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 Seven Planets guitarist Leonard Hanks as he’s been spending this time sticking to a new routine.
What have you been doing to pass time during Quarantine?
Fortunately, I’ve been able to work from home since the middle of April so I’m still working full time and trying to keep my same schedule. When I’m not doing that, I’m usually chasing my 2-year-old around trying to keep her occupied. Since I’ve set up my home office I also set up a mini home studio so I’ve been taking some time to go through all the pieces of songs we’ve recorded and never got a chance to go back to and started pulling usable riffs and partial songs out of that and trying to organize it a little bit as well as playing some guitar and writing some new material. The other guys have been sending me some riffs also, so hopefully one good thing that will come out of this is it won’t take us as long to put a new album together.
Have you been listening to any music or have any playlists worth checking out?
I’m a little bit behind the times when it comes to Spotify, I always used Pandora in the past but started using Spotify recently. One way I’ve been able to stay focused on my job while working at home has been to put on some headphones and jam out to something, so I’ve listened to more music in the last 5 weeks than I have in forever. I kind of like to just listen to the made for you playlists that it puts together so I get a little bit of randomness to it. That being said I have put together a “Seven Planets Rona Lockdown” playlist that has a bunch of stuff that we like, sprinkled with a little Seven Planets here and there, and you can’t go wrong with The Small Stone “Rawk Music” playlist.
A lot of people have been spending this time cooking including making their own bread, what food have you been prepping during this time?
Ha-ha, Yea I’ve seen all kinds of people posting pics of their homemade bread, that kind of seemed to come out of nowhere. I wouldn’t know where to start. The most I’ve done is knocked out some bacon and eggs every now and then and a sandwich here and there. My wife loves to cook and she’s been killing it. I’m probably going to need a gym membership after this is over!
In terms of entertainment, what movies, TV shows, books, or games have been keeping you busy?
Anyone with a toddler will tell you there isn’t much time for entertainment but I have managed to watch the new season of Ozark on Netflix and it was fantastic. I also finally got a chance to watch The Revenant. I’ve read like a dozen books also. Read the first three Expanse books. That’s the first sci fi I’ve read in years and they are really good. I’m a little bit of a historical fiction nerd so I’ve read several Griff Hosker and Conn Igulden books. I’m not a big fan of modern war books, but I would highly recommend The Red Line, it’s a great read if you like that kind of thing. We’ve been trying to get outside as much as possible but so far the weather isn’t cooperating but hopefully that will change very soon.
What advice do you have for your fans in isolation during this time?
I would say try to get in a routine of some sort and try not to obsess on the news. This is the perfect time to get back into any hobbies you like or find a new interest. Be safe and take precautions if you have to go anywhere.
