WHEN the COVID-19 pandemic hit our shores in March 2020, events and live music were among the first industries to be shutdown.

For Adrian Calvano and his bandmates in The Settlement, the shutdown meant cancelled shows, no rehearsals, and a complete loss of income.

“Well, you take it all for granted until it’s taken all away,” he said.

“You know then, you’ve got no gigging, no rehearsal, no studio … the drummer and the bass player were living in Melbourne at the time that the ring of steel was up, so we weren’t able to get together with them.

“There was a complete loss of income for the band and there was no support for that either, so basically having to restart again, building up your network again.

“All of us use it as our creative outlet … which brings a balance to your life, when that’s taken away you become unbalanced, so that was a hard period.”

The Settlement has been a staple in the local music scene for the last 20 years, consistently playing the Hamilton circuit, as well as playing gigs around south-west Victoria and along the eastern seaboard.

“Probably 10-15 years ago now, we went ‘right it’s time to focus on being an original band’,” he said.

“Chasing radio play and those kinds of things, we just played the festival circuit, mainly the folk, roots category up the east coast of Australia and down and we’ve just been doing that ever since.”

During the height of the pandemic, band members were restricted to using Zoom to rehearse and perform.

Coming into the summer season, The Settlement had a ripper lead up planned for their performances at the Port Fairy Folk Festival last month, but a number of COVID-19 outbreaks in January and February saw most of the gigs cancelled.

“Port Fairy was our first gig back,” Mr Calvano said.

“We were a bit nervous, it was a big stage, a lot of people and a lot of people that were penned up for two years were there to see live music - it was awesome, probably the best festival we’ve played.

“Port Fairy has always been part of our musical home, our songs are probably embedded into the soundtrack of that town, and the pub scene of that town.”

Coming up, The Settlement will perform at Hooked On Portland Festival from April 23-24, and Grampians Grape Escape in Halls Gap on Sunday, May 1.