lot of people some hope and also a positive experience and somewhat social experience during all this.”
The duo is planning a South African tour, dependent on the country’s Covid-19 status in the upcoming months, which will be smaller than their Atlantic bubble tour, limited to 100 hundred people for each date.
“It’s going to be this small, intimate experience and I don’t know if that’s something that we’d ever get to do before wasn’t for the situation we’re in now,” he said. “It’s really exciting for me and Frank, to still be able to do shows in some way shape, or form and experience it with a whole new group of people.”
Like everyone in the music industry, Morris has no idea what’s ahead for live music. While he thinks things will get back to some sense of normalcy, it will take time and occur through a slow build-up rather than massive events right out the gate.
“Honestly, I think it will be a blessing for a lot of bands that are starting out, and a lot of bands that are just starting their touring career,” he said. “I think people are excited to just get back out there and doing things and I think there’ll be more people going to smaller events.”
Morris shared he and Kadillac have booked a cabin for a few days to write and put the finishing touches on a new single as a break from doing press for their album.
“We’re excited because I think we’re going to make something really cool that’s a combination of the last two records that we put out and the stuff that we worked on already. We’re feeling like this is some of our best work yet – it’s just in the really early stages.”
Morris believes there are a lot of things that may have been tougher to get through had he not been able to create music over the past year.
“I think for creators that’s what is getting them through right now, is creating, because it’s a very therapeutic thing.”