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Chickenfoot and the heavy stomp: a Supergroup unleashes air-guitar heaven

“…I said if we’re going to do this properly then we’re going to have to get a guitarist, let’s talk to Joe [Satriani]. As far as I’m concerned he’s the best guitarist in the world.”

Good ol’ fashioned RAWK.

What do Van Halen, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joe Satriani have in common? Chickenfoot, the stomp-laden new supergroup consisting of the Peppers’ backbone, latter-day Van Halen’s vocal swagger, and Joe Satriani’s seismic fretboard, answer that question with a better one – What do Van Halen, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joe Satriani have in combination? Thunder-pummeling drums, arena-sized vocal chords, and skull frying guitar is what.

In a world where music has become increasing nuanced and cross-pollinated, where journos need musicological degrees to properly dissect and appreciate the detailed musical genealogy involved in a given track, Chickenfoot take us back to refreshingly simpler times. Back to the days of molten riffs and sheer amplification and skull crushing guitar solos and triumphantly howled vocals. Take Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Van Halen, mix in a healthy dose of Chad Smith (Chili Peppers), and round off with otherworldly guitarist Joe Satriani, and things are bound to go monumental.

Super though they kinda inevitably are, the band dismiss being labeled as such. In fact, they started out just jamming together, and the chemistry took it from there. Recalls vocalist Sammy Hagar: “It started off with me, Michael and Chad jamming at my club – Cabo Wabo – in Mexico. Then people started asking us when we were going to tour, make a record etc. So I said if we’re going to do this properly then we’re going to have to get a guitarist, let’s talk to Joe [Satriani]. As far as I’m concerned he’s the best guitarist in the world.”

Satriani, the guy who single-handedly (or, rather, many-fingeredly) set the guitar world alight in the late 80′s with the notion of solo, instrumental Rock guitar, has always seemed a bit too big, too vast, to fit into a group, so it took a special bunch to measure up. Now that such a band exists, it’s super cool to hear Satchmo in the more organic environment of an actual Rock band. And this organic, live-entity feel is something he apparently very much enjoys, “We write and record all together. All of the recordings are done without click tracks or sequences. We’re basically making live recordings and overdubbing on top of that. Chickenfoot is an organic thing, and it’s so important we make that a hallmark of the recordings. That chemistry is always a part of what people hear. As I was writing for the second record, I wanted to take advantage of that as much as I could and write things that make me meld into the drums and bass and be part of a bigger unit rather than just play big guitar riffs and tell the guys to play a straight rhythm behind me. I never wanted to do that! I thought Sam [Hagar] and I should get together on our parts so sometimes we’re singing and playing the same thing.”

Peppers drummer Chad Smith has always been the rocking energy behind The Chili’s funk, and secretly prefers everything louder and rockier, he compares the energy between the bands; “It’s two completely different things. With the Chili Peppers, we write songs for a year and record for five months. With Chickenfoot, Joe [Satriani] sends demos around to people and Mike [Anthony] and I come up from L.A. and we just bang it out in a couple of weekends. It’s real quick and just a different, real spontaneous energy thing that happens with the Chickenfoot thing. The Chili Peppers are like a long marriage – and then Chickenfoot is kind of like my mistress.”

Hanging heavy.

Having been together for two years now, Satriani notes the increased tightness of the band, and the fact that they have become closer musically, making their new release, ‘III’, a more natural album than their debut; Hagar going as far as to call it “the best record I’ve ever made”. No light claim!

Bassist Michael Anthony sums up the energy that surrounded recording III, “…and Sammy was already singing and going ‘Yeah-yeah-yeah’ for the chorus I’ll be going ‘I don’t wanna go there’ and I was like going ‘oh my God, that was just blowing me away right there.’ It wasn’t long after that where Joe, he just started coming up with a bunch of ideas. Of course he put them down on rough demo form and sends them out to Chad, Sammy and myself and this is the kind of guy that Joe is, he’s all ‘well, you know, don’t be afraid to tell me that they all suck or you only like one or two of them or whatever.’ And I’m going, I’ve got like these six or seven songs, something like that. ‘First one, great, second one, oh yeah, that’s great, third one, oh that’s great’ (laughs).”

Even the band’s name, in a goofy way, underscores their pleasantly tongue-in-cheek, laid back attitude. While the term ‘chickenfoot’ is a derogatory reference to hippies and hippydom (which they, slyly, embrace), a rip-off of the peace sign, it started out as a joke, an unlikely name for a band of such magnitude, so they decided to keep it, proving that Heavy can be Light too! Oh, and talking about tongues and cheeks, Mr. Hagar explains the enigma behind naming their 2nd album, III. “We’re calling the album Chickenfoot III because it’s so good, the songs are so tight, it’s like we jumped right past having to make a second record. We’ve established a real trust, Joe and I, we truly bring out the best in one another, and that spreads to the whole band.”

Taking us back to the days when Rock was FUN, a head-banging soundtrack to long, crazy nights and howling at the moon, ‘III’ is a blast of fresh air. The rubber hits the tarmac squealing with opener Last Temptation, basically setting fire to the road. Satriani and Hagar own this album, and it’s obvious they’ve got a musical connection going. From good ol’ fashion stompers like Up Next (Satriani in ‘you can pick up your jaw from the floor now’, axe-slinging mode) and Big Foot (the latter already tearing it up on YouTube), to more searching ventures like Come Closer and Different Devil, Chickenfoot’s formula is an emotional, rather than musical one. And it works.

 

 

Lucky Number 13: Merging the Past and Present

“Maybe the thirteenth time will be a charm…”

The masters of metal, Megadeth, are back with their thirteenth studio album titled – wait for it – TH1RT3EN. Despite the MXit spelling of the album title (it’s still a hundred times better than Loutallica’s pathetically named – and wrist-gnawingly boring – Lulu), this new sonic offering crushes with the same sort of venom as Megadeth releases of the past – maybe it’s also because TH1RT3EN consists of older material, which Dave Mustaine had written eons ago.

Drummer Shawn Drover explains why the band decided to revisit the vault. “What happened with this was we were talking about ideas for the new record, and Dave [Mustaine] brought up the idea of “What do you think about us doing Millennium of the Blind and New World Order?”; they were recorded as demos years ago and were released on the Youthanasia remaster, just as a couple of bonus songs that were laying around in the vault somewhere. I really had to back for it because I think the songs kick ass and were never really recorded properly. I thought if we go in there and re-record the songs and make them sound killer, a lot of fans will dig it, because – obviously they’re fans of our songs – but they’re really good songs as well. And I thought it was a unique idea for us to do something like that, as it’s not something we’ve really done a whole lot, to be honest. Those songs kick ass; that’s the long and short of it; we’d never try re-record a couple of songs that suck, you know what I mean?”

Surprise! There’s no surprise!

Indisputably, the Megadeth army will agree the band have never written songs that suck, but what about the new material? Did the band decide to surprise their fan base by doing something completely left-field? “I don’t think so. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I think we recorded another batch of metal tunes, knowing what our fans and ourselves ultimately want to hear,” Drover says. “There’s a mix on the record: there’s fast tunes, there’s some slower tunes, there’s mid-tempo tunes. It’s a good collection of heavy metal songs. That’s really it. We never really go into studio with any preconceived notions of what we’re trying to do; we just know we got to write a bunch of new metal songs, or, in this case, a couple of old metal songs [which] were included on the record. I don’t think there’s anything on there really that is that musically different that fans are going to go, ‘Oh my God, why’d they record that kind of music?’ At the end of the day, they’re all metal songs.”

Unlucky 13

Mustaine has been very vocal about how the number 13 started appearing everywhere and the odd occurrences around the recording of the album, which included car problems, stuff disappearing and even an employee of his going to jail. Undoubtedly, this added to the mystique and allure of the album’s title being a traditionally unlucky number, but Drover says that nothing weird occurred until after he finished recording his drum parts, which were recorded first, prompting many to believe it could’ve all just been a publicity stunt instigated by Mustaine himself. “I had nothing but positive experiences with this record. It was an extremely fun record and seamless; just a real good time all along,” Drover says. “But after I left, Dave mentioned that 13 kept popping up in weird places and a couple things that happened in studio and whatever. But nothing bad happened to me. I’m also not superstitious at all.”

Om major label to independent?

Megadeth might be sticking to what they know in terms of how they write their tunes, but they could likely be changing their business approach in the future, because TH1RT3EN is the band’s final album on their current record label, Roadrunner Records. Mustaine has been quoted as saying that the band might be going the independent route, but Drover insists that the future is uncertain. “No, we haven’t sat down at all about that. We’re in the “now” right now. We’re focused on this record, and the subsequent world tour that we’re going to do way into 2012 – and God knows how long we’re gonna be on tour for this record – we usually go out for about a year-and-a-half for any record we do, so we haven’t really sat down and thought about anything beyond this tour that’s coming up.”

Drover also dives into the controversial issue of piracy, and how it will likely shape the band’s final decision. “Who knows what can happen two years from now? Maybe some kind of new format will come out, or they’ll resolve this whole crazy issue of definitive piracy, which is continuing to cripple the industry. The problem is that too many people are stealing the music that it has affected every facet of the industry: recording budget, touring budget, bands getting dropped because they’ve only sold x amounts of records…With that said, some bands are taking it upon themselves to release it on their own. Whether we’ll do that or not, I have no idea, to be honest with you.”

Megadeth in South Africa?

Albums aside, Drover is excited that the band will be on the road for a year-and-a-half, which will also see them headline the returning Gigantour in 2012 and a subsequent world tour. “For me, it’s always fun to go somewhere new. We’ve never been down to South Africa, have we?” Nope, Shawn, we don’t recall Megadeth ever having played in South Africa. “Right. Obviously it would be great to come down and see where you guys are at, but that’s something I have no control over. That’s part of the business aspect of it with promoters down in South Africa and that whole kind of thing – that’s something I’m not even involved in. Ultimately, I think that would be a great thing if we could go down there, but we’ll just have to see what happens. But that’s always the fun thing for me just to explore and go to different, new countries we haven’t been to before. Hopefully that’ll happen with you guys as well.”

Who knows, maybe the thirteenth time will be a charm for the local audiences to see the thrashers live and kicking. It’s about bloody time that Mustaine and his merry men get down here!

For more information on Megadeth

 

In Flames – Setting South Africa on Fire

“Expect riffs, sweat and beers so tasty…”

In Flames are dead. Finished. Buried. That’s what the critics said after founding member Jesper Strömblad departed in 2010 and the less-than-memorable impression that 2008’s A Sense of Purpose left on the metal world.

Rising from the ashes

However, the Swedish metallers didn’t quite tap out. Rather than throw in the towel or say to their fans, “Adios! It’s been real, yo!”, they locked themselves in the studio, channelled their inner Nigel Tufnel – turning up the dial to 11 – and dropped a scorcher of an album, titled Sounds of a Playground Fading (2011).

Despite not being able to call on Strömblad, who was a primary songwriter on their previous studio albums, guitarist Björn Gelotte stepped up to the plate and found an opportunity to prove his worth. “There’s a huge difference in how the songs were written this time. Jesper quit, so I wrote all the music. It was very strange not having him around, but at the same time we had the opportunity to do things a little bit differently as well. It was a good challenge for me,” Gelotte says.

Adding his two cents, vocalist Anders Fridén admits that he’s actually surprised the band is still around today. “This is number ten… album number ten! That we’ve even made it this far – that is amazing. Then, to deliver the album of our career, that is something else.” Maybe Fridén is being a bit presumptuous by proclaiming SOAPF as the album of their career, but it certainly proved to be the required injection to kick-start the Jester wheel. Realising that they needed to replace Strömblad, in order to continue delivering the dual harmonic guitar attack that they’re famed for, the group rang up an old friend, Niclas Engelin, who had been in and out of In Flames over the years, to take over the guitar duties left vacant by Strömblad – and, as they say, the rest is history.

Prepare for the inferno pit

South African music fans always whine that bands visit our shores long after their prime and we see more pensioners than titans. Also, proving that complaining is our national sport, we bitch that the bands who come out here just aren’t “metal” enough. Yet, when RAMfest announced that In Flames would be rocking the festival in 2012, there was a unanimous “f**k yeah!” shouted across the country (bar the 2 trolls who complained that “in flamez iznt rel metal!!! ur ghey!! brng anal blast n skullfuxxers!!!”), as local metal fans did a little dance of joy at the thought of an inferno pit to the sounds of Only For The Weak, Deliver Us or Cloud Connected.

Inevitably, fans want to hear all their favourite songs at a concert, and the forums have been raging with what sort of set list we can expect from the band. Well, no-one can really give you that answer, except the band (and they normally stay tight-lipped about setlists) – but, when discussing Sounds of a Playground Fading, Gelotte was quoted as saying, “I always like having dynamics in a song, on an album, in the setlist. That’s what keeps things interesting. Your ears and your mind will only take so much of the same thing before tuning it out completely.” Take from that what you will…

Open the Jester’s door to a world of metal

Touted as one of the pioneers of Gothenburg sound, which is now more commonly referred to as melodic death metal, In Flames have inspired a generation of musicians and music fans.

So, it goes without saying that the announcement of their impending arrival has single-handedly ensured that RAMfest 2012 is one of the hottest and most anticipated events of the forthcoming year – but if you still have any doubts about the potential awesomeness of In Flames at this event, just read what the band recently said about their live shows: “Expect riffs, sweat and beers so tasty that [you’ll be] ready to give up everything and move to Gothenburg – just to have another fix…”

Well, better brush up on your Swedish and get your passports ready over the next few months, boys and girls, because you might be moving to Sweden after RAMfest.

Tack för er uppmärksammhet!

For more information on In Flames

For more information on RAMfest

Legends: Carlo Mombelli – Prisoner of strange

“What is this article about? I’m not a legend.”

Carlo Mombelli is not well known. He knows this better than those who do know him: “What is this article about? I’m not a legend.” But those who do know his music go quiet when someone mentions his name; they raise an eyebrow; their senses zoom in. Most of them regard Mombelli and band The Prisoners of Strange one of SA’s most vital, arresting live performers. They consider him an important composer of New Music. Their eyes glaze over when you ask them what his last gig was like.

Mombelli is not a household name. Carlo Mombelli is not 7de Laan. This fits him like a glove. Performing his flexing, polymorphous compositions to a packed arena of 40 000 is not going to happen. He wouldn’t have it. All the noise. It would be 40 000 trespassers, brawling and howling and slipping on his gifted music; disturbing the flow of The Prisoners of Strange’s intensive flows.

Mind you, when I ask him about his favourite live experiences, he mentions The Prisoners of Strange’s 2010 performance at the acclaimed Moers Festival in Germany. The Prisoners were a hit – one review singling them and Bill Frisell out as the festival’s highlights (this from amongst many of the most acclaimed Experimental and Jazz artists in the world.) The band sold more than a hundred copies of their latest album Theory after their set.

I stared into my head

I was first captured by Mombelli’s music around a decade ago, listening to the live German recording Bats in the Belfry. The music was… Incredible.

The opening track consisted of around a minute of expanding silence. Then it became – the silence gently ruptured by the sonic slivers of performers settling around their instruments, discreetly readying themselves for performance. A scraping of shoe here; diagnostic puffs into a trombone or trumpet there; a tentative key; a muffled voice. By the time opener My Friends and I unfurled I was mesmerized.

The journey Bats in the Belfry takes you on is breathtaking – graceful, kinetic, cerebral, playful, intense. The musos so effortlessly tight it sounds as if they’ve been breathing the music for years. I was hooked. His subsequent albums immersed me ever deeper.

Abstractions

Mombelli has long been walking with music. At 8 he experienced the ballet Swan Lake and was drawn into its world, swiftly taking up classical piano. At 16 Mombelli’s instrument-of-choice shifted to electric bass, after hearing the virtuoso snaking of Jaco Pastorius’ Bass-redefining work with Weather Report. The future was aligning.

Being invited by guitar great Johnny Fourie to join his band was a watershed event in your life. You were also thrown into the deep end, so to speak, what with it being a 6 nights/week gig. Was this your public debut? What did you learn from it?

Mombelli: “My public debut was doing a cabaret show singing Michael Jackson tunes in my Dad’s restaurant at the age of 11, six nights a week. The gig with Johnny was my university of music.”

Major musical influences on your composition?

“ECM artists like Eberhard Weber, Bill Frisell, Paul Motion and Egberto Gismonti.”

What contemporary artists excite you?

“Paul Motian at the age of 80, Arvo Part, Avisha Cohen and Radiohead.”

Theory

Following a residency teaching music in Germany, where he recorded several albums with then-band Abstractions, Mombelli returned in the late Nineties. The Prisoners of Strange, whose seed was planted in Germany in 1996, became a shifting collective of musicians manifesting the right shapes and densities to communicate his challenging compositions.

By 2002 The Prisoners had settled around the glowing core of Johnny Fourie (guitar), Siya Makuzeni (vocals and flugelhorn), Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Sidney Mnisi (sax) and Lloyd Martin (drums). Excepting occasional guests, the tragic passing of Fourie, and Martin’s recent replacement with Justin Badenhorst, the core remained.

The kinetic empathy (perhaps telepathy is more accurate), and sympathetic imagination of The Prisoners make for gigs that are simultaneously electrifying and sublime. And then there is The Bass. Elastic beyond belief, sinuous and robust, Mombelli’s bass-playing is a wonder unto itself. It blends into the unknown – drawing you into its worlds.

For more info on gigs and albums, climb into www.carlomombelli.com

 

 

Lark – Invocation Age

“The band is something like a “Vitamin B-complex – slow-release, high-energy…”

There is something undoubtedly elemental at work in the aural concoctions that flow from the band, LARK. For the better part of a decade they have siphoned from the ether sonic potions capable of rendering vast throngs by turn both mute and manic. And, after a hiatus necessitated by producer Paul Ressel’s decision to relocate to London, they’re dabbling again. Crafting new magick to unleash upon the status quo. Wrestling a rare beauty into being. You will hear it early in the Year of the Dragon. It is, at this moment in time, dubbed Gong is Struck.

Inge Beckmann, vocalist, songwriter and enchantress, says of the title, “it was the final instruction in a ritual I was reading and it felt really powerful.” Simon Ratcliffe, long-time bassist and sound engineer for the group, adds that it’s apt insofar as they have come to consider this recording a sort of ultimatum, ‘the final push’ toward creating the necessary wave of momentum that will carry them to the next level. LARK’s trajectory has been, by Inge’s estimation, ‘weird.’ They’ve been met with critical acclaim every step of the way, their début album receiving one of the most prestigious awards on offer in our fair country. Time and again the press heralded the band as the most striking gem on the circuit and any punter worth their salt knows that to be attendant in the crowd at a LARK gig is to witness a seismic event. Yet the necessary critical mass that ought to propel the group to the interstellar heights they certainly deserve has been elusive. To the point that they kinda called it quits a few years ago.

It took RAMfest begging the group to perform at their annual hoe-down back in 2009 to get them firing all cylinders again and, since then, we’ve seen a slow but certain reconstitution happening. Inge offers that the band is something like a “Vitamin B-complex – slow-release, high-energy sort of thing.” From the ambition of successfully staging their Dagger and a Feather concert to the scorching set at Oppikoppi this year; supporting The Used on their recent tour, to showing the Isle of Wight a trick or two at Bestival, LARK are summoning energies untold and pouring it all into Gong is Struck and whatever mayhem follows upon its release. Inge and Paul began work on the record over a year ago, swapping demos and ideas through cyberspace, a process Inge says “was creatively invigorating, as we’d only send each other the very best material.” Sean Ou Tim, LARK’s drummer, has also enjoyed the process, saying that the remote collaboration “is allowing us to throw things at each other that perhaps wouldn’t arise if we were in the same room together.” Paul has also had the good fortune of being able to learn from and, he intimates, “to work with some of the best producers and mixers in the world. For this reason, the new LARK album is very focused and mature.” They road-tested a few new numbers on their recent tour and the crowd response was feral – a great omen for what’s to come.

Also in the works is a video for upcoming track Stole the Moon. Inge says it started out as a showcase for an upcoming production company. They asked Inge to star and planned to simply license relevant music, until Inge suggested perhaps making use of their new material. The director “was blown away”, she says, and agreed to it being re-purposed as a Lark music video. As with most things affiliated with the band, it’s an ambitious project replete with an attempt to send a camera into space.

So, before the world obliterates in late 2012, we will have the luxury of again being spellbound by one of the finest acts to emerge from our shores. Paul insists that upon release of Gong is Struck LARK will be “touring as much as possible.” See you in the pit, people.

01 Vampire by LARK

Image: Marcello Maffeis

BRAVE (original) – V – Onion Records by LARK

DEAR READER

“I write songs when I feel restless, frustrated or confused. It’s usually the negative emotions.”

Her voice gives you goosebumps, and she sings about the things you don’t talk about. You wouldn’t speak those thoughts – not to mere acquaintances. This intimacy is what makes Dear Reader so special. It is an essence that hasn’t been lost through the tumult of the last two years. If you were at the WITS Great Hall that night you will understand. Remember the soft lights and origami sounds she made?

If you were at the Church in the District, you’ll recall those heartbreakingly dear, homemade paper lanterns. The light shone through coloured cellophane taped over animal-shaped holes, changing our faces to blue and grey. Stringing her voice like tendrils of electric spider webs, she disarmed us.

Dear Reader is essentially Cherilyn MacNeil, the earnest human who wears her heart firmly pinned to her sleeve. Berlin has been her home for the last few years. Since she and co-founder Darryl Torr amicably parted ways, she has developed the sound we have come to expect from Dear Reader. It is still the same enchanting melodies, but now there’s something a little darker, perhaps lonelier, about it. Based in Neuköln, and desperately avoiding hitting dog turds and old ladies with her bicycle, Cheri loves her life in Germany. “When I left, it was an unsettling time for me. Everywhere seemed too small, too suffocating, and I needed a change. I also left because of my work”. The move has proved to be a smart one. It has given her exposure to a range of artists who are unique in their diversity, which has in turn allowed her to experiment more with her sound. “There’s just a lot more that I can do here, and it makes more sense for me to be here but I feel like it’s been too long since I’ve been home. I’m looking forward to playing in South Africa again.”

Her most recent album, Idealistic Animals, was recorded in Germany and Portland under the City Slang record label. It was produced by Brent Knopf, and mixed by John Askew, who made The Dodos’ Visitor record. “It’s denser than the last two albums, more lo-fi,” says MacNeil, “It’s a bit of a Trojan horse. The music is pretty poppy too, but more grown up. When you listen to the words they’re a lot darker than you’d expect. I guess they come as a surprise.” Idealistic Animals is rich with melodrama. It has a harder edge than previous albums but it still remains naive and sweet.

While in Portland, Cherilyn discovered and fell in love with shape-note singing. “It’s the oldest American musical tradition. It’s ancient church music, sung in four parts. People get together just to sing for singing’s sake. They sing really loud, through their noses. It’s like Marmite – you either love it or hate it. You can hear the shape-note singers in a few of the songs like Camel, Whale and Kite”.

MacNeil likens songwriting to gestation. “I write songs when I feel restless, frustrated or confused. It’s usually the negative emotions.” She says music is just a boat that she uses to carry words in. “Music has never really been what drives me to make music. When I feel sick from all the shit going on inside, I need to puke it out. I get a feeling. A few days before a song will come, I know that soon one will be born. Usually it emerges quite whole, with music and words together.”

This unique musician will be weaving her words in South Africa at the end of the year. Cherilyn will be touring with Durban-based Thomas Krane and will be accompanied by some “dear friends” on various instruments. “The SA shows are going to be the stripped down Dear Reader. Expect more naked, intimate versions of the songs,” she says. Expect to be entranced by her peculiar mix of fragility and catharsis. It has been a long time coming.

For more info on Dear Reader or to check out her SA tour dates in December & January go to: dearreadermusic.com

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The Black Hotels

“Good songs will get you respect, recognition and an audience …”

We’re not up to International Standards!

While some bands take 5 years to recover from their first big hangover, Johannesburg alternative rockers The Black Hotels have taken the last half-decade to establish themselves as a credible force in the South African music industry, touring the country up and down, having their singles chart on national radio stations, and even being compared to the likes of Arcade Fire, REM and Interpol.

Gaining the plaudits

Just recently, they opened up for US sloshers (oops, I meant to say rockers. Or did I?) Kings of Leon on their South African tour. In fact, some even said that the local band seemed to capture the imagination of the crowds more than the international headliners. “It’s a huge compliment,” frontman John Boyd says. “If that’s the way people feel, that’s a good thing. I sometimes feel that South African bands aren’t always up to the standard of international acts. I think we try make out we’re a lot better than what we actually are. As soon as you’re on a circuit with top international bands, you realise why they’re where they are, [because] they rehearse, they’re tight, their songs are together, their musicianship is together… so, if people are saying that, it’s a great compliment… [but] I say that about ourselves, as well, I often don’t think The Black Hotels are up to scratch internationally, or to compete internationally.”

Not quite up to scratch

At this moment, I’m left slightly flabbergasted by John’s brutal honesty. I mean, really, a South African musician who doesn’t have his head up his own ass and thinks his band is beyond cool, due to every Cape Town blogger professing their love for their “amazballs” music in a badly written post? This surprises me. John explains in a winded conversation how he has seen bands like The Beats and New Model Army perform live, and how they just have a powerful presence on stage, and he isn’t sure that many South African bands measure up to that. Undoubtedly, I decide to probe, and ask him why he thinks The Black Hotels aren’t at that level and what he thinks they need to do to reach it.

“I think we need to write better songs. We need to be a lot tighter when we perform. We need to play more,” John says. “When you’re in America or Europe, you have a massive circuit. You can be busy all the time as a band. You can be playing and playing and playing. Whereas in South Africa, our circuit is very small. You basically have Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town; you got a couple of things in between – but how many times are you going to play in Jo’burg a year? 15? 20? It’s too many times [for one city], I think. We don’t play enough. We’re not busy enough. If bands are really serious about their music [and want to make a living off of it] – especially if you’re an alternative band – you’ll need to make an effort to move to England or America, and find an agent, book shows, get on the road, playing and playing and building up a following.”

Local love

Whilst John is obviously looking for The Black Hotels to improve, the local folks already seem to be digging the band’s latest offering, Honey Badger, which has been described as an all-round great effort – even if it was a departure from the sound of their debut album, Films for the Next Century.

“It was a natural progression. Matthew [Fink] played a more prominent role on this album; as it was a lot more synth-driven. But we’re also influenced by many different kinds of music – anything from soul to reggae to punk to alternative ‘80s – so, the idea is that you don’t really want to make the same record over and over; you want to try new things. So, with that, we just thought let’s see what happens if we push the synthesiser a bit more and that’s what came out,” explains John.

In closing, I ask him what the key things are that he learnt from the Kings of Leon experience, as they prepare to write a new album in 2012. “Good songs will get you respect, recognition and an audience. The Black Hotels do this [perform and write], first and foremost, because we love playing music, but we always want to improve.”

For more info on The Black Hotels

THE RESCU – Everybody wants to live in Hollywood…

Chatting to the boys from The Rescu was certainly one of the more refreshing band interactions I’ve ever had. While I may have hidden a smile when vocalist, Mike dropped ‘BS’ into a sentence instead of actually cursing, it was quite cool to not be dowsed in cynical, achingly hip conflicted ranting for once.

Perhaps it’s because these guys are a little older or because they aren’t desperately trying to live up to their American and European rock star idols, which as a South African musician, let’s face it, is not gonna happen. Probably cos, you know, you’re not from there. In fact band members, Mike, Graham and Rusti actually echoed a lot of my own thoughts on the South African music scene: It’s great at looking the part and talking the talk but no one actually makes it as a rock star with a backdrop of the Hollywood Hills. There is a lack of spirit in the young adult generation in South Africa as a collective. The wild, artistic antics of the real rock stars from the past and the current guts and glass gutzpa across the water takes balls and pride. Instead of slagging off The Parlotones who actually sell records, The Rescu is chuffed for them and has big plans of their own.

Whereas most of South Africa has the weird concept that consuming American culture from the comfort of our couches is going to make us famous, The Rescu are not similarly disillusioned. They’re actually doing something about being a band instead of ripping V’s into their T-shirts and having wet-look photo shoots before they’ve pressed an album. You know who I’m talking about. The Rescu have done a spectacular amount of work since their beginnings in 2010 to include an album, decent national radio play, a video on MK and a growing audience that has no trouble filling up Grand West.

Gathered around a table at Marshall Music where we talked shop, literally as this is where they all work, Mike Vaughan – guitarist and vocalist – is perfectly at ease in his surroundings as he tells me how the band all came together; “It was when Rusti, our drummer, stepped in to help us out last minute on a gig that we realised that this thing could actually work. Something special happened. We kind of looked at each other after the show and decided maybe we shouldn’t pack it all in and to keep going.” This had never been the intention but they saw this as their chance and took it. Mike and Graham reminisce about how they used to see all the dudes coming into Marshall to jam in the studio that Rusti built and wondered when it would be their turn. Rusti tells how they took a Zeppelin-like turn into De Doorns to record, “We set up our gear, wrote songs and hung out.” Mike chimes in, “Lots of male bonding, running around naked and braaing boerewors. You know.”

An awkward silence ensues as the other two look at him shiftily and I notice a slight blush from the vocalist before we move on laughing. Dragging my eyes around all the pretty instruments in the room I ask them about at what level of gear heads they are. Their eyes glitter as a rock n roll junky’s should.

“I have the coolest gear by far,” jokes Mike trying to make a comeback from his earlier fall from grace. Then he and Graham get serious as they go on to explain, “We’ve been playing for a number of years so we pretty much have the best gear in the world.” I laugh and he tells me it really is the bee’s knees. Cute!

Graham mentions how they all are avid collectors of instruments whilst Mike gets wistful talking about the smell of a Les Paul. Says Graham, “Mike and I are always scouting for great deals and checking out who’s got what… I play a Gibson, Mike a Gibson too and a Fender and Rusti’s got DW Collectors Series drums and we’ve a got a few other nice things.” Vaughan agrees and tells us about vintage guitars and a rare peddle from the 80’s called the Akai Deep Impact which he waited for three and a half years to nab on EBay.

In one short year these dudes have already managed to put together a debut album which is self-titled and came out in August. For them, as Vaughan explains, it was an organic process, “We wanted to put out some good music because we didn’t wanna die without having put out a decent album.” Aw, I like that.

Graham goes on to explain how they took their time on the project so as to keep a neutral viewpoint and produced it themselves without some record label breathing down their necks. They got their act together all on their own steam which they say carries some weight around here. Especially since the festival season is upon us and I imagine it’s great to have an audience who are acquainted with whom the foggiest your band is. I think how ridiculous it is when bands whisper that they want to stay underground in South Africa. Um, you actually have to have an underground for that to happen and we aren’t quite there. Let’s hear it for being heard first maybe?

We come to the end of our chat when I ask them what South African bands they appreciate at the moment. Graham mentions the Duke Royals and Mike talks about Prime Circle, one of the most successful South African bands around and how he has a lot of respect for them and that it’s a privilege to share a stage with them. He’s right when he says we need to change our attitude around here. “Europeans love making rock stars out of their own bands but it doesn’t happen here,” he stresses.

While the commercial nature of what gets you groupies in South Africa does not exactly appeal to me, The Rescu really have a point. This city has got it all, the wild palms, the glamour and the talent, probably more than what we anticipate LA and CA to have anyway. Make a movie, make music just make something and play the hell out of it.

Follow The Rescu on Facebook

Watch the video to their single, I Did It For You

 

 

VAN COKE KARTEL – The new sun rise over belville rock city

“Politics and crime are the same thing. Finance the gun, politics the trigger.”

Francois Van Coke is dead – if that was the reality in 2007, Christians would say because God was angry, and some would draw a comparison to Kurt Cobain. Whatever belief, myth or legend anyone accepts, there would only be one truth: we would mourn the loss of an icon who spoke for a generation.

Forever and fondly, we’ll recall the history of Fokofpolisiekar, and to their own spite, certain critics will always note that Francois was the intoxicated teenager who couldn’t sing, and the one who never wrote the words.

2009 saw the formation of Van Coke Kartel, his own personal outlet. In the first song he didn’t sing, he screamed. The critics sat up, fans said hell yes, and everyone moshed. But the second album’s sales indicated not everyone cared as much. The third received mixed reviews, and ultimately caused confusion. And for the first time, the future seemed uncertain.

18:48, 2 Nov ‘11, VCK exclusive listening party, Sgt Pepper Long Street. The media is enjoying pizza courtesy of the VCK tab. The Vanfokoftasties family are on the balcony. Francois sits next to an open chair, I ask if I can join, very brotherly he nods, but I get a feeling he’s treating me with indifference. Eventually he breaks the ice: “Why did you tune me in Muse Magazine?”

“I am just a fan boy who had the power to remind where you come from. That’s all,” I answer wryly. He places his arm around me. We agree an interview is long overdue.

12:08, 3 Nov ‘11, my Editor calls. “Would you like to do a story about Van Coke?” I confirm time and date with Francois.

10:00, 4 Nov ‘11, Francois calls. “You’re up early, aren’t rock stars suppose to wake up at eleven?”

“Nee bra” he says matter of a fact, “everyday up at six. Can you come around to the Shack at four, I want to give you the new album.”

16:00, Shack, Francois sits at a wooden bench. I laugh, “finally, it’s happened, rock stars wait for me.” He smiles and hands me a disc. “Look after it. I worked hard on that.”

“How do you feel about the start of a new decade and that we’re undoubtedly going into something new?”

“I just hope I can release my one great work. Listen, I have to go, Wynand is getting married tomorrow, I spent the whole day at Canal Walk looking for shoes, and I want to spend time with my fiancé. Sorry bra.”

5 – 9 Nov, research and first listen of un-mastered album. My notes read: VCK seems like the doubtful brother in the Vanfokkingtaskies family; during interviews, journalists can never nail ‘it’, when compared to bassist Wynand, Francois always says the least; and unlike most rock stars, he cares what the media says. I scribble in capitals: the album is fucking good (if you’re reading Francois, I hope you’re smiling, knowing, honesty is what I always loved about VCK).

19:00, 9 Nov, Aandklas, post sound check, the interview starts. Tonight, is the start of an untitled mini-acoustic tour – a momentary occupation of François and guitarist Jedd Kessow, while Wynand is on honeymoon and drummer Jason Oosthuizen is busy. They buy the first round, conversation starts with Rugby.

“What did you think of the season?”

“I’ve been too busy, I even missed the last game.”

“We lost.”

He smiles, “I know.”

“Didn’t you once say that you wanted to join a team?”

“Yeah, I was serious for a while about being ‘n Scrum-back.” He looks down and wipes his forehead, “but that’s all blown over for me.” “How do you feel about the new album?”

“Proud. Yeah, proud…”

“So, how did you write the songs?” Music journalism’s most irritating question, has never seemed more applicable. “Generally the music comes first. We sit at my home around a computer, record and I’ll scribble lyrics. And we’ll go: that’s cool that’s kak. The way it comes about is pretty random.

Jedd chuckles, “just don’t leave your coffee cup lying around.” Francois smiles, “yeah I’ve become quite a neat freak, I don’t know how, all these years I’ve never been able to. Anyway, I ‘skeem’, this album has a theme. A kind of piss take on ‘drink this and take that’. But in the world, there is this general fear. A feeling that an end is coming. The world was supposed to end twice in the last three years. People fuck off, and people are scared.”

Francois doubts that the essence of VCK is the frustration in his lyrics, but agrees that VCK lives in the shadow of Fokof.

“Yeah… I don’t know. Having been in a band with a fucking phenomenal lyricist it was difficult writing lyrics. They’re always going to be compared. The first VCK albums were a struggle and a test.”

I add my twenty cents: “Whereas aKing is kinda academic, and Heuwels poppy, it leaves you with few options of subject matter. And it’s the frustration that makes it what it is. Even, on the second album, if I can refer to it, knowing, to you it’s a naughty swear word” he laughs, “you apologise in ‘Wat Het Van Ons Geword?’ and explain you have something to say, but can’t put your finger on it.”

He laughs, “fuck, you know better than me” and doesn’t elaborate further.

“Why do you feel you have to release a great album?”

“Ag, fuck dude. I don’t know. I speak for everyone, and Jedd would agree, you just want to make good songs, it satisfies you. I’m happy and proud of this album. Maybe I’ll feel more worthy now. I feel proud of Fokof. But VCK is my own. And unlike before, we didn’t make it for ourselves. We definitely thought about it and didn’t just kak it out.”

Jedd adds, “not anybody can write a great song. It just comes. When it does, you go fuck, we wrote a great song.”

Francois apologises that he’s a bit tired to fully engage me.

“Why is it that you never make yourself vulnerable in interviews?” I ask.

“That’s why a song is there, for me.”

“And do you feel heard by the people that matter? Those who have the power to change things?” I press on.

“No. I don’t think my opinion is important enough.”

“I think it is.”

“I think it’s more important for me to make the people around me think about shit. We once played a show in support of the DA, it was a cheese-fest. Afterwards, these budding young politicians came up, I don’t even know how the fuck you get into that shit.”

Jedd interjects with a quote from The Godfather: “Politics and crime are the same thing. Finance the gun, politics the trigger.”

“First and foremost, music is for us and our friends,” explains Francois. “I refuse to take responsibility. I am interested in making something and the way someone accepts it, is up to them.”

“And what will prove to you that this album is a great album?” says I.

“I don’t know. Maybe album sales. But ripping means those days are over.” he concludes solemnly and enigmatically. Perhaps momentarily forgetting, he makes music for friends and family.

Earlier this year. Somewhere remote, the sun is setting. Francois, and future fiancée Lauren are putting luggage down in their suite. Francois, tired and unable to conjure affectionate words, gets down on his knees.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

During the days that follow. Francois writes track 6, Tot Die Son Opkom.

“As die wereld om ons vergaan/En niemand verstaan my naam… Ek het net nou vir jou oor/Om die gedagtes uit te hou/Kom ons wag tot die son opkom…as dit klank is waarna jy soek/Dink ek jy’s op die regte plek.”

Whatever importance Francois assumes as symbolic, or anything, two things are certain: he defines himself in song, and never tries to be anyone but himself. In the new album he does both best. Wie’s Bang? might just be VCK’s finest moment, yet.

Read Johann’s album review

 

 

Campus of Performing Arts to open in Kwazulu-Natal

Campus of Performing Arts (COPA) was founded in 2001 and is a Contemporary Music College with campuses in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. Their courses are taught by trained facilitators who are also music industry specialists and professional musicians. This gives their students one of the most rounded and intensive practical programmes currently available anywhere in the world.

COPA offers full-time and part-time courses in; Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals and Sound Technology (including Music Production / Sound Engineering or DJ) and Music Business. Students are not only trained in their chosen instrument, but also in modules such as Music Business and Stage Craft to ensure that they are well prepared for a successful career in the music industry. Each campus boasts state-of-the-art facilities with a recording studio, a technology centre, a performance venue and practice facilities for use by its students.

All courses offered by this unique institution are accredited locally and articulate using RPL into qualifications offered internationally. They are registered locally by the Department of Education as an FET college and a Private HET institution. Full accreditation by the CATHSSeta also allows COPA to train previously disadvantaged individuals in learnership (as and when Government SETA Funding permits), with courses found on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Right now COPA is provisionally registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training until 31 December 2014 as a Private Higher Education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997. Registration Certificate No. 2011/HE07/004.

Internationally, COPA has signed a franchise agreement with the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in the UK, which means that COPA also offers a full complement of ACM courses which are internationally accredited using RPL at the FET level. This allows COPA learners to transfer to any of ACM’s international partners to continue or further their studies although conditions do apply for this. To supplement their Local Higher Education programmes COPA has an agreement with the University of Chichester in the UK through RLP for students to obtain recognition internationally.

In 2012 Campus of Performing Arts (Pty) Ltd will be opening a campus in Morningside, Kwazulu Natal.

This campus will offer NQF2 National Certificate: Music Industry Practice (Performance), NQF3 National Certificate: Music Industry Practice (Performance) and NQF4 Further Education and Training Certificate: Music Industry: Sound Technology (Production) Module 1 of 2.

Further courses will be added as the need arises.

For more information or to book an interview contact them on 0860 COPA SA or visit their website (www.copasa.co.za)

 

 

 

 

Cover Feature: Kings Of Leon

The Kings of Leon presented by Nokia, 5FM and SABC3

South African music fans don’t like tour cancellations or postponements. Postpone once, and we might forgive you. Postpone twice, and you might as well just load your music onto The Pirate Bay, because we won’t be buying your albums anymore (just ask Limp Bizkit). We won’t even talk about cancellations, because that is just unforgivable and you’ll be shunned worse than a ginger stepchild.

The dramallama

In January of this year, drummer Nathan Followill confirmed on his Twitter account that Kings of Leon were postponing their South African tour, originally scheduled for March, in order to allow him time to recover from surgery for a torn right labrum and bicep. Fans weren’t happy, but all was dandy when new tour dates were announced for October.

However, in August, the interwebs went nuts, after news broke that they were postponing their US tour, due to a bit of a public meltdown by frontman Caleb Followill. The rumour mill went into overdrive and local fans began to panic that KOL might be postponing their South African dates for the second time. In fact the rumours were so rife that organiser Big Concerts were forced to come out and declare: “Please note that the Kings of Leon South African dates are not affected by the US tour postponement! The SA tour is still scheduled for the end of October!”

Big Concerts’ reassurance must’ve eased fans’ unbearable nerves – but now, as the tour draws nearer, the blood pressure inevitably rises again, as anxiety has been converted into excitement, while South Africa eagerly anticipates what many have referred to as one of the last few, true rock ‘n’ roll bands of today.

Origins

Formed in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in 1999, the band, named after their grandfather Leon from Talihina, Oklahoma, consists of brothers Caleb Followill (vocals, rhythm guitar), Nathan Followill (drums, backing vocals), Jared Followill (bass, backing vocals) and their cousin Matthew Followill (lead guitar, backing vocals).

Fairly rapidly, KOL built up an impressive fan following in their formative years, and by the time their EP, Holy Roller Novocaine, and debut album, Youth and Young Manhood, rolled out in 2003, the band were already getting the thumbs up from tastemakers and renowned publications, which favourably compared them to the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Strokes.

How good can Kings of Leon get?

“How good can the Kings of Leon get? They’ve already gone further than anybody could have guessed.” This quote was taken from Rolling Stone magazine in 2007, just after the release of their third studio album, Because Of The Times, which ultimately ensured the band some international recognition, but had not quite catapulted them into global superstardom just yet.

It was only after the release of their fourth album in 2008, Only by the Night, which spawned the smash-hit singles, Sex on Fire and Use Somebody, that the Followill clan suddenly became household names and darlings of mainstream radio. Nathan Followill explains, “The funny thing is that Only By The Night was the first album we approached with the attitude of not trying to make a popular record. We just made the record we wanted to make and it ended up being our best-selling album.”

Despite this new-found popularity, the band did second-guess their sudden explosion. In an interview with Spin Magazine in December 2009, frontman Caleb Followill admitted, “We definitely got bigger than we wanted to be. You feel like you’ve done something wrong. That woman in mom jeans who’d never let me date her daughter? She likes my music.”

Nonetheless, even if they were doing the rockstar thing of resenting commercial success, the band still toured the globe for two years behind Only By The Night, picked up accolades and awards – including a prestigious Grammy nomination – and became goliaths of the music industry.

Come around success

With success comes inevitable criticism, and this came from the band’s initial fan base who felt that their early albums were significantly better than the commercial heavyweight of Only By The Night. KOL must’ve been trolling the forums, because, on their 2010 effort, Come Around Sundown, they went back to their roots. “I don’t think any of us were thinking we had to make a record that would stand next to Only By The Night. We definitely didn’t want to go in there and make a record out of fear that it wouldn’t be as big,” Nathan says, before explaining how the new album is also a portal for newer fans to rediscover the band’s back catalogue. “It’ll be neat for people who know us only from our hits, because they’ll get to hear where we’ve come from musically. I think a couple of these songs will turn on newer fans to our older music, because it’s hard to imagine the band that wrote Sex on Fire is the same band that wrote Trani [from Youth and Young Manhood]. They’re songs from totally different worlds. I think Come Around Sundown has something for everyone on it, and I hope it leads people to discover us in a totally new way.”

Come Around Sundown ended up being another hit for the band, as it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, found its way into Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2010 list at #18, and earned the band another Grammy nomination.

South Africa awaits

Not content to be downloading off the illegal torrent sites or copying from their friends (naughty, naughty), local audiences have also been contributing positively to the band’s enormous success, as Only By The Night has gone Platinum and Come Around Sundown has achieved Gold status in SA. Unquestionably, these achievements prove without a shadow of a doubt that South Africa wants Kings of Leon here – and this is something that has also been confirmed by 5fm Program Manager, Vukile Zondi, who is quoted as saying, “Kings of Leon has been the most requested band to see live by South Africans for several years now.”

Now, with the tour closer than ever, fans finally believe that it will really take place. The ‘will-they-come-or-won’t-they-come’ debate is still raging on the blogs and forums, but all we can do is wait. Wait until the moment that the lights go down and the first few notes from Caleb Followill’s guitar officially announce their arrival onstage.

When that moment happens, the naysayers will be eating their words and the rest of us will be rocking out!

South African Tour Dates:

The Kings of Leon presented by Nokia, 5FM and SABC3

26 October: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

29 October: Soccer City, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg

Tickets still available at Computicket

With support from Die Heuwels Fantasties, Shadowclub and The Black Hotels

WIN TICKETS TO Kings Of Leon!!!

 

 

Featured: Staind

Staind

Chapter VII

“There’s no question that the majority of our success has come from some of the softer songs that we’ve done…”

Sixteen years after their inception, melodic hard rockers Staind are still going strong. Surviving nu-metal, metalcore and even the current post-hardcore era, the Massachusetts outfit are always a constant on the charts and playlists of rock fans around the globe. In fact, it seems like all that Aaron Lewis (vocals/guitar), Mike Mushok (guitar) and Johnny April (bass) touch, inevitably turns to gold.

Unlike many modern counterparts, the band have had a regular line-up for most of their entire career – until the recent exit of Jon Wysocki (drums), who left after the recording of their new album. Undeniably, this departure must make things feel a little different in the Staind camp, and the remaining members will have some thinking to do about finding an adequate replacement for Jon.

“Of course…it is definitely different. It wasn’t an easy choice or path,” says guitarist, Mike Mushok. “As of right now, we have our drum tech, Sal Giancarelli, who is also a great drummer, playing drums for us. We have plans to try and do some auditions, possibly towards the end of the year, because we don’t have a lot of time right now.”

Get Heavy!

One of the reasons why the trio might not have much time on their hands is because they’ve just dropped a brand-new self-titled release, their seventh studio album. Refusing to release another collection of soft songs, Staind have promised that their new album will feature harder and heavier material – but why the sudden change?

“We felt it was time. Especially with our last record [2008’s The Illusion of Progress], [where] we experimented and wanted to try something different, and we did that and we were happy with how it turned out,” Mike says, before adding how the band discussed the direction of their next album after TIOP and how they were going to go back to their roots. “I focused on writing heavier songs and making a heavier record. We’re really happy with the end results and how it came out. It’s definitely a return to where we came from, but with a more modern sound.”

It’s actually quite surprising that Staind have gotten heavier now in their old age (snicker), because most bands seem to get softer as their career progresses. Perhaps the band decided that they don’t want to be remembered just for their ballads?

“I definitely consider us a rock band,” Mike laughs, insisting that he hopes that no one considers Staind as just a ballad band. “Even if you go back to our last record, there’s still some heavy songs on there – it’s always been a part of what we do – but there’s no question that the majority of our success has come from some of the softer songs that we’ve done.”

Deadlines and Legacy

Interestingly, for the first time in the band’s history, their record label gave them a deadline for their new album. So, did this deadline make the band feel pressured or did it force them to just deliver a raw record without over-thinking too much?

“That’s a good question,” Mike pauses. “I don’t know if we’ve ever over-thought anything. There’s always pressure when you go to make a record. You always want to do something different and come up with a group of great songs – in that, it creates its own kind of pressure, especially if you’ve had any kind of success. I do think that the pressure was definitely more on this record for that reason. More so for Aaron, as the songs were pretty much done – he writes the lyrics around the music once it’s done. While we were doing it, he was doing his solo thing, so it made for a difficult process, but I really think he stepped up and did a great job. Funny thing with Aaron is that he kind of needs that pressure to get things done.”

In closing, I ask Mike the hypothetical question: if Staind were to end tomorrow, would this to be the album he would want to be remembered for?

“Sure. I’m definitely proud of this record. You have to feel like the last record you’ve put out is the best thing you’ve done. If you don’t feel that way, then the record is probably not done. I do think from all that pressure and turmoil of making this record, something great came from it.”

Featured: Machineri

Machineri: Arrive with nothing. Leave the same.

After three years of grunge-blues noise, constant praise and persistent insults, machineri have made their first full length album featuring art work by the legendary Storm Thorgeson. Over beers, coffee and cigarettes we discussed business, drugs and the state of the nation.

Rock and roll has been proclaimed dead. Aren’t you merely dreamers seeking validation from a departed music genre, well revered and sorely missed– and that ultimately we’re all just playing make believe?

Sannie Fox: I don’t think rock is dead. I don’t think it ever will be. Every artist seeks validation. This is not a dream, this is reality.

Once over breakfast, Mojo Magazine’s Sylvie Simmons gave a similar question to The Black Keys, who simply shook their heads.

Daniel Huxham: People will always latch on to rock. There are bands that are to the point and those who latch on. I think if your heart is in it, it rings true.

The bands that inspire you… greatly influenced the society of their time. Do you think you can?

Sannie: Some of my lyrical ideas have been borrowed from politics. Like Father Gun and Soul People, on the new album. There’s stuff that makes me angry. But whatever you sing about comes from a sincere place.

Roger Young [Mahala] has stated ‘machineri demand a kind of woozy head bobbing attention, in a scene that may not be able to provide it.’ What do you think?

Daniel: A lot of bands make it big here, but you can only go so far before you’ve reached the ceiling. It’s really young here. I think if we go overseas I would like to come back frequently.

Sannie: I grew up in London, but SA is my home. I love this country. The only difficulty is my career. The infrastructure is very limited and everyone is getting competitive. It’s petty. And I need to see other successful musicians. We’re cut off from a very important thing: sharing ideas.

You think you will be as easily forgotten as Tweak, or are you going to do what members of Fuzigish have done; help pioneer alternative music in South Africa?

Daniel: I hope we inspire people.

Sannie: We’ve only been around for three years. You should just go for a certain amount of time. If you work hard, your music will live one. But there’s an element of magic you need, to be in the right place at the right time, and hope the magic swings. Swing it! Swing it!

Sannie, you have been described as a grunge Barbie, drug addict and prima donna. Where is the truth in that, if it’s anywhere at all?

Sannie: I don’t have much of a response. I’m here to do my job. And unless you know me personally, don’t say anything. Fans that listen to my music are there for the music. Those who talk shit are entitled do so. I only care if it’s stuff about music. I can’t wipe the rumours, but I will say one thing: don’t do drugs. It’s bad for your soul.

Well…not to be petty or anything but your live vocals are a bit inaudible.

Daniel: She phrases her lyrics in a very interesting way. Like Brandon Boyd from Incubus. She sings over a bar in such a way that it won’t just start and end in a bar. And if you’re not used to that, it sounds strange.

Sannie: And sound engineers predominately put vocals at the same level of the drums and guitar. If you can’t hear what I say, the lyrics are in the album.

What has the last three years taught you?

Daniel: The industry is much better than it was ten years ago. You can actually make a career. Just give it more time.

Sannie: We work hard, when we rehearse we’re fucking hard and that’s it.

After machineri left the interview, I felt like their lyrics. I arrived with nothing and left the same. They already say what they need to in their music. If things were different, they could refuse, like their idol band, Led Zeppelin, to be interviewed at all – because they would know that people would listen without explanation.

Exclusive Interview: Storm Thorgeson

Imagining Sound

Featured: Dan Patlansky

Dan Patlansky

Speaking in Blues

Just imagine if one could be as fluent on an instrument as one speaks a language. That’s where I want to be.” So says one of the country’s finest guitar players, Dan Patlansky. If you’ve ever heard the man coax a melody from his Fender you’ll know full well that this statement makes him a pretty modest fella. He makes six strings gabber in tongues.

The Western musical scale has only twelve little notes to it and yet this man pulls a gob-smackingly dynamic range of noise from that finite palette. It’s widely regarded that one needs to put in at least 10,000 hours on a particular craft to become a master of it. Patlansky is only 29 and by his account “was about 14 years old when the passion for playing really took over.” I’m lousy at maths but it would appear logical to me that he’s been literally glued to his instrument for half of his life.

Images of the guy nestled in slumber while his fingers run some exotic scale over and over on autopilot deep into the night simply don’t seem far-fetched. Funnily, he adds, “It’s amazing how quickly my playing gets stale.” I was present in the throng lucky enough to catch his fiery performance at Oppikoppi this year. Trying to fathom what ‘stale’ might mean for him, based on the energy thrown down that fret board that day, is somewhat laughable. Because Dan Patlansky knows guitar. Like a boss. His modesty again checks my run-away enthusiasm, claiming that even for him “it’s sometimes very hard to keep it fresh. For example, most of the guitar solos are improved on the night. So needless to say some nights are great and some are crap! So, just like any other discipline I still try spend as much time playing as I can.”

 

 

For those of you who’ve been somehow left out of the loop, Patlansky is a Blues man. For the last ten years he has been showcasing his incredibly raw and provocative take on the genre to captivated audiences around South Africa, playing pretty much everywhere and anywhere that can stand the heat that peels from his overworked fingers. He’s done stints overseas, New Orleans most notably, where he has made a marked impact. So much so that this young musician has noted a shift in the demographics of his audience over time – “When I started out years back my fans were of the 40+ crowd. I’ve still got a big fan base of that age group, which is awesome, but in recent years younger people have been added to that fan base in a big way! That is really exciting for me. It means that this genre will never die. At my shows today we have a complete spread regarding age groups.”

The fact that his influence is so penetrating could be put down to the fact that, as he says, “I always put 100% into every performance regardless of the size of the crowd. And I’m never satisfied with where I’m at musically.”

Patlansky is the embodiment of an artist, fully invested in his craft and in his creations, a technical virtuoso but still deeply connected to the feelings conveyed and never one to rest on his laurels. He is in the final stages of producing his fourth album, one which has high expectations considering all previous outings have been critically acclaimed. He says of the new record, “I’m really excited about the new album. I think it has rawness to it and a lot of heartfelt energy. I think it’s far dirtier than my previous albums, with the strongest songs so far in my opinion. It’s a blues album, but with an old school Rock n’ Roll twist.”

Stalking Shadowclub

Stalking Shadowclub

Johannesburg three-piece, Shadowclub, have had a tumultuous time since forming four years ago. They’ve been through three bassists, broken up and reformed and recorded demos only to ditch them, yet despite all of this have created a loyal following in the process. At last, they have an album, Guns and Money, and they’re

I meet Shadowclub outside a Johannesburg coffee shop on a warm September evening and the camaraderie between the three is almost palpable. Having known them for a number of years and having tracked the bands various vicissitudes, I start with the big question their fans have been asking shortly after they appeared on the live scene: Why the hell has it taken so long to record and release an album?

Vocalist and guitarist Jacques Moolman laughs and says, “We had teething problems”. Drummer Isaac Klawansky adds, “We tried a couple times”. Moolman reckons the band tried a few years ago to record at SABC but that it “didn’t come together.” He says the band tried again last year, but the result was “too smooth and popified”.

Louis Roux, a childhood friend of Klawansky’s and the most recent person to fill the role of bassist nods agreeably, “The last time we recorded conventionally, you know, with a click track and that sort of thing. The producers focused on commercial viability. This time we did it how we wanted to do it, and that meant doing the whole thing live.”

“We essentially moved into the studio, and Matt [Fink] made that possible. It was the ideal environment,” says Moolman. Matthew Fink, of The Black Hotels fame and a man who’s developing a reputation as a great producer, produced Guns and Money and allowed the band to essentially live in studio for the two-week recording process.

Aside from overlaying vocals, and some additional harmonies and guitar parts the band recorded every track together, as if doing a live performance. They tell me they thought this was the best way to capture the essence of Shadowclub’s sound because, ultimately, as Klawansky insists, “Shadowclub is a live band first and foremost”.

 

For a long time the trio was disjointed, performing erratically and prone to periodic breaking- and making-up. Moolman says that’s behind them now, “We’re starting to work really well together and being more diplomatic. We’re focused now; we know what the brand is, and we’re all on the same page.

Klawansky says the problem was that before now the band “never had all the pieces together… or the right bassist.”

“Most people have jobs they go to from 9am to 5pm. And often ‘a hard time’ means a tough project or a nasty client, but you still get paid,” says Moolman. “A hard time for us was almost losing everything we had and almost killing each other. Getting to this point, with a great product, is something we’re really proud of.” Now signed to Karl Anderson’s Just Music label, whom they almost signed with a few years ago, Moolman says the band “weren’t ready for Karl the first time around.”

Klawanksy came to know Anderson better through his involvement with the band Flash Republic, another of the label’s artists. “I knew we’d made a mistake the first time. But we kept in contact,” says Klawansky. Despite a fall out with Anderson, once the band felt suitably settled again, after Roux joined, they approached him for a deal. They say they now enjoy a great relationship with the label owner and reckon they have him to thank for getting their material on digital platforms like the iTunes store, and for encouraging them to press the 500 white vinyls of the album they’re selling at gigs.

While Anderson handles distribution and most of the band’s publicity and marketing, Klawansky has become de facto booking agent and manager. “We had bad experiences with managers and booking agents. The industry here is small enough to do it yourself,” he says. Despite an increasing presence on television, radio and online, the band still finds venues that haven’t heard of them and sometimes end up playing support stages. Moolman smiles and states positively, “it’s a good thing that. It keeps us grounded and motivated.”

“From the outside looking in people think that because you have a video and a deal you must be doing well, but we’re still working hard,” says Roux.“Even when you get what you wish for there’s no time to take it in, you have to keep at it.” Moolman says in many ways the band feels they’re “at the beginning again”, but that now they’re“treating it more like a business, and we know we have to go through all of the hard work required to make it a success.”

Regarding the recent success the band has had in the mainstream media, Jacques says there’s no denying “the audience changes once someone like 5FM picks up your track.” “It also makes getting gigs easier,” says Klawansky.“Venue owners suddenly think you’re popular and give you a slot when before they wouldn’t even bat an eyelid.”

They laugh as Moolman points out that one of the downsides of their newfound popularity is that “suddenly even random acquaintances seem to have become our best friends”. “[Popularity]isn’t going to influence our writing style though,” interjects Roux. “Perhaps we’re popular because the timing is right. Indie culture has been redefining what’s popular. We’re not on radio because we write pop tracks, but because the collective ear is changing. The Black Keys, won five Grammys, that wouldn’t have happened five years ago.”

Moolman attributes the bands new sense of cohesion to being “pretty supportive of each other. We talk about what’s going on with ourselves. Being in a band is an incredibly deep relationship to have with other people. It’s like a marriage, and sometimes egos and emotions run rampant.” Although the band has only recently started promoting the album aggressively, Moolman says they’re “always writing new stuff”and that the “writing experience is becoming very integrative. Louis is very involved. We’ve got a ton of material waiting for us to get it down.”

“This album marked a particular time, and it’s a great footprint of that time,” says Roux.“I’m ready to record another album again. I think we all are.” They all agree, “This was the best recording experience ever. We want to do it again, and soon,” adds Moolman. Roux says Shadowclub’s current idea of success is “playing loads and earning enough to get by, but we also want to be able to have families and ‘normal’ lives. It’s not just about stardom or the rock ‘n roll lifestyle”.

The band plans to promote the album and tour overseas, and are keen to see if a European label picks up on the release.“How we define success changes with time, and will keep doing so,” says Roux. “Right now we want to go overseas, and our first stop is Europe next year during the South African winter. We have aspirations of getting released elsewhere too, and to do that we need to do what we’re doing here, there. But we still want to be able to come back here and play The Bohemian,” he smiles.

Not heard Shadowclub before?

Try Fidelity?

Try Fidelity?

Biting off all I can chew and choosing a few with what is making my ears prick up in the SA music scene.

These artists provide such damn good information, I feel like not devoting a whole article to each one is akin to licking the dots off a ladybug; you realise you kinda want to eat the whole thing. Anyway, here are my current three favourite music makers to look out for. Matthew Fink, one part of The Black Hotels and one of the originators of cool if you know anything of Durban back when it was like L.A. on Astros and The Station night club was thumping.

Witchboy is probably the most innovative creature South Africa has seen this side of a sequin and peanut butter samie. Welcome Space Cadet! Last but not least are The Coals Of Juniper who give us their 5 cents on what’s up right now whilst winding up reminding me of that nursery rhyme, Winkin, Blinkin and Nod…

I’m kind of in to the whole aesthetic of a thing and trying to picture what a sound would look like if it was a room or place or person etc. What does Witchboy’s sound look like in this context?

Since Hollymode is probably coming out first I’ll describe its room…

The Room was as big as the world. In a corner were three tables with three chairs each. The blackness around them carried with it all the momentum of drawn stage curtains. Marylin glanced at her Mickey Mouse watch. Three hundred years had passed since Marylin had tabled this Room world. It only took a minute to lay a floor. She shrugged the shoulders of her shine-bright vinyl.

“Room to breathe,” she thought out loud, tapping her wingtips above the scuffed linoleum.

But the sound went nowhere. It simply hovered about like an ominous vulture. She eyed the sentence as it resounded menacingly over the chipped formica tables. She had to restrain an urge to slap herself for speaking – fearful as she was of echoes. ‘This joint really needs some music,’ she thought.

And even she didn’t know why the shoulder pads on her suit were so big. Her vinyl hair gleamed, but you couldn’t tell from where the light source originated. A chrome announcer’s microphone on a vintage stand solved the sound problem. She cleared her throat and speaker systems relayed out into space.

(Erm…that was amazing.)

So you’re releasing Hollymode this year. What IS that?

Well, Hollymode is a theme album. It’s a retro concept which lent itself to the more expansive prog rock albums and one which hasn’t been in vogue lately because albums had been getting all ‘smallified’ to suit commercial viability.

Of course all that’s changed with the internet and sites like bandcamp.com allow one to go back to retro in a futuristic way.

So with Hollymode I am going for the whole cartoonification of Hollywood in all its sleazy, gory glory. I grew up (like all of you probably) watching cheap movies set in LA and felt that the reality in films like Repo Man and Terminator were in many ways more real than the actual reality of Hollywood.

I felt that all this could be married into a sort of Billy Wilder on crack concept album. The result is a diverse array of songs sniping at movie universes, false prophets selling shamballa to housewives, HP Lovecraft rap, sex droid cyber-hop, futurist vestron video confessions, plastic candy doll gutted on neon beaches at sunset, zero-g parties in space stations, Laura Palmer etc. I also wanted to try break the mould with the music a bit and in fact only three tracks involve sequencing.

The rest is basically live electronics – even the drums are tapped out! So the music is live and free of BPM constrictions. I thought this musical approach would suit the organic kaleidoscopic intensity of my biblical visions of an all encompassing mode which all of us are familiar with. A mode which remains mystical and magical even though it is the cheapest form of lumo bubblegum that ever got stuck under your leopard print spike heel.

What was the first album you ever bought/borrowed/stole?

I bought NWA’s Straight Outta Compton in London when it was still banned in SA. Then I made black-market tapes and flooded the freak circuit at school.

4 favey faves right now?

These are my top 4 right now songs – :

Crave – Young

Iggy Azalea – Pussy

Nattymari – Strob3lit3

Eternity Zone – Popshop

Matthew Fink of The Black Hotels

Could you tell me a little bit about the early days of The Station?

I was barely 19. The Station had been open for 2 weeks when I got chatting to club founder and legendary Durban DJ, Richard Every. He asked if I would spin some records for a few minutes while he went to the bar. He returned 2 hours later and I had myself a residency for the rest of the clubs existence. The patrons were an eclectic mix of Durban’s underground youth having way too much of a good time.

Best moments:

Any time that Live Jimi Presley were in town for a performance.

Epic fail moment:

Accidently setting the DJ box alight and damaging all the equipment with a fire extinguisher.

What was the first album you ever bought/borrowed/stole?

It was a gift from a family friend: Adam & The Ants Prince Charming 7″ (B/W Christian Dior)

The Black Hotels have recently brought out your well received new album, Honey Badger. Tell us a bit about where you were going with this one.

With Honey Badger we made a conscious decision to create a new sound within the band. For my part I ditched the vintage Fender Rhodes & Hammond organ tones for harder driving synthesizers.

To a degree the album takes influence from music we were listening to at the time of writing and recording.

While Honey Badger sounds nothing like The National, Arcade Fire, XX, LCD Soundsystem or Interpol, I’m sure that the then current albums by those artists were a subconscious creative catalyst.

Coals Of Juniper

I’m kind of in to the whole aesthetic of a thing and trying to picture what a sound would look like if it was a room or place or person etc. What does the Coals Of Juniper sound look like in this context?

Jono: Ha-ha! This is going to get strange! We mostly look like two Indians and a White guy. Kidding, kind of. I think our sound doesn’t hold its form for too long, it’s continually transforming or morphing into its next shape. We like to think it transports you.

Joel: Like think of a 60’s muscle car being driven in the scorching desert by you, now rain is tapping at your window, then you’re in a thunderous storm, now suddenly a calm landscape.

Jude: And every colour swirls in strange unison as a fat lady becomes weightless and jumps in slow-mo on the moon eating an ice-cream.

Jono: Then its coffee machines and washing machines, bashed down doors and fists in the air. And maybe imagine singing too, because we don’t. And then maybe you wake up and come back to reality.

What was the first album you ever bought/borrowed/stole?

Jono: Tree’s Overflow, on cassette tape. Yes, before they became Tree63.

Joel: House Anthems Vol. 2. It was long ago!

Jude: Keith J. He was a local Indian rapper I think…

4 favey faves right now?

(Discussion and arguing ensues)

Jono: Okay, here it is. R. Kelly, Kesha, Beyonce, 50 Cent.

Joel: He’s just joking. Seriously

Jude: Here’s the real list: Radiohead, Soundgarden, Hiromi Uehara, and Isochronous.

Bombino – The Singing Surivor

Bombino – The Singing Surivor

Tuareg; celebrated through a grand concert by Bombino and his percussionist Serge.

“I have experienced in my life many problems because of politics and my community too.” – Bombino

Bombino is a soul gripping vocalist and guitar playing musician. His spirit, passion and love for his roots carry him through his career like the magic carpet ride over the desert in the fairytale that has now become his life. His story started in 1980 in Tidene, Niger a Tuareg encampment just outside of Agadez in Africa.

During the 1990’s due to the community backbone breaking rebellion in Tuareg, Bombino and his family were forced to flee to neighbouring Algeria for safety. Throughout his years in exile he continued to nurture deep within himself the stories of Agadez and held a mission in the depths of his soul to tell his country’s stories. In 1997 he returned home and pursued a career in doing exactly that; all the while continuing to face adversity and struggle. The phases of rebellion only but went through waves of calmness, then eruption.

The Politics

“I have experienced in my life many problems because of politics and my community too. I learned a lot playing with political musical groups. So it is related to my life. I’m not interested personally in politics. I just speak from my own experience and the effect it has on my community. Politics is a big part of this so it is integrated in my life. The messages in my music are very important to me,” says Bombino.

He is without a doubt a man who has experienced loss and pain in ways that have become almost classical in the story of a war torn third world Africa. He has in the same way risen above what was prescribed to him as destiny and changed the face of his own circumstance, through music. The turn of 2010 saw the end of the fighting in Bombino – The Singing Survivor

The pressure to sing in English…

He sings in his traditional languages and neither feels the need or pressures himself to start singing in English – insisting that no vital part of the story gets lost on whomever it’s intended for.

“You see we are playing this music to discover our culture and our language. What we do is translate the meaning of the songs during our concerts, this way others can also understand and it embraces everybody,” he affirms.

What you may not know about the desert

“The desert has something special; there is a saying in Tuareg: ‘If the water washes the body the desert washes the spirit’. This magical place gives peace, freedom and silence to its people. When you come to the desert it cleans all your problems you may keep in your spirit. And, even the taste of meat cooked in the desert with the same vegetables and cereals as in the town is very different; it is so good to eat it. You will feel free, really, when in the desert. It gives comfort because you will have a big space only for you with billions of stars,” he explains.

 

About the beautiful song Assalam Felawan

This melodic piece written during his exile in Burkina Faso in 2008, speaks about the unity of his community and the hardships encountered during the war. He sings of the insecurity of the people and the heart wrenching need to run away from the land they loved so much, and how one day they would all be back.

The Rolling Stones Project

Bombino laughs, “When I played with the Rolling Stones I did not know who they were, I just understood that they are great when I saw their cars! I think I realised then who they were. We recorded the song Hey Negritude and it was a great experience.”

Bombino is certainly an ambassador for subtle boldness in storytelling for his people and remains humbly, a representation of the true peace that dominates Agadez. He manages his lifestyle and career with a forward thinking and forgiving outlook on what it means to be alive.

Agadez is a homeland of nomadic people who herd camels, goats and sheep. However, as simplified as their existence may be – they still always remember why and ‘how-to’ fight fiercely in the name of the continued existence of their culture and heritage. This is definitely something we can look upon as a telling anecdote for our own lives.

Feature: Chris Letcher

Chris Letcher

London-based composer, academic, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Letcher is no stranger to SA music fans. From his days with Urban Creep to his work with Matthew van der Want, Letcher has a reputation for innovative compositions and genre-bending albums. His latest, Spectroscope, is out this month and we spoke to him from London about it, justifying glockenspiels, and why he’s not an ‘adult contemporary’ artist.

Spectroscope sounds far more energetic and rock-infused than Letcher’s debut, Frieze. I ask him if this was simply the way the songs developed, a deliberate decision, the result of recent influences, or something else entirely? “The rock-influenced side comes from working with the band and regular rehearsals – knowing you have to bring something new to play in the practice studio so the old tunes don’t get stale.”

Talking about the title, Letcher says it’s a metaphor for the album as a sort of spectrum where each song seems as though it has a different, unique, band behind it. “There are also a lot of light and sun metaphors on the album,” he says.“I’m not actually sure it’s the right title, but titles are hard to get right.”

The album was produced by Finn Eiles, the producer behind albums from the likes of Razorlight and the legendary My Bloody Valentine. I asked Letcher how he came to work with Eiles. “Finn was one of the recording engineers suggested to us by the studio we were working in. We initially just did the drum, bass and guitar tracks with him but I liked the way he worked and he seemed to suit the music so we asked him to mix the record as well – that was a mammoth job: there were hundreds of unruly tracks to tame. He did well. I hope he didn’t find it too traumatic a process.”

Spectroscope traverses a vast amount of ground in terms of genre, arrangements, and time signatures. As a composer I wonder if Letcher is more easily bored than other musicians. “I suppose I want to explore new ideas rather than just recycle and make something that’s distinctive and can stand up to a few listens.”

“It’s not about being tricky for the sake of it, though,” he adds. “The first song on the record [The Sun! The Sun!] for example, is in 7/4 but the point is for it to be a rocking groove despite that. It’s a funny asymmetrical beat but it rocks hard, in a fun way, it’s like an off-kilter We Will Rock You. Arrangement-wise, I consciously tried to extend the palette but in a way that didn’t feel gratuitous. If you’re going to put a glockenspiel on that melody you need a pretty damn good reason,” he laughs.

It seems to me that Letcher makes pop and rock music for adults, that is, music with a degree of sophistication often absent from contemporary music. Letcher pretends to gasp, “Oh no, boring adult contemporary – it’s come to this!” He laughs before adding, “I would like to make music that you feel but can also think about; and it has to be fun too. I think there is a lot of music around that does that”.

Being London-based, Chris is spoilt for choice when it comes to seeing live acts. I ask him who most inspires him at the moment? “I saw Sufjan Stevens’ most recent tour which was amazing: insane and really thrilling. I also heard Kevin Volans’ new piano concerto at a prom the other day, and that was ridiculously exciting with its thundering, huge bass drum rolls and dazzling piano/strings/ xylophone writing. The whole thing really was just perfect.”

Despite the fear that it might be like asking a parent to choose a favourite child, I ask Letcher what his favourite track on Spectroscope is and why? “My favourite part is the last third of The Loneliest Air. The way all the rhythms build up and cross. I also like the weirder structured-ones at the moment – the fragment structure of You Only Had To Point with all the crossing lines, and the way the melody returns at the end of One Died – It always feels like a massive release after the key-less pounding.”

With more than 20 years of experience making music, I suggest he offers a single sentence of advice to aspirant musicians. “Just try, and keep going, make music carefully and thoughtfully but let in the random and explosive, and look for a voice that’s just yours,” he offers. He reflects on this, and before we sign off adds, “It sounds like I’m trying to convince myself!”

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Still in Fruit

The Chili Peppers have been around for as long as I have walked the Earth. 28 years. They have not only survived but indeed thrived through thick and thin. Their history reads like the Shakespeare of rock ‘n roll drama and they reside comfortably alongside the likes of the Rolling Stones, Metallica and Motley Crue in the pantheon of rock royalty.

“Flea has spoken out about the album being a marked departure from previous outings whilst retaining the fundamental Chili Pepper magic.”

Upon receiving this assignment, a flood of memories from my past arose that have had the Red Hot Chili Peppers trademark sound stamped into them. It ended up feeling rather strange to take heed of the fact that many noteworthy moments in my history, swirling somewhere in my grey matter, are moving in rhythm to the funk swagger of the Chili Peppers.

I’m not even that into the group and yet their energy has been forever mapped onto so many recollections from days gone by. Some examples – my first true rebellion in the face of that psychic nightmare called High School was soundtracked by RHCP amongst others: bunking school for the first time to go watch the Beavis and Butthead movie, the Peppers’ Love Rollercoaster championing my defiance in the dark theatre. I hooked up with a lady or two at house parties, all nerves and excitement and clandestine alcohol consumption, where the Chili’s most outstanding record to date Californication seemed the only album anyone cared to listen to. My first year post-matric – spent waiting tables, living in dingy digs, pounding the unknown streets of a new city and smoking copious amounts of dope – everywhere seemed to vibrate to that year’s By The Way.

Fast forward to 2006 and the ubiquitous sound of Dani California (the group’s fastest selling single), which for me now smacks of resignation. The track was the new big thing on the airwaves as I was squaring up to the frighteningly wide world of career prospects, adult responsibility and that rest-of-my-life post-graduation feeling.   And then the soundtrack stops. After a world tour supporting the sprawling record Stadium Arcadium, the Red Hot Chili Peppers decided to take an indefinite hiatus, spurred on partly by bassist Flea’s desire to get some perspective away from the band, citing that it had become something dysfunctional, and the group’s general exhaustion from near-constant recording and touring. It’s been half a decade since the last album and it’s interesting to look at what each member embroiled themselves in while away from the RHCP behemoth.

Naturally, making music remained a pivotal aspect in most of the band’s time apart, the only exception being vocalist Anthony Kiedis who spent the lion’s share of his free time concentrating on raising his son as well as developing a television series tentatively titled Spider and Son for HBO, loosely based on his 2004 best-selling autobiography Scar Tissue.

Drummer Chad Smith appears to be a machine, and one that has been programmed to bang drums relentlessly. In his time away from the Chili Peppers, he has appeared behind the kit of a number of outfits. Black Sabbath bassist Glenn Hughes employed Smith’s stick-work on numerous solo outings. In 2008, he formed a jazz inspired improvisational funk-rock group humorously titled Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats, which to date has released two albums. He beats the skins in supergroup Chickfoot, a band filled to the brim with talent in the guise of Joe Satriani and Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. Smith recorded drums for the five time Grammy winning album Taking the Long Way by the Dixie Chicks and cut a children’s album with Dick Van Dyke and Leslie Bixler which has recently been named the all-time favourite children’s record by MTV.

Flea, who many hail as one of the best funk bassists alive, unable to rest on his laurels, decided to enrol himself in a university music course, studying music theory, composition and jazz trumpet for a full year in an effort to greater understand his craft and unlock new possibilities in his playing. He found time too to perform bass duties in Thom Yorke’s solo project when it finally blossomed into a riveting live act, eventually dubbed Atoms for Peace and performing a landmark show at the Coachella Festival in 2010.

The most interesting eventuality of the hiatus was the departure, for the second time round, of guitarist and, many consider, musical shaman of the group, John Frusciante. He decided to leave the band in order to again concentrate on his solo work. This sparked debate amongst fans as to the future of the band since its widely recognised that Frusciante brought to the RHCP a particularly potent elemental force. The album recorded during his first sabbatical from the Peppers is regarded as their weakest effort to date. In the time since his departure, he has released a solo album, worked with The Mars Volta, kick-started an electronic band called Speed Dealer Moms, released several highly experimental works with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez [The Mars Volta] and guested on numerous recordings.

For a time it appeared that the Red Hot Chili Peppers tenure as one of the world’s most highly regarded bands might be coming to an end.However, Kiedis and Flea were adamant that the Chili Peppers still have something to say musically and decided to continue working on material. They announced that long-time friend and frequent RHCP sideman Josh Klinghoffer would be taking up guitar duties. Rehearsals and recording began in earnest and now the RCHP’s have a new album in the bag, called I’m With You, and set for imminent release. Flea has spoken out about the album being a marked departure from previous outings whilst retaining the fundamental Chili Pepper magic.

He’s gone on record stating that he feels like this new music is comparable to what the Rolling Stones did with Exile on Main Street. Klinghoffer has been described by his new bandmates as a very textural, sublime and poetic musician who has been instrumental in creating their new offering, bringing with him a distinctive voice and tone.And so it is that soon there will be a new soundtrack to swirl into my memory as its fairly certain that the album will be placed onto heavy rotation around the world and will work its way into the landscape of some aspect of my life that retrospectively will feel markedly apt and oddly comforting.

Check out a video interview with Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith as they explain the initial writing process and Josh joining the band. I’m With You  -  coming 30 August  2011.

Legends of Modern Music: Jeff Buckley and the stirring Beyond

Legends of Modern Music

Jeff Buckley and the stirring Beyond

“He was the best singer that had appeared, probably, I’m not being too liberal about this if I say, in two decades”.

Jeff Buckley is part of the Spirit World of music. Along with a small, esoteric group of misfits and oracles that include Robert Johnson, Nick Drake, Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix, he seemed to have been born with one foot already rooted in the Beyond. Already navigating worlds shimmering beyond physics. Buckley possessed a chameleonic voice able to harness such singular and potent energies as Nina Simone, Edith Piaf and Nusrat Fateh Ali Kan, so disarmingly that audiences could not but be swept up in invocation. This wasn’t mimicking – this was channeling. An otherworldly charge seemed present, lifting and harmonising his voice – kindling Fire from the hinterscapes of memory and experience.

Many will tell you this ‘otherworldly charge’ was in fact located in his vocal chords.

Dream Brother

Born on 17 November 1966, Buckley was raised Scotty Moorhead, only meeting his biological father, acclaimed folk artist Tim Buckley, once, at the age of eight. By his own account his childhood was one of “rootless trailer trash”, but steeped in music. His mother was a classically trained cellist, and step-father Ron introduced him to the key 70′s Rock and folk groups. He later recalled that everyone in his family sang, and that he’d stumbled onto his first guitar in his Gran’s closet. A voracious, near promiscuous thirst for music led him to adore such wide-ranging, seemingly irreconcilable groups as kitsch rockers Kiss; hardcore Punk outfit Bad Brains; Bob Dylan; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; and Nina Simone. Earning his chops through playing guitar in a variety of Punk, Rock and Funk bands, Buckley found his calling through solo performances, where he was free to pounce between genres and sentiments.

His public singing debut and first major break came through a guest performance at a tribute concert for Tim Buckley, who had passed away at the age of 28, leaving behind an uneven but esteemed collection of Folk, Rock and more avant-garde musics. By the time of Buckley’s residency at Manhattan’s Sin-e’, word was not so much getting round as spreading like wildfire. The likes of Robert Plant, Chrissie Hynde and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell attended his shows, and began championing the phenomenon U2′s The Edge described as “A pure drop in an ocean of noise”.

Says Cornell: “People talked about his concerts the way they used to talk about Hendrix. They’d sit there, wide-eyed, telling you stories about him. He definitely had an aura.”

A Swan to Sing

The grapevine electricity led to his debut studio album – the near unanimously acclaimed Grace [1994] – David Bowie naming it one of his ten desert-island albums. Buckley assembled a touring band and hit the road for two years – a tour that had Led Zep’s Jimmy Page gush, “he was the best singer that had appeared, probably, I’m not being too liberal about this if I say, in two decades”.

Following the tour the band began laying down recordings for 2nd album Mystery White Boy. The album would never be released. On 29 May 1997, his band was en route to Tennessee for re-recordings. By the time their flight had landed, Jeff Buckley was gone – drowned during an impromptu night swim in the Mississippi river; caught in the wake of a passing boat. He was thirty.

The Busker Transformative

To experience a song by Buckley is to be seduced. Whether live or studio-cut, an original song or an interpretation, a Buckley performance inevitably moves one – draws or wrenches one into an often intense, always touching journey. Buckley’s live appearances at Manhattan club Sin-e’ have become the stuff of legend. Armed with a lone electric guitar, Buckley would casually announce a song, perhaps preambling with an anecdote, without raising his voice above the general chit-chat sound tracking the venue. Then he would strum into wonderment.

Anyone who has experienced his renditions of Simone’s Strange Fruit or Cohen’s Hallelujah will experience shivers as they read these words. Nearly two decades later, in a quantumly different world, he still inspires awe. John Legend: “I think I can sing with just about anybody; but he’s one of the few singers who truly intimidate me.”

 

 

Royally Bangin’

Guitarist Sam Stratton has come a long way since joining Royal Bangs, an indie rock three-piece from Knoxville, Tennessee. More specifically, he’s gone a long way – all over the world, in fact. The band has had three albums, as many labels, and more than a little good fortune along the way. We tracked down guitarist Sam Stratton between European shows for a little insight into how this American Rock Band have gone from intimateclub shows to international tours.

Royal Bangs’ first album came out on independent label Audio Eagle Records. Home to only a handful of bands – most of them from Ohio – its claim to fame is that it was founded by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. Carney signed Royal Bangs after hearing them on the now antiquated, and largely abandoned, MySpace. I ask Stratton if Carney really found the band online? “Yes, he contacted us through MySpace. We sent our album to Audio Eagle because Houseguest, another band on the label, had played in Knoxville. It’s strange to think that something that is so outmoded now has played such a relevant part in this band’s life.”

Stratton says he thinks the main reason Audio Eagle Records is no more is that “Pat was busy kickin’ ass in The Black Keys. He’s a hard worker and a good friend of ours, but it’s hard to be the overseer when you’re overseas.  He helped us in a huge way and still continues to give us advice. Patrick, like us, wanted the band to get bigger. He’s the one who suggested Glassnote.”

 

Glassnote Records, home to Mumford & Sons, Two Door Cinema Club, and the solo efforts of Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke, released Royal Bangs’ third album, Flux Outside (reviewed in Muse – Jun/Jul ’11 Edition), in March. Their second album was released by German label City Slang, which also released the bands’ debut in Europe the year after its launch.

City Slang specialises in distributing North American bands in Europe, including the likes of Arcade Fire, Calexico, SA’s own Dear Reader, Nada Surf and The Notwist. It seemed a great fit for Royal Bangs’ sound and ethos, so I ask Stratton how the label ended up picking up Royal Bangs’ debut for the European market. “We’d driven up to NYC to play a showcase at the Cake Shop during CMJ. It was really wild – everyone was trapped in this cramped, drunk basement by a major downpour. I think it was the first show our fourth, and last, bassist played with us too. The owner of City Slang was there and really liked it and offered us a deal.”

Arguably, despite having a smaller stable of artists, Glassnote is even better suited to Royal Bangs’ sound. I ask Stratton what prompted the band’s decision to sign with them? “They came highly recommended, they were small, they were experienced, and they were genuinely sincere about giving us creative control over our music,” he explains. “I’m sure that it was the best decision we’ve made. The team is amazing and the president, Daniel Glass, is a great human being.”

One of the peculiar perks of being a band that’s doing well is that your idols suddenly become peers. I wonder aloud if any of Stratton’s musical idols proved to be somehow disappointing in person. “No, not yet. Soon. All the successful musicians we’ve met have been painfully decent, so it’s been a little frustrating. We haven’t given up hope though,” he laughs.

Royal Bangs’ most recent release was produced by Dave Fridmann, a former member of Mercury Rev and producer for all of their albums and all but one of the Flaming Lips’ releases. Fridmann has worked with legendary independent artists like MGMT, Low, Sparklehorse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and many others. I’m curious as to whether Fridmann asked to work with the band or vice versa. “We definitely asked to work with him. He’s been one of our heroes since high school. He was brilliant and very comfortable to work with. We’d love to work with him again.”

I ask Stratton if he thinks audiences for live music are decreasing, increasing, or neither? “It’s hard for me to get a good perspective on it. The audiences at our shows are getting larger and when we’re home the audiences at local shows seem to have doubled in size. There are more festivals than there used to be. I want to believe that more people are going out to shows.”With the current culture of iTunes singles and piracy debate I’m curious as to whether the Royal Bangs think it more prudent to focus on singles or albums… “It’s always more important to focus on albums,” says Stratton seriously.

We talk about the stresses of touring, but Stratton downplays the pressures of seeing his band mates almost every waking moment. “It’s not hard. We’ve been friends for so long and we know each other way too well.” This intimacy seems to carry over to the bands’ performances – polished but constantly reworking and fine-tuning. Stratton suggests that it carries over to the songwriting too. He says the band generally writes the music collectively, with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Schaefer writing all the lyrics.Flux Outside is certainly Royal Bangs’ most successful album to date. I ask Stratton what the benefits are, if any, of having a few albums beneath one’s belt before achieving a major breakthrough, as opposed to sudden and early success?

“I don’t know, we never had sudden and early success”, he laughs. “It seems like it would have been awesome, but I can’t say that I’d change anything we’ve done. Things are going well at the moment, but we are thinking about what’s next.”

Next? “I hope we can do one album per year and we are putting out some remixes soon.” Stratton says the band just wants to keep touring, keep reaching more listeners, and keep pushing themselves as musicians.Finally, before letting the guitarist get ready for the evening’s show, I ask him which single band he would choose to listen to for the rest of his life if forced to. I’m pleasantly surprised when, contrary to my classic or psychedelic rock expectations, he simply says: “Sly & the Family Stone”.Perhaps in honour of the favour the service indirectly did the band in its early days its MySpace is still going – complete with the novel genre description of “Japanese classic music/ showtunes/western swing”. Make no mistake, Royal Bangs rock, however you choose to describe it. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot more of them in years to come. I, for one, am delighted.

Lenny has been a modern day prophet of the power of reinvention…

 

“Cos It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Black Or White…”

Having sold over 35 million albums worldwide, received 4 Grammy Awards, and quite often touted as the sexiest rock star alive, Lenny Kravitz is somewhat of a living legend. Over his 20-year musical career, Lenny has transcended genre, style, race and class to dabble in various influences of ’60s and ’70s soul, rock and funk.

A Modern Day Madonna

Whether he is summoning the duelling crunchy guitar spirits of Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry on Are You Gonna Go My Way, grinding down his best Joan Jett impersonation on American Woman or even turning down the lights on the piano-driven I’ll Be Waiting, Lenny has been a modern day prophet of the power of reinvention. Much like Madonna or David Bowie (one of his influences), his uncanny knack of knowing when and how to redefine has been one of the keys to his staying power and importance in both the pop and rock music circles. Undoubtedly, this coupled with his gift of being able play a multitude of instruments has only facilitated his numerous evolutions, as he not only looks good onstage – but he is also a true musician who knows what he’s doing. Also, just like the Material Girl and Ziggy Stardust, Lenny has proven that his creative skills aren’t just limited to music, as he has appeared in the Oscar-nominated film, Precious, and has just been cast in the role of Cinna in the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel, The Hunger Games.

Coming Full-Circle?

At 15, Lenny was already harbouring hopes and dreams of becoming a rock star and let nothing stand in his way as he left home, slept in cars, slept in friends’ cars, and even recorded an album independently when the labels told him his music wasn’t “black” or “white” enough. Perhaps, this race issue is one of the reasons why his ninth studio album, Black and White America, is so personal and dear to Lenny, as he recalls his own family history and the experiences of his parents as an interracial couple in the ‘60s. “People used to yell obscenities and spit at them,” he says, “and this was in New York City, not in the South. So it’s about me personally and about the situation with race in this country. Maybe we are beginning to move on, but there’s still a lot of people who want to hold onto their old ideas.”Even though the topic of racism is one usually associated with anger and sadness, the tone of Black and White America is that of faith and hope, according to Lenny. “This world is a challenging place. The interesting dynamic is when you are in the middle of chaos and you are able to find inner peace. I choose to remain optimistic, even in the face of negativity and destruction.”

Another Love Revolution?

Recorded in the Bahamas and Paris, Lenny admits to the music of his new record being inspired by the original influences from his youth. “A lot of this record seems to be influenced by what I was listening to in junior high and high school. Soul, R&B, bands like Earth, Wind and Fire, Quincy Jones productions like the Brothers Johnson – these were the type of records that taught me so much about producing and arranging music.”Although, it’s a rather used and abused cliché by musicians, Lenny does believe that Black and White America is his most seminal release. “I think it’s the best work I’ve done to date,” he says. “It’s a great balance of where I’ve been, where I am and where I am going.” He adds that he feels this album to be a celebration and “anybody listening is going to feel it and be uplifted by the spirit of the music.” Come the end of August, the fans will be the judge of that. Personally, we hope that Lenny delivers another love revolution…

Watch Lenny’s new video for Stand from the forthcoming album Black And White America out in August

 

 

Terminatryx – Iconoclasts in Africa

Terminatryx , Iconoclasts in Africa

There is unfortunately a dearth of truly unique bands in South Africa. It would appear that despite this country’s ‘rainbow nation’ affectation, the music scene is nevertheless filled to the brim with insipid rip-off outfits doing their damnedest to imitate the rock charts and each other.

So often an evening out watching live music will end up feeling like a single song stuck on repeat. Diversity and originality do not appear to be sought-after traits for an up-and-coming band and it’s a somewhat tragic state of affairs. Trying to pluck names of groups on the circuit that buck the trend is quite a task and the list is woefully short – Lark, The Wild Eyes, The Great Apes, Mr Cat and the Jackal, BLK JKS, Die Antwoord and Terminatryx are the ones that immediately spring to mind.
Terminatryx, brainchild of Paul Blom and Sonja Ruppersberg, are a particularly interesting example because they’ve had incredible longevity in a notoriously fickle local industry, one where when tastes change, bands once popular can simply evaporate.

Terminatryx began operating almost ten years ago and have maintained a unique position in the alternative music scene, straddling a wide range of genres with a flavour that is very rare on the local scene.
Paul says of the project, “it’s an acquired taste, simply because it doesn’t slot neatly into the local scene” but its continued success and persistent presence can be put down to the groups ‘stubborn’ artistic vision and the fact that, as Sonja points out, they “just do it for themselves.” Further, “we come from very diverse musical backgrounds, so when we came together it was inevitable that the sound was going to be something original.” This attitude of not pandering to an audience has clearly worked wonders as Terminatryx has an illustrious history that only a handful of local bands can match.
Their very first gig, back in 2003, was a support slot for renowned Darkwave outfit Diary of Dreams on their SA tour. This fact alone cements the band’s unique standing in the industry but their achievements continued to mount over the years. Terminatryx also performed as openers for VNV Nation, one of the world’s premiere EBM bands, as well as for Sheep on Drugs and Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s very own Martin Degville when he toured these shores recently. They have featured notably over UK airwaves, garnering a slot on the bastion of hard-rock reportage Kerrang Radio.

In 2006, the band was invited to perform at Berlin’s PopKomm as part of a South African showcase. They were one of only 4 bands invited. They have since been invited to play at a number of SA’s finest alternative festivals such as Ramfest, Noisefest and Metal4Africa’s Summerfest; as a live act, rounded out on stage by Ronnie Belcher on drums and Patrick Davidson on guitars. Terminatryx is a very fluid beast and has appeared in multiple guises over the years. Sonja explains that this allows them “to slide into any kind of vibe and work any crowd.” It’s this malleability that has seen them on some distinctly peculiar line-ups, alongside rockabilly outfits for instance, yet, as Patrick points out, “they are great to play, as you find a more open minded crowd and get surprisingly positive feedback and different perspectives on the show.”

However, one drawback that Paul elaborates upon is how the band have been consistently limited by a lack of facilities in local venues – “Terminatryx has always been a very audio/visual experience and we’ve got fantastic video feeds that sync with the music but have found that venues simply don’t cater for it.” It’s a shame considering how cinematic their sound can be and, in a wider sense, as it ought to be a priority for venues to cater for such performances and local bands could up their game if given the appropriate forum.

Terminatryx have released a single critically acclaimed self-titled album and are currently working on a very ambitious, pioneering remix album. They have roped in the likes of Battery 9, NuL, Axxon, The Awakening, Mr Sakitumi, Sheep on Drugs and Martin Degville to reinterpret their catalogue. Paul says that the project is mostly complete and he is thrilled with the mixes that have been delivered, ranging from avant-garde renditions through aggrotech, dance and acoustic versions of the signature Terminatryx sound.
Also recently released from the band is a polished music video for their single Virus. Produced exclusively by the band and directed by Paul himself with the help of a number of generous and extra talented friends, the video is a superbly crafted horror-themed showcasing of their look and sound. Replete with its professional creature make-up and high production value, the video has been requested for screening by the Sci-Fi London Film Fest and EerieTube.com and has become the first South African music video to feature on LoudTV.net. They have also turned out an extended short film version of the piece.

Paul and Sonja have also both been instrumental in fostering the alternative scene in a unique and positive fashion. They have birthed numerous independent film festivals – a perfect platform for the weird and wonderful gems that seldom find their way to the mainstream – X Fest, Celludroid and Horrorfest have become fixtures on the calendar for many. Paul compiled the first-of-a-kind compilation album Kopskoot! – An Afrikaans alternative album from South Africa’s finest. They also spearheaded a fascinating group called the Makabra Ensemble, consisting of Paul and Sonja along with members of Lark and various other musicians, who each year create a live soundtrack for classic silent horror films such as Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Maciste in Hell at their annual Horrorfest. They have also taken this intriguing performance group to SA’s largest rock festival Oppikoppi.
Terminatryx’s strength lies in their iconoclastic tendencies and pioneering spirit, pleasing themselves artistically first and foremost and it has resulted in many important highlights within the South African alternative scene. There is little doubt that Terminatryx will continue to break new ground for a long time to come.

Pic Credits: Dr-Benway

Mark Haze – SA’s Next Rock Idol?

“Isn’t he the dude who used to sing for Flat Stanley?” “No, bru, I’m sure he was in One Day Remains.”

“I may be a rocker, but I’m first and foremost a musician…

A year ago, this was normally the kind of argument that people would have when they’d see Mark Haze performing with his band, 12th Avenue – yet now, after his participation in this year’s edition of Idols, the Top 15 contestant is a pretty well-known name to many South Africans. Chatting to Mark, I ask how he’s adapted to the almost instant fame and fan recognition. “Pretty well, so far. Without the fans, you’re nothing. So I know and live by that. The fact that people want to speak to me confirms that I’m doing something right,” Mark says.Nonetheless, it must feel strange that he’s been in the music game for a decade now, but is only really getting a lot of attention after his Idols experience. “Not at all,” Mark states. “I knew what I was signing up for – bands need to work really hard to get recognition.

 

There are times when you find yourself in the right place at the right time, but most comes down to having the right team and straight-up hard work. I have the team and the business know-how, so all I need is the exposure and insight from the best in the biz. From then on, it’s all about delivering the goods, being an artist, and hoping that fans will relate to me.”With all the good attention, Mark has also found himself dealing with the whacky to the just plain indecent. “Many…oh so many! From marriage requests to band requests to hilarious things, like, “Please come sit in my room, so I can stare at you ‘til I fall asleep”. It comes with the territory, though,” Mark laughs, before adding that a grown man has also requested for him to sign his ass.

 
Elitists or snobs?

As expected, Mark’s appearance on Idols has brought the wrath and criticism of the rock elitists, who feel that entering the competition isn’t really rock ‘n’ roll. “You call them elitists, I call them snobs,” Mark smiles. “Don’t get me wrong – not all rock enthusiasts are like this. There are just a few out there who feel that if you don’t play rock, you suck. I may be a rocker, but I’m first and foremost a musician, and that means I love and appreciate all forms of music. People need to realise that just because they don’t like a certain style, that doesn’t make it bad.”Perhaps, this is intertwined with the general misconception that professional musicians are still earning millions of dollars from album sales? “The general public tend to think that we just sit around, get wasted, do a show here and there, and live off the royalties,” Mark laughs. “It’s so much harder than you think! This is a full-time job. In the old days, record labels would take care of everything, which could possibly leave the artist in a bit of a rut should taste change. With the invent of the digital age, artists have to not only perform, but also get involved in the business end of the music.”

 

 
The future for Mark and 12

AThe one topic that we cannot avoid is the future of 12th Avenue should Mark win Idols. Many have predicted that the band will end, if Mark is crowned the winner. Mark, however, denies this, and says, “12th Avenue will always go on. I started the band and have no intention of stopping it. The great thing about this band is that we’ve become brothers. They support me in this.”Finally, I have to ask Mark if he plans on becoming a “Bieber” or a “Daughtry”, if he wins the competition. “Daughtry from a musical perspective, but Bieber has more ladies screaming for him and he has way better hair,” Mark jokes. “I reckon I have some thinking to do (laughs). Seriously, though, I wouldn’t necessarily follow any particular artist’s route. I like to think that I have something unique to offer.” Keep it real, Mark, because, remember, Louis Gossett, Jr. is watching you…
Click here For more information on Mark Haze

Decade of Destruction – Deity’s Muse

“We’re not trying to be commercial or follow what other bands are doing…”

So what do you do after you’ve survived 10 years in the South African music industry, whilst never compromising on your hard rock/metal-in-your-face approach? Well, if you’re Deity’s Muse, you go to a Samba café for some burgers with a certain music journalist, who is always keen to unite rock with food; it is the true way of the Defenders of the Faith, after all.
Sticking it to the Man

Sitting across from me, vocalist/guitarist, Wayne Boucher, looks rather peaceful – despite recently quitting his day job to pursue his rock ‘n’ roll dreams full-time. Considering we are in South Africa, where rock isn’t exactly the number one – or even number two – genre of choice, I would’ve expected him to be a long-haired, goateed version of Stressed Eric. “No, not really,” Wayne laughs. “I’m actually so chilled; it’s ridiculous. The money thing is a bit of a worry, but, at the same time, I don’t really care much about money. If I cared about money, I would’ve been doing pop songs. I’m happy that I’ve done it. I’ve already seen interest all over the place, just because I’ve been more hands-on with the band. I don’t regret it at all. If you want to do this properly, you have to do it full-time.”It’s quite interesting that Wayne mentions money, because I also point out to him that Deity’s Muse have existed for the past decade without any form of assistance from labels, whereas most bands would’ve said eff this and quit long time ago. So, what’s been the success to their longevity? “The main thing is making music that you want to hear. We’re not trying to be commercial or follow what other bands are doing. We’re doing it for ourselves,” Wayne affirms. “We’ve also kept it as a three piece, which is always easier to control.”

Kill The Clones

Having seen the changes in the industry since the turn of the century, I ask what Deity’s Muse would like to see happen in the local music scene in the future. Suddenly, bassist Alvin Boucher springs to life for the first time (and only time) in this interview, puts his burger down, and declares, “I’d like to see bands writing music that they want to hear and not following what’s popular overseas. We’re always 2-3 years behind, it seems; and bands are copying each other and too many bands sound exactly the same. I’d like to see guys come up with their own style of rock and metal.”Wayne adds, “I’d also like to see more professional venues. Like they do overseas, maybe they should be auditioning bands before they get onto a festival. That’s another thing: all these day festivals, they’re just getting too much. Everyone is having a festival nowadays. You have 5 bands on the bill and you call it a festival – it’s ridiculous.”
From Slavery To YouTube

Celebrating their anniversary, Deity’s Muse haven’t exchanged diamond rings and loving vows, instead they’ve released their third studio album, New Trends in Slavery, and decided to ambitiously release 10 live music videos over 10 weeks via their YouTube channel. A project of this magnitude must cost a few pennies, so which bank did they rob? Wayne explains how they made this video project happen.“Through friends of ours, who used to be in a band, but broke up, and started their own multimedia company. All we’ve done is approach them and “you scratch our back, we scratch yours”. Obviously, they’re charging us for it, but we’re getting it a lot cheaper than anyone else. Basically, when it comes to business between two people, it has to help both sides. We’re advertising for them, and they’ll be doing the videos for us.”Sharing burgers and dirty Shania Twain jokes, you cannot help but sense an air of realness to this band. They know they’ll never be selling a million albums, yet they’re just wanting to rock without a reason. I think, deep down, we can all appreciate this remarkable and sincere celebration of complete freedom.
For more information on Deity’s Muse as well as some free MP3’s for your iPod, go to www.deitysmuse.com

The Wild Eyes

“Fun (E) Spelt Backwards Is (E) nuf.”-Nikhil Singh

If waiting around for something exciting to happen to Cape Town is  Fun(e), I’m with The Wild Eyes. Welcome Home Boys.

 

Doodling whilst waiting for the three members of The Wild Eyes to arrive to meet me for our interview at Royal on Long Street was probably the best way to anticipate what happened next. When I looked up from my sketch book, three illustrations by John Galliano back from a bender for the Brothers’ Grimm had sat down at my table. Waiting on beers and braying about four tracks, I prepared to ask my first question about where this cultish trio had been and why they were back in Cape Town with their long awaited EP, Swastique. The last time we saw them around these parts they were doing something of an indie, pop punk thing with Len Cockcroft on drums, Gareth Dawson on bass and noise and Nikhil Singh doing vocals and playing guitar. They come from the early 2000’s clique that consisted of Inge Beckmann and Markus Wormstorm to name a couple and somewhere during their proclaimed self destruction after their album, Our Love Has a Special Violence, they split up. Gareth went back to the UK, where he tells me he spent part of his earlier life squatting in a burnt down warehouse with his dog Chester trying to get TV reception. Len went to the desert and found snseJ while Nikhil went North (to London) and sent his latest creation, Taty to the West.They came back because, well they just came back… like a brain tumour intent on changing the dull thought pattern of South African music.

 

The weird magic of The Wild Eyes has been enthralling all the beautiful creatures of the night since they began but it’s clear that they only really work when all three of them are there.Gareth: “it’s this thing that we’ve got where when one of us is out of the picture, it’s not The Wild Eyes. Each of us can work on our own but even if it’s just the two of us working together it’s a completely different thing.”“Like the Unholy Trinity?” I ask. They all stare at me with wide eyes. “We like that!” yells Len.So what about Swastique? There’s already been some controversy amongst fans of the old stuff that The Wild Eyes have totally changed their tune not to mention swapping all their instruments for a strange setup of SPD 20’s, a Slim Phatty, a Microkorg and other toys. Now the title of their new release connotes anti-Semitic evil? They deny both accusations saying they’re still doing what they were before, making music they feel like making.

 

There’s no real change in that way and as Len says, they didn’t go electro because it’s hot right now. “We just get really fucking bored at the drop of a hat,” says Nikhil and Gareth agrees saying, “we’d forgotten the old songs and didn’t feel like playing them anyway.” What about direction? “There’s no direction,” laughs Nikhil, “We make it up as we go along, including lyrics.”My mind goes back to when I saw a recent gig of them playing a song called Chainsaw in My Lover’s Hands. The enigmatic macabre atmosphere of this front man somehow makes me think it would be perfectly logical that his chosen lady friend would be into the darker side of S & M. Yet Nikhil insists the song is to do with his obsession with 50’s and 60’s pop songs and how they were always about getting together and breaking up. “I guess I agree,” I think, “it’s just a rehash of something done before but this time with severed limbs.”“Gareth coined the word,” Nikhil explains about the title of their EP, “It’s a taboo against the symbol and it’s occurring quite a lot in popular culture. The swastika has been around a lot longer than the Germans have. There’s no reason why it should carry this taboo. What it really is, is a form of rebellion.

 

It’s like saying the swastika is pretty hot right now, we like it and it’s a rejection of taboo… it’s really old. It comes from ancient cultures that don’t exist anymore.”Len: “It’s kind of weird for me because what I got out of it isn’t what you guys are explaining at all.”Gareth: “He (Len) built a Nazi submarine.”“Yes I did,” says Len proudly. “What it (Swastique) was for me was when we first got talking about it, it was about pop culture, about underage kids watching horror movies and the wealth of MTV and black people eating at McDonalds. The disgust.”Gareth: “It’s about taking it back into pop culture rather than it being something that carries weight.”Len: “It’s the glamour in 2011 that is so disgusting that it’s beautiful.”Me: “Like post pop art?”“Popped art,” says Gareth, to which Nikhil and I both shout, “POP TART!” Gareth nods and sneers, “Children playing with My Little Swastika.”Nikhil: “we’re not Nazis. Because I would be dead by now.”Gareth: “Yet we are totally amongst ourselves fascists.” All of them: “Fascists!”

 

It’s obviously just a bit of tongue in cheek jest from these gauntly glamorous artists which to be honest, is so great when Cape Town seems to have lost its sense of humour down the arse end of Evol’s [local venue] couch. The good news is that there are more creative folks out there who are producing amazing things. Take Jenna Bass (also the creator of Jungle Jim magazine) who did their most recent video for Vampire Radio. It’s a straight up pop video shot in the negative; a brilliant and simple visual answer to their musical concept.Their opinion on music in South Africa right now? Len reminisces about the old days of the underground music scene before social media blew up and everyone got a little too professional. Gareth comments on how it’s become a commercial push to improve your lifestyle as a musician by selling out to radio friendly fraudsters, “Whether people like us or not, we don’t really care, we just wanna be what we wanna be,” he smiles.

 

Nikhil feels it’s stopped being about the music here, “We’re just pushing boundaries to better ourselves as musicians. Sure, we’re a parody but because that’s just what we like.” The night went on and the stories and opinions that came out of the three led me along moonscapes covered in golden spiders, smacked up ballerinas and a sweet ‘Fuck you’ attitude to the world of commodity and those too boring to consider something different. The EP will be available to download soon and I can’t wait as I feel these are the glittering beginnings of a bloody fairytale where a war wages toward innovation and the real artists will live happily ever after.

 

Jazz Legend: Moreira Chonguica

Meeting up with Moreira Chonguica at a trendy coffee shop in the heart of Art Central in Kloofnek, Cape Town he greets me with a ready and sincere smile; “Hello”, he says, a hint of Portuguese in his accent. He is Mozambican born and a celebrated Saxophonist – a SAMA Award winner for ‘Best Contemporary Jazz Artist 2009’ and nominated for ‘Best Producer in 2007’.As we get into the flow of the interview which instantly takes the relaxed form of an easy conversation, I get to know a highly intelligent and philosophical man.

His confident demeanour and stylized approach in answering my questions reveals an insight into his most invaluable years of life and industry experience. The same year he was awarded his first SAMA in 2009, he received two of the highest honours in his home country. Radio Mocambique [the nation’s largest radio station] voted him ‘Cultural Personality of the Year’ and readers of ‘Jornal Noticias’ [leading Mozambican magazine] also voted Moreira as “The Best of 2009”alongside President Guebuza and the Mozambican Football team – The Mambas.   Moreira conceptualizes, develops and maintains community initiatives in both Mozambique and Cape Town, with the sole purpose of bringing music to schools and children.

These children would otherwise not have been exposed to the culture and beauty of making or being a part of live music production and appreciation, specifically Jazz and the saxophone. With his music he aims to create a niche for the ‘fresh ear’. I ask him which elements in production he incorporates to get exactly this.

“To be honest I would be lying if said I had a set formula. The best part is that I don’t know any of it going in from the start of doing a song. If it’s a set recipe it won’t be fresh anymore. I’m just a musician and I see it this way, I make music and play the sax.You choose to call it Jazz, I say okay,” he smiles

 

“Fair enough. But if I had to get in there and make a quality Jazz song- what could I not go without?” I find myself thinking aloud… “Honesty and the intention that has to come straight from the soul because good music is honest. Spontaneity, a sense of adventure mixed with just a little bit of crazy. The rest is God willing,” he answers, smiling again.With the advent of his illustrious career since he graduated from UCT, Chonguica has played at countless international Jazz festivals all over the world.

Considering of course that he is a Southern Africa based musician, I ask him what about playing in Europe stood out the most for him? “I’d have to say the level of professionalism and discipline artists have for their work. The music distribution infrastructure is so much more fluid, it’s easier to get hold of all the music you enjoy listening to. What also became clear to me is that in Africa we tend to think our scene is smaller than Europe’s. I have learned it’s exactly the same, we just have less opportunity and exposure on media platforms than they do. But we’re getting there.”

Now in the thick of his booming career that shifts from one glorious high note to the next forming the beautiful melodies he has come to know as his life – after all the dust settles… I am curious as to how he would like to be remembered. “I would like to be remembered for my music , for who I am and the things I symbolise such as knowing where you come from and taking that wherever you go and naturally my contributions to society too.”Moreira is currently working on the production of a third special album. It pays homage and honours unsung Mozambican artists who never had the opportunity to have their music heard.For more info on this intriguing artist check out Chonguica’s website