Metal Inside(r) Home Quarantine is Metal Insider’s new column during this time of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked artists five questions on what’s been keeping them busy ranging from their favorite movies, food they’ve been eating, music they’ve been listening to and more. We caught up with Lightworker guitarist Grayson Hurd as he’s been spending this time watching a lot of TV.
What have you been doing to pass time during Quarantine?
A lot of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, renting movies…a lot of TV time. Aside from that, I’ve actually kept pretty busy during this quarantine. I’m still working from home during the week. There’s also been a lot going on for the album release so having time to focus on that has been great. I moved during this quarantine too – a little crazy, but it was eventful. Now that I have a dedicated room for a studio, I really dove into a lot of “upgrades” for music production and writing. Let’s just say Guitar Center probably loves me right now but my bank account is slightly less thrilled. It’s ok though, doing projects like that have been a lot of fun especially with the downtime.
Have you been listening to any music or have any playlists worth checking out?
Bilmuri – I have to give credit to our drummer, Ryan, for showing me Bilmuri. I had seen the name before but had never really listened to any of the music. I’ve been digging it a lot over the last month or so. It has a really cool blend of Rock with Pop/R&B vibes but in a way I haven’t really heard before.
Holding Absence – I didn’t know about this band until a couple months ago when my girlfriend had one of her playlists on. I’ve had their songs on shuffle a few times here and there and I’ve been digging it. “Gravity” was the song that caught my attention.
Counterparts – I’ve recently been revisiting their release from last year, “Nothing Left to Love” and it slams. The production on it sounds raw but precise and it hits hard.
Fit For A King – I won’t make the list longer than this but that new FFAK single is so good. Huge shout out to those guys – great job.
A lot of people have been spending this time cooking including making their own bread, what food have you been prepping during this time?
I actually spent a month trying one of those meal delivery services because shelter in place made me really lazy for a bit! I also can’t forget DoorDash. Yeah…that happened for a while. But now I’ve been making a lot of things from fresh ingredients: smoothies, baked salmon, grilled chicken, stir-fry, homemade pasta, you name it. I will say I feel a lot better now that I’m doing that.
In terms of entertainment, what movies, TV shows, books, or games have been keeping you busy?
I’ve watched so many movies recently. A lot of them have just been sitting in my list forever so I pretty much started cleaning that out. I can’t really pinpoint anything that stood out because they all kind of just started to blend together after a while. I did decide to just go ahead and buy an Xbox during this quarantine. My old Xbox died sometime last year so I had a bunch of games sitting around that I couldn’t play. I honestly don’t play a lot of video games – I’ll have little hardcore spurts here and there but I’m definitely not consistent. The new “Jedi: Fallen Order” game came with the console and that was really good – any fans of Star Wars and Assassin’s Creed should for sure check that out because it’s pretty much those two combined.
What advice do you have for your fans in isolation during this time?
Really think about what is a priority for you right now. I know some of us are still able to work right now and some aren’t, but regardless of your situation take time to take care of your health – for you and those you care about, mentally, physically, all of it. Honestly, a lot of other things can wait if it means you’re able to focus on your health. Outside of that, do something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe haven’t had the time to do before! If you have a lot of downtime, learn something new! Take on any little projects that interest you, scan the internet for tutorials and classes – even if it’s just YouTube videos. Learn to paint, learn to sing or play an instrument, take an online cooking class, and maybe look into DIY projects to do around the house. Get creative and inspired to utilize any downtime you have.
