Sound Check presents Ryan Argast livestreaming from home at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1
Another month without the adrenaline rush of live shows, the satisfaction of dinner at a favorite restaurant or the joy of a movie with a popcorn tub as big as your head.
Yeah, we feel ya.
Here at Chicago Sound Check one of our favorite things to do is connecting Chicago-area musicians with fans. So starting Friday, May 1, we're bringing some of them straight to you.
On Friday, we'll be joined by Ryan Argast, frontman for the Plainfield pop-rock band Marina City, for an interview, some songs and some chats on Instagram Live at Instagram.com/chicagosoundcheck, sponsored by Mike's Hard Lemonade/White Claw.
Argast, the Plainfield native behind Marina City's spirited vocals, recently released his “Quarantine 2020” EP, a collection of songs he felt connected him to the situation we're all experiencing.
“In the first two weeks they wanted us to quarantine, I was like, 'Oh, you know, I would really like to get like a snapshot of what life is like in my house right now,'” he said. “So it's a live acoustic EP of me performing a couple songs off 'The Crush' and a new song that I wrote for Lyndsey (Argast's fiancee) called 'December 31 2020,' which is our wedding date.”
“Hopefully it's still our wedding date,” he added with a laugh.
Right before the quarantines were ordered, Marina City released the six-song “The Crush” EP, featuring power-packed pop songs such as “Money” and “Addicted.” Argast will tap into some of those songs for the performance.
“This is something that we're going to be talking to our kids and then our grandkids about,” Argast said. “This is literally history, right? It's gonna be in history books. And when we get out of it, I want to be like, 'Hey, I did this. I was able to make this. This is some cool stuff that I did during that time.'”
A member of the Chicago chapter of the Grammy board, Argast will be playing to raise donations for the Recording Academy MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. And to spread the word about the charity.
“I don't feel like enough artists truly know that even exists, but they'll help an artist who's having any kind of trouble,” he said. “They get stranded on the side of the road because their van broke down or they had a big accident onstage or offstage that is not allowing them to perform, MusiCares will get money to pay for your medical bills for you, your mechanical stuff, whatever the case is.”
Tap into the event at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1, on Instagram.com/chicagosoundcheck. And if you can't make the show, find the video later at chicagosoundcheck.com.