These are trying times for gigging musicians. As COVID-19 continues its relentless spread, tours are being cancelled and artists and promoters are having to adjust to a brutal new reality, in which the activities that livelihoods depend on are suddenly rendered taboo. When I meet the members of alternative rock band Gezan in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in early March, the Japanese media has been obsessively covering a cluster of coronavirus cases linked to some music venues in the band’s former hometown of Osaka.
“There’s this kind of beauty in the energy that’s generated by bringing people together, and we want to do something that makes it tangible,” says Mahito The People, Gezan’s elfin frontman. “But we just have to sit tight for now. If you try to do anything at the moment, you’ll be hung out to dry by the media.”
Asked about the band’s upcoming live shows in support of its rousing new album, “Klue,” he sighs. Yet he’s not about to admit defeat.