Pandemic Dispatches from Chris of Dividing The Element

It's been a minute, but Dividing The Element, the Zimbabwean Death Metal Occultist Elite Gang of Amorphous Bags of Mostly Water Legion, dropped a record. 

Check it out on BANDCAMP while you're finding out about how they're dealing with the Pandemic like the rest of us.

1. How are things going where you are? The laws and such.

In terms of the laws enforced for the pandemic, based on what I've seen on the news, I would say it's not much different here to the rest of the world. 

We are in lockdown indefinitely, face masks are mandatory, schools are closed and as far as I'm aware the essential service hours of business are from 8 am to 4:30 pm. 

2. How long have you been sheltering in place at this time?

This would be week 7... I think. 

3. What has been cancelled on you that you were looking forward to?

I would say one of the hardest knocks was not being able to play in Ghanzi, Botswana. We were scheduled to play in the 11th Anniversary of Overthrust's Winter Metal Mania Festival on the 30th of May. 

This is the second time we've lost out on that opportunity. 

We worked hard to get our ducks in a row to ensure we were able to do it, so it actually stings more this time. 

4. How have you been passing the time indoors?

I have been doing an online course with Harvard on web development but I've also been doing alot of reading, mostly books on psychology and philosophy. 

5. Loads of artists have been talking about how they're being creative. When the lockdown is over are ya gonna be ready to hit up the studio?

Well, everything we've released so far has been self produced, and in this digital age a lot of things have been made possible so we don't really need to wait for the lockdown to be over. 

We actually released a single last week on the 15th. I had to wear many hats for that though; I was the primary composer, producer, mix engineer and did the mastering, so leading up to the release was quite a challenge for me. 

I actually have the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in sound engineering, but that qualification was obtained about 16 years ago and I had not undertaken any projects to this same extent before, so it was an opportunity to see what remnant knowledge I had from my studies. 

Whatever I didn't know, I had to learn and whatever I couldn't remember, I had to re-learn. 

All things considered though, I'm grateful for the experience because it was an opportunity to get better equipped in my skill set. 

6. What crazy projects have you been considering since you've been in quarantine?

Gardening keeps popping up in the back of my mind. 

I've been thinking quite a bit about how we could sustain ourselves if the model of capitalism we had pre-Covid-19 can't be restored. I have a horrible feeling this is just the beginning.