I live with a true music lover. He’s passionate, informed, talented and all of a sudden refuses to listen to any kind of good music. I don’t know when this happened exactly. It’s getting worse though. Ironically he is also one of the coolest kids in Cape Town and I love him dearly. Charisma for days and hideously patterned Madiba shirts for weeks, his name is Bread.
Together he and Darren Laiben, the token New Yorker we picked up a couple years ago, have combined forces and really bad playlists composed of grungy 90′s hits, African House and A LOT of Prince. I’m not saying that rock ‘n roll and blues are the only way to go but who the hell can even entertain the thought of listening to Nirvana bang on about the sound of the generation? It’s too soon for that revival man. Both have the tendency to take the piss out of certain music fads by playing the jangly-pine-forest band of the moment for fun but you know a man is serious when he sells all his Zeppelin Lps.
Thing is; they’re not the only ones. There are a whole breed of kids running amok who look like The Breakfast Club and are boycotting great South African bands in favour of raving in their rooms to Grave Rave and The Thong Song whilst wearing shell-suits. Is it real or ironic? It’s hard to tell. So I asked and they made a lot of sense for a couple of artfags…
I was told I could only do the interview if I was prepared to hear some obscure dance track on repeat for the duration. So we got down to it over some vodka jelly shots in between the synths and keyboards that litter Bread’s room.
Why did you stop listening to rock ‘n roll and stop going to gigs?
Bread: Because I got bored. Why must I be loyal to one type of music? Music is consumed. We consume everything else, why can’t we consume and discard music? A person playing the blues now is totally irrelevant. Sure it’s good but it’s not art. That’s what I’m looking for in music. I feel sorry for people who call themselves artists and play the blues. Jack White should be hanged. South African bands right now like Mr Cat and The Dashboard who everyone loves for being so ‘quirky’ aren’t artists. Are they pirates? It’s juvenile and disassociated from reality. The bands that are doing well in this country are just trying to emulate something. It’s not creative at all.
Darren Laiben: I’ve never seen a group of people so dedicated to a type of music and who are so closed-minded to anything else. It’s like small town syndrome in Cape Town. South Africa is the place for opportunity because people are starved here. There’s no reason for them to be. We have the internet and access to every kind of music immediately to inspire but people just don’t do anything innovative here. These bands don’t push boundaries. But more people are getting smart and if we (Bread and I) did anything new, it’d be incredible.
I asked them which SA bands they thought were doing something relevant and Big Nuz, the Durban kwaito group who won a SAMA last year, came up. Apparently the only place to find something that reflects innovation is at the stalls by the taxi rank.
I don’t know if I buy it. They have a point when it comes to a need for innovation in this country but I don’t think throwing out Bob Dylan, even as an ironic gesture, tells us that you’re into relevancy.
I do agree that people are bored and looking for something more challenging to go and watch at a gig and it’s great that SA music taste is becoming more acquired.
Seriously though, making a statement about why music is and isn’t art and not making the music you’re talking about? Ramble on.
Author’s Note: Bread & Darren’s answers are a summarised version of a long, interesting conversation.
Written By : Eliza Day
Photo: Andrew Moerdyk
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