Coronavirus

An open letter from us, Hey Imagine, to you, our friends, fans, listeners, or anyone else who happens to come across this post.

Dear friends,

Two nights ago, we played our first show as Hey Imagine, and at the show, we said, somewhat lightheartedly, that it'd probably be the last one for the year. We knew that there was some seriousness to saying that, but we didn't realise quite how poignant or timely that would be.

Firstly, we want to make it clear that how Coronavirus affects our live performances is of relative insignificance when it comes to the overarching issues at play here, and we know that. Please look after yourselves, look after your loved ones, and be sensible with the information that you consume. Your health matters more to us than our gigs. That being said, we do just want to update you on what's going on and how things are going to play out over the next few months, so here goes.

According to President Cyril Ramaphosa's press statement on March 15th, 2020, all gatherings of 100 people or more are prohibited.

As a band who loves playing live shows, and whose primary form of revenue is live shows, this is, as they say in French, a bit of a fuckup. We've cancelled all of our shows for the foreseeable future, as we can't conscientiously encourage you, in any way, to enter an environment where you may be at risk of contracting COVID-19. But what does that mean? Is this the end? Are we going to drop off the face of the planet?

NO. We've got plans, and you're probably going to see more of us now than ever.

Yeah, that's confusing, we know. We're aware that that's a pretty broad statement, and kind of confusing, but we'll tell you what we can, and you'll just have to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to keep up to date ;). Over the last few months, we've been planning to ramp up our digital content strategy in any case, so these plans have been in the works for a while. So what do we have planned? Well, we can't tell you all of it, but here's a rough idea.

Firstly, as already mentioned, we're going to be releasing a series of singles each month from March ('Shelf' has already been released, go give it a spin and a share if you haven't already) until August. We're super stoked for you to hear them, please support us by streaming them and sharing them as much as you can.

Secondly, (and this is the exciting stuff), we've got a huge amount of content in the pipeline. We're going to be working throughout this time to produce a variety of content about us and all of the nonsense we get up to. It's going to be wholesome, it's going to be fun, and it's going to be chaotic - all the things that you love about Hey Imagine.

Finally, we're going to be working on a number of methods to let you get as close to a live experience as possible. We don't know how that's going to go yet, but we'll keep you up to date with everything as and when we find out ourselves.

This is a confusing and tumultuous time, for all of us. This is going to be one of the hardest times of our lives, and the only way that we're going to get through it is by supporting one another. Stay safe, stay strong, and don't forget to wash your hands.

We love you all,

xxxxxxx

Hey Imagine