Roadies worldwide transform into culinary artists in iso

Many industries were hit incredibly hard when countries across the planet started enforcing lockdown measures to help battle the spread of coronavirus. Among the worst hit was the live music industry.

In the middle of March, the Australian government placed a ban on outdoor public gatherings of over 500 people, and then banned indoor public gatherings of over 100 people two days later.

This effectively stopped the country’s live music scene dead in its tracks, with hundreds of gigs immediately cancelled and touring optimistically postponed until at least the later part of 2020.

The cancellation of live music events meant months of prospective work for road crews were suddenly taken away and their sources of income dried up.

However, as some of the most resilient people in music, roadies around the world are making the most of their forced isolation and downtime by cooking up a storm and sharing pictures of their creations.

The Instagram page “Roadies Who Cook” came to life as the public gathering bans took effect in March. The page, which describes itself as a place to see “road crew from around the world show off their culinary skills,” was set up as a hub for roadies to (safely) come together in a time when much had been taken away from them.

“It’s given our community a chance to share what we are doing in our down time,” said Ash Trickey, a Melbourne-based live sound engineer who lost months of work after the bans were announced.

“A lot of friends in the industry are great cooks and have cooked a lot of delicious looking meals.”

So far the page’s delicious-looking contributions include gnocchi made from scratch, twice-cooked dim-sims, brisket with mac and cheese, a mid-week chicken roast feast, and much more.

Roadies Who Cook has been a positive outlet during isolation for roadies everywhere, many of whom have been devastated financially.

“Covid-19 has completely turned my life upside down,” Trickey added. “I lost all my work. I had been booked for gigs up until Splendour in the Grass and all of that was gone.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to find temporary work in a cold storage warehouse, with a few shifts a week but a lot of my friends and colleagues haven’t been so lucky and are struggling with no income.”

Australian music industry charity Support Act is partnering with the Australian Road Crew Association to raise funds for workers behind the scenes in the music industry who have been affected by COVID-19. You can show your support by donating here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.