RELEVANCY DURING COIVD, AN ENCRYPTED WEBSITE, AND THE RESURGENCE OF GUITAR MUSIC — HOW CLEOPATRICK MANAGED TO ROCK DURING A PANDEMIC!

The genre of rock has drastically changed over the years. Rock music has lost the mystic of waiting at a record store to listen to the latest song released. Music is so easily accessible today due to social media. One band, in particular, Cleopatrick, has set out to change that. Luck Gruntz, 23, and Ian Fraiser, 23, started a two-piece rock band in 2014 in Coburg, Ontario. What started off as a lighthearted way to let loose, turned into a means to change the genre of rock. Their motto, “Fuck Whatever You Think Rock Is” has paved the way for their movement to change the genre. The duo formed a collective movement called “New Rock Mafia'' (NRM) with two other bands who had similar mindsets to revolutionize rock by writing songs young people can relate to and not give in to the music industry's clichés. The bands draw influence from hip hop and pop music which is much more in touch with youth culture. Grunt says, “We are hoping to build up a scene outside of what is in commercial rock music right now, kind of like this underground thing where we can lift up other bands we really like and promote interesting songwriting and push guitar music towards a new era.” New Rock Mafia takes an old-school approach by creating an encrypted pirated website that sends out codes through their exclusive email to link new songs and music videos that are only available for a short amount of time. 

NRM aims to give fans an experience outside of what they would get from a traditional band. There are train tracks every successful band in the music industry follows and NRW aims to break that. “Do something people want to talk about,” Gruntz states. This has also allowed the band to release new music throughout the pandemic. With Cleopatrick’s two new songs, '“Good Grief” and “The Drake”, they have allowed fans to stay engaged through online experiences on their website. The band states that although the pandemic has caused a setback in touring, it has allowed them to work on new music and interactive experiences to keep fans engaged. 

The duo underlined that the music industry will take a shift towards electronic music due to how easily accessible it is in the comfort of your home. Fraiser states, “It is a lot easier to make something good in your apartment with a laptop than it is with real instruments.” The band states they will start to see some blurred lines between electronic and guitar music, which will bring some new refreshing ideas to the genre. 

Cleopatrick is currently working on a new album that will be released in late April. The album is split 50/50 with half of their songs written before the pandemic while on tour and the other half in their basement. The band also has some festival setups, one of which is Aftershock, in Sacramento, California with headliner Metallica. The band says they can only be hopeful that the festivals will be booked because right now everything is still up in the air. They are optimistic but will not be disappointed if the shows fall through.  The band's foundation is making accommodations to change anything that is thrown their way. Although artists are on a setback during the pandemic, Cleopatrick has used this to their advantage and will not strain them away from changing the genre of guitar music.