Well, here we are, one year on. And whilst we’ve definitely not reached the finish line yet (is there even a finish line?), it certainly feels like we’re on the home stretch now. It helps that Spring is all around, which always feels like a time for starting afresh.

Just before the pandemic hit, our business was thriving, we were about to celebrate our 10th birthday, and we had just worked on our biggest event to-date; providing Glow-Show LED drummers for ‘We Day’ at SSE Wembley Arena to a crowd of 13,000 children (imagine!) Things were looking really promising, but talk of Covid-19 was inescapable, and we started to feel things shift very quickly.

In little over two days, all events were off. We were in crisis mode. We had no idea what the future of our business looked like, or indeed if there was a future at all. We spoke to The Sunday Times about what it felt like in that moment.

For the following days and weeks we were just firefighting – it certainly proved a good exercise in crisis management – although not one I care to repeat any time soon. Perhaps more importantly, it felt like everything suddenly came into sharp focus for us.

We had twins two years prior to the pandemic, which was almost like a dry run for the full lockdown experience. We were forced to stay home a lot during those first couple of years, and found ourselves mostly going through the motions, not ever having time to pause or reflect on anything other than what we should have for dinner. And now here we were forced to stop. We needed it. We now had an opportunity to look at the business with fresh eyes. Having come so close to losing it, we were reminded of why we set it up in the first place, and everything we loved about it. We really didn’t want to close the door on it.

James and I met as musicians, music has always been our passion. Sound Generation has always been about the music. We set out to build a bespoke, quality-driven business, working with only with the best musicians around. Plus, we’ve always been passionate about promoting independent musicians, and championing the arts. We think life is so much better for it.

We’re undoubtedly the lucky ones. We’ve stayed safe and healthy. The business has stayed afloat, and is still very much here to stay (unless the world has another surprise up it’s sleeve for us…)

Looking forward, we feel really optimistic about Sound Generation and its future. SG sometimes feels like our 4th child (although thank God, there’s no nappy changing involved with this one!), we want to see it grow old! Although, we’re hoping our kids take the reins at some point, whilst we kick back with Pina Coladas on a beach somewhere (anywhere would do, frankly…)

Thank you to everyone who has supported us this last year, we are so grateful. Our thoughts go out to all those that have lost loved ones, and those who have struggled with the constraints of lockdown.

Let’s hope things will get brighter now.

Please grab a hot drink (or a stiff one – no judgement here!) and take a moment to listen to a playlist we’ve put together of all the independent artists we’ve loved listening to this year. Click HERE to give your ears a serious treat.