Toronto’s ASD Band Looks To Raise Autism Awareness By Example

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From left, Ron Adea (keyboards), Rawan Tuffaha (vocals) and Jackson D. Begley (guitar) perform during a virtual media appearance on Tue, Oct. 6, 2020 at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.





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Everyone in the band is from the greater Toronto area — located in Canada’s Ontario Province, which has logged over 66,600 COVID-19 cases. So when ASD’s first concert was canceled earlier this year because of the pandemic, Simon says it was a really difficult time.

«Depending on where you are on the spectrum, you have a very hard time processing disappointment, he says. «When you promise something, it doesn’t make sense that it doesn’t happen.

Simon promised they’d find a way to record their music — and they did.

Taking lots of social distancing precautions, ASD Band went to Metalworks Studios on September 10 and finished three songs in one day.

«I honestly wasn’t even sure if you were going to get them all done, but I was actually surprised we managed to get them all done in time, Murray says. ‘

The band has been releasing the songs — all covers of classic pop songs — onto online streaming platforms like Spotify throughout October, Canada’s Autism Awareness Month. They’ve also dropped merchandise, designed by 21-year-old Adam Barkworth from the U.K., who is also on the spectrum.


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Meanwhile, they also invited people on the spectrum from around the world to film themselves listening and playing along to their cover of Sonny and Cher’s «I Got You Babe. The resulting video includes submissions from 11 countries, according to Simon.

The band hopes to finally have that concert when the pandemic is over, but in the meantime Murray wants people on the spectrum who want to pursue music to go for it.

«Because with most people on the spectrum, they usually have one thing that they’re really focused on, Murray says. «But if you want to focus on music, you’d be really good at it and I think it would be also just really good for your brain just to have something like that to do and focus on.