Music for the waist down

This interview was published in Perdeby on 29 July 2013.

                                                                                                                                                 PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Taxi Violence’s fourth studio album Soul Shake sees the Cape Town quartet cranking up the noise to produce unadulterated, raucous rock ‘n’ roll, a feverish ode to what made the band so popular when they started out almost a decade ago.

Perdeby sat down with George van der Spuy (vocals), Rian Zietsman (guitar), Jason Ling (bass guitar) and Louis Nel (drums) to chat about their rip-roaring fourth release.

At the beginning of the year you guys came up with 30 new songs for the second half of Soul Shake. How do you go about choosing which ones make it onto the album in the end?Rian: We kind of jam it out.
 

George: And do pre-production.
 

Rian: Ja, pre-production is a very vital part of making an album, I think. You check which ideas work and which don’t, but then on the other hand, we have one song which is a combination of a whole bunch of things that didn’t work together. Now I think it’s my favourite song on the album.
 

George: It’s weird. You listen back to it during pre-production and you can hear what other people hear because when you play it, it’s very different. You’re enjoying the jam and you’re in the vibe but when you listen back to it, it doesn’t come across in the same way as you feel it. We found a balance between what we really enjoy and what sounds good on CD.

How did writing an acoustic album before this influence the writing of Soul Shake?Louis: I wouldn’t say “influence”, but I would say it definitely helped during the songwriting process, because in the past we used to write songs in the rehearsal room with very loud amps and loud drum kits and stuff. They came out well but for the acoustic album we wrote on acoustic instruments and the majority of this new album was also written on acoustic instruments in a basement, so you have to kind of like pay attention to the quieter side of the song. You can’t hide it behind just bashing drums and lots of distorted guitar. It’s a very cool way of writing because if your song translates on an acoustic instrument, it will definitely translate being played loud and brash but not necessarily the other way round. In terms of songwriting, our acoustic album helped us a lot.

You guys have opted for songs with a simpler arrangement this time around. What brought this on?Rian: Simple is always best. Once you start overthinking something, I find that it loses the essence of what you’re trying to do in the first place. Although we did spend a lot of time honing the songs, there were certain aspects of it that we weren’t that familiar [with] or sure of when we went into the studio and jammed it out there and took some guidance from Rusti, who was recording it with us. I suppose that’s where the simplicity comes from, the fact that it was new to us as well. When I listen back to some of the stuff, I couldn’t even remember playing it or doing it and not because I was drunk.
 

Jason: I think for us, we’ve been around for a while. We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. I think that that’s something that we’ve learned now.
 

George: We kind of took a lead from our influences like The Stones and The Beatles and [those bands] are really simple. There’s no real complicated stuff and if you can write a simple song that translates well, then you’ve done your job instead of trying to complicate things.
 

Jason: You don’t need to be different for the sake of being different.
 

Rian: At the end of the day, if you want to make a living out of this, you can’t be a musician’s band. You kind of have to challenge your audience in a certain regard but you still need to show them a good time without going to class when they come to your shows. They’re coming to rock out.

Jason, you were a lot more involved in the writing of Soul Shake. What was that like?Jason: It was cool, but it’s like ...
 

Louis: Don’t be modest.
 

                                                                          PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Jason: Louis and Rian were doing Beast and George took time off for Wembley. I don’t have a side project so I’m always writing music. I brought a lot of ideas to the band and the songs wouldn’t be the same without them but I mean, instead of just jamming them out, we started with the basics of structures and chords. Louis brought some ideas and Rian as well.
 

George: And George.

                                                                        PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Jason: And George. Sorry George. Just checking if you’re awake. When I joined the band, a lot of the songs were still from the previous bass player and a lot of the songs were carried over to the unplugged album, so as a band, these 11 songs are pretty much us. Except for one, it’s a cover but it has pretty much our flavour to it.

George, you write your lyrics in studio. Am I right?George: I don’t write them in studio. I write them during the recording process because as Rian said earlier, sometimes there’s little things that change in the studio. “Brainmash” for instance. He [Rian] did something different on the guitars and it was a totally different chorus and once I heard that, it inspired me to write a different chorus that’s a lot more catchy. It helps to write with stuff that sounds a little bit more proper but you always have a basic melody down and sort of an idea of what the ideas are going to be like. I just refine it during the recording process.

Is there any significance behind the album title, Soul Shake?George: When we set out to do this album, we wanted to do a party-rock album, get back to our original roots of just rocking out because our unplugged album was chilled out. That’s where the whole “soul shake” thing comes from. We want to move you from the inside and the outside. Music for the waist down. You don’t have to think about it too much but it hits you [there].

There’s a little story behind “Singing Monkey” – something about a smashed-up guitar. Can you tell me a bit more about that?Rian: A mate of ours was on some film set and one of the props was some cheap-ass Fender Strat copy. One of the things they had to do with it was to smash a guitar while filming, but whoever did it didn’t do it properly – it was still working. It had one of the tune knobs missing and that string had to be on a certain pitch so I tuned the rest of it so that it would fit in with that string and it ended up being an open tuning so you could strum it easily. I think [Jason] Ling and Louis had left one night after rehearsal and George and I were still hanging around. He was jamming this little lick on the thing and I saw what he was doing and took that and he started singing over it and that’s how it came about.

Shortstraw: Good morning, success

This interview was originally published in Perdeby on 20 May 2013.

                                                                                                                                               PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Just over a year ago, quirky indie-kwela quipsters Shortstraw were the little-known band that was playing the opening slot on a bill, only really known for their spoof song that pays a hilarious homage to actor Keanu Reeves and for dropping the deplorable f-bomb in the chorus of “LYSAGFY”.

Fast-forward a bit and the picture looks quite different. First they nabbed the coveted award for best indie band at this year’s MK Awards after going head to head with local genre heavyweights like The Plastics and Ashtray Electric. Then they opened for Brighton rockers The Kooks, a night that turned out to be an icy battle of the elements under a bridge in downtown Jo’burg, easily the perfect setting to mark this pinnacle in their careers.

Most recently, and perhaps most importantly, Shortstraw have released their follow-up album, Good Morning, Sunshine. Not unlike their debut album, You’re Underfed, I’m Wonderful, it presents a collection of boogie-inducing beats that make any crowd jive joyously as they sing along to the bodacious hooks and choruses.

What they have done differently is up the afro-influence ante by making the distinctive skiffle-like beat that characterises kwela music prominent throughout the album. 

   

“We’ve made a concerted effort to take an influence for this new one, which was the kind of afro vibe, and that strung together some of the songs that weren’t necessarily influenced by that,” says frontman Alastair Thomas.

Good Morning, Sunshine was written collaboratively by the whole band, a process lead guitarist Tom Revington also credits in giving the album its dance sensibility. “Songs would start and finish in the band room,” he explains.

“If all five of us are contributing to a song, there’s a good chance it’s going to be loud,” bassist Russel Grant adds.

 By December last year, Shortstraw had about half the tracks for their second offering. To write the remainder, they went to Verkykerskop in the Free State, which allowed them the time to focus solely on making music. 

“It was about getting out of Johannesburg, which I think was very important because otherwise we would have been quite distracted,” says Russel of the reasons behind their platteland getaway.

                                                                                                                                                 PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

                                                                                                                                                 PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

“We would have been together [on tour] regardless, but it was nice to be in a creative space with creative people,” says Alastair.

But did the Shortstraw boys feel pressure to get the writing of the album done in a mere week? 

“We knew we wanted to organise this whole tour and have the album ready, so we kind of worked backwards from that deadline,” says synth and keyboard player Gad de Combes. Without that pressure, he says, it all came easily.

There was a great moment during that week in Verkykerskop, says Tom, when the band was narrowing down the tracks for the album. 

“I remember looking at the list and thinking, we’ve got a good selection. It’s not like we’re struggling to fill up an album. We’re struggling to choose which ones to put in, which is cool. It’s a good space to be in,” he explains.

For Russel, the great moment was during the week that Good Morning, Sunshine had to be ready and everyone in the band was ecstatic with the final product.

 “I think if we had problems, we would’ve delayed things and really made a point to change it, but it just worked out that we were all happy at the right time,” he says.

While Good Morning, Sunshine still offers the witty lyrics that characterise Shortstraw’s sound, some of the tracks on the album suggest that the band has grown into a more mature sense of humour. 

“We’ve been writing songs for quite a while now. I think it’s just a natural progression,” says Alastair. 

“The more you do anything ...”

“... the more refined it gets,” says Russel, completing his sentence.

Gad wants to clear something up. “Look, there are still things that make us laugh on the new album...”

“But it’s not as much toilet humour,” says Alastair, his bandmates laughing.

Another thing they all agree on is that the process of creating their second album has brought Shortstraw closer together something evident as they complete each other’s sentences.

 “I spend more time with these guys than I do with anyone else,” explains Alastair.

Says Russel: “I spend three, four times a week with them when I’m not working, so these dudes become your ...”

“... bros,” says Alastair.

“Your besties,” agrees Russel, provoking yet another explosion of laughter.

Read my review of Shortstraw's album, Good Morning Sunshine, here. 

Sons of Settlers take the scenic route to stardom

This article was originally published in Perdeby on 13 May 2013. 

                                                                                                                                                   PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Train. Gig. Drive. Gig. Drive. Gig.

Sons of Settlers are on their Playing The Fool Tour, a double-headlining endeavour with friends and fellow Cape Town musicians Holiday Murray. They decided to take a train that snakes all the way up north to Gauteng, choosing to ditch the airport drama for a scenic cross-country view and loud impromptu carriage jam sessions instead.

They’ve stopped at Park Acoustics on the Pretoria leg of their tour and, as the first act on the bill, Sons of Settlers delivered a lush, pop rock-laden set complete with the odd scattering of folk. It’s the perfect start to the day, despite two of the strings on lead vocalist Gerdus Oosthuizen’s guitar, Olivia, breaking.

Afterwards, they head to where the comedy show will later take place. Bassist Ryno Buckle, who his band mates affectionately call “Buckle”, flops onto the small stage like a rag doll. He’s the unlucky one who was tasked with driving the 600 km from the band’s gig in Durban the night before.

“Next time we’ll do it by boat,” jokes Oosthuizen. 

“Yes, I think so. Play coastal towns and then take the boat inland,” agrees lead guitarist Leroi Nel in jest. 

“We talk a lot of crap,” adds drummer Justin “Bossie” Bosman, almost apologetically.

Truth is, Sons of Settlers never intended on sharing their music with anyone when they began making tunes. It all came together when Oosthuizen (former lead guitarist of spacey indie rock outfit New Holland) and Nel (former lead vocalist of the wildly popular Afrikaans classical prog rock band Foto na Dans) would hang out and jam after yoga practice. Buckle (also of New Holland fame) had been playing in various bands with Oosthuizen since they were kids and joined them soon afterwards.

The trio’s previous bands were winding down and they were all looking for a much-needed creative outlet. After coming up with a few basic riffs, they decided to add a drummer to the mix and make it official. That’s where Bossie came in.

Were they worried about reintroducing themselves to audiences who already associated them with their previous bands?

                                                                                 PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

“Not at all,” says Nel, followed by a synchronised “I don’t care” from the rest of the band.“There wasn’t an intention [to make our music public], so there wasn’t any pressure. There was no pressure to be launched as something new, or something different. We were enjoying what we were doing and thought that people would enjoy it too,” Nel explains.

Oosthuizen says that with their previous projects their measure of success involved certain things like getting a slot at Oppikoppi or getting nominated for a SAMA. Sons of Settlers, he says, is already successful. 

“Our success has been the fact that we have been able to play together, and have the union that we have on stage, and have the great experience that we do. We are already winning,” he says.

The foursome is very close to completing their debut album, which they’re looking at releasing in July. They’ve taken a totally DIY approach to it, starting with recording all the tracks at Oosthuizen’s parent’s house in Onrus, something Bossie says allowed the band to capture an energy that sounds better than if they were pressed to get everything done in a regular studio.

Sons of Settlers also chose to combine recording the album live with working on it in studio. This way, Oosthuizen maintains, the album has a temporal aspect to it. “You’ve got this real, organic, live, breathing thing but you can pretty it up and still buff it up,” he says.

When it comes to lyrical themes, Sons of Settlers say they touch on a couple of main ideas, but their first offering is in no way a concept album. Oosthuizen went through a break-up during the process of creating the album, which is reflected in songs like “Former Lover”. There are also the less amorous tracks which deal with how the band sees society working or not working.

“Something we brought up a lot is a consumerist society, the unsustainability of the way that the system is going,” explains Oosthuizen. 

Other songs are more frivolous though, like “I Know That You Want Me”, a song which consists entirely of the lyrics “I want your body / It makes me do karate / I know that you want me”.

Nel says that the collective concept that in some way ties the album together is self-empowerment. “The way we perceive things and the way we separate ourselves from it and we don’t necessarily agree with it, and that we don’t necessarily need it to feel like ourselves,” he says.

“I think the people that are most excited to have this record in their hands are these guys sitting right here,” adds Oosthuizen, looking at his band mates.

So where to next for Sons of Settlers? “We actually have a bunch of songs that we didn’t get to finish in time for this album and we were talking about it. We’re not tired of this set, but it’s time to move on. We’re not planning on riding this wave and seeing where it goes. We’re writing some kiff stuff now,” Oosthuizen says.

And the rest of the tour?

Break. Gig. Train.

The return of Holiday Murray

 This interview was originally published in Perdeby on 13 May 2013.

                                                                                                                                                PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

“With any creative relationship, it requires some time to get perspective. That’s definitely made us realise how important it is to play music together and also to give us time to soak up more inspiration.”

Holiday Murray’s bassist Chris Carter is talking about the Cape Town band’s six-month hiatus, a sabbatical of sorts, while he ventured off to India for a while.

Soak up inspiration they did, and now, with mysterious Tanzanian stick man traveller Murray in tow, and a 600 km journey through the night from Durban behind them, they are at Park Acoustics. Arms woven together, the band huddles ritualistically before taking to the stage.

What’s the huddle all about? “It’s a secret,” says lead guitarist Justin Davenport later with a mischievous smile. “Something happens.”

Whatever it is, the foursome delivers a labyrinth of intricate sound, a declaration of intent, an invitation to go on an illusory journey.

Their particular journey started when the band released their self-titled debut album in 2011. Two years later, Holiday Murray is five tracks into their follow-up release. The band is toying with the idea of recording two EPs this time around, with the money from the first one intended to fund the second. A limited vinyl edition is also on the cards.

“I think it’s going to be a double-headed album and we want to look at the interplay between two different styles,” explains Davenport.

                                                                          PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

The band wants to delve into two worlds with these different styles, the one exploring a velvety, complex sound while the other dips into a bigger, boisterous, rock ‘n’ roll one. “We’re still exploring, we’re just playing. We’re not too serious. We’re still young,” says Davenport.

                                                                           PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

They’re recording their new material with producer TeeJay Terblanche at his Coffee Stained Vinyl Studios in Cape Town, but they are thinking of experimenting with their own recording methods too. The band is still throwing around the idea of

having a more produced sound with bigger, edgier songs and then taking a DIY approach to the rest of the material.

Either way, they are steering their sound into a direction quite different from the one that their immensely popular first song “Jirey” pushed them into.

“It’s not necessarily that we don’t want to make happy music, but there are a whole range of devotions and ideas that we want to come through that aren’t just happy-go-lucky, make-you-dance music,” explains Carter.

“As different as it is to us, it might be different to other people and that’s cool. We want to keep on surprising people. We’re going to continue making music that makes us happy and if it makes other people happy, then it’s an absolute bonus,” says drummer Ellis Silverman.

When it comes to lyrical content, Davenport says, Holiday Murray’s music has always been quite metaphorical. A lot of the time it gets lost in the spaces between the band’s multi-layered sound.

“We talk about a lot of things that have relevance to us and the way we see the world,” says Davenport. “They often come out quite ...”

 “... abstract,” offers Carter.

Overall, though, Holiday Murray have never chosen to tackle any specific topic through their music. “It’s just a journey of words and poetry,” says Davenport.

And to finish this new journey that they are embarking on, they are heading back home to Cape Town. Rather unconventionally, they’re doing so by train.

“The scenery is absolutely unbelievable,” says Silverman. “The number of times you look out into the absolute nothingness and just think, ‘F**k!’ That’s all you really think. Well I do, at least.”

“I had a few deeper thoughts,” retorts Carter comically. “I bet you did. Do you care to share?” says Silverman looking back at him.

“Not really,” is the reply he gets.

“Fine.”

Watch a live performance video of Holiday Murray playing two of their new songs at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, courtesy of we-are-awesome. 

 
BOOTLEG | Holiday Murray - Live at Kirstenbosch from we-are-awesome on Vimeo.

The Hollow Body: "I need to sing songs to remind me, to remind me of everything."

The Hollow Body at Arcade Empire                                                                                  PHOTO: Hendro van der Merwe

There’s a biting chill in the air at Arcade Empire’s acoustic evening. As is starts raining, the few people who were sitting at tables outside flee indoors for cover. Those who were lucky enough to avoid the downpour are talking noisily over cheap beer.

The chatter becomes an irritating buzz that competes with Jonathan Velthuysen’s soothing drone as he takes to the small, sparsely lit stage in the corner. The indifferent audience doesn’t seem to bother him as he moves his broad shoulders this way and that, tilting his head back slightly, feeling every note that he effortlessly strums on his guitar.

Velthuysen has been having a fiery love affair with the instrument strapped around his shoulder for many years. Flickers of it may have started when he picked up his mom’s old Hofner guitar at the age of 13, but this relationship permanently changed after he came across one guitar in particular while living in Scotland.

“It was just a phenomenal guitar,” says a slightly reserved Velthuysen, his admiration for the string instrument still evident. “It made me realise how average I actually was at playing instrumental music and it also inspired me to start singing.”

When he returned to South Africa in 2009, Velthuysen did just that. He formed a folk rock band called Stepdog, which released an EP called Amy After Dark in 2010. The band enjoyed a pinch of success but eventually broke up. Velthuysen wanted to go it alone, so he dubbed himself “The Hollow Body” and steered his sound in the bare, unfussy direction of folk music.

“I’m not very comfortable with pretending and I find that [folk] is one genre that I can write in, sort of as an idiom,” he says. “I can just be who I am and sing what I want. It’s just easier.”

At the same time, Velthuysen also began learning how to build guitars under master luthier JA Tredoux, founder of the Stellenbosch Guitar Company. It’s an incredibly long process to build a guitar, says Velthuysen. He has spent the last two years learning how to craft the instrument and will more than likely still be an apprentice for the next five years, depending on how quickly he can perfect his skills.

“There are a lot of finer things that take a lot of time to get a feel for. When it comes down to it, a lot of it is problem solving because things don’t always turn out the way you want and then you have to improvise. That takes a long time to learn,” explains Velthuysen.

                                                         PHOTO: Hendro van der Merwe

The very guitar that he performs with is the first one that he made. Velthuysen had an idea of what he wanted to do but being a novice, he didn’t quite know what he was going to come out with. He says: “It took me a couple of months to come to terms with what I had created. It’s like anything, you gotta get used to it. It’s a very unique guitar and it sounds good.”

Velthuysen also used his self-made guitar to record his debut album as The Hollow Body. Johannine is an album which allows his rough, scratchy voice to explore how he has come to terms with several events that have drastically shaped his life.

“It’s just a collection of moments of inspiration. And also, some of it is just a painful reflection on it,” he says of the intensely personal nature of his lyrics. The painful reflection Velthuysen is referring to is the death of his father in 2005 and the ending of a serious relationship not long afterwards.

Is songwriting a cathartic process for Velthuysen, then? “It’s essential, absolutely essential. That’s why I do it,” he says. “My motivation isn’t that people are going to like it, really. I’m always happy if people do but I just find that I need to do it. I’m not comfortable with not doing it. I tried it.” 

Velthuysen is speaking of a time when he thought that he would get another job and just play music on the side as a hobby. “I just found it very, very hard to stay balanced. I need to sing songs to remind me, to remind me of everything.”

Read my review of The Hollow Body's debut album, Johannine, here. 

Q&A with Veranda Panda

 I did a little Q&A with Veranda Panda for Perdeby's RAMfest spread. It turned out that they missed their set, which is incredibly unfortunate. I have been looking forward to seeing them live for the longest time. Holding thumbs that they will attempt another Gauteng gig soon. 

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Liam Magner and Jane Baillie of Veranda Panda.

The Black EP is a bit darker than your previous EP. What inspired this?
Liam: I think it all stems from the fact that Jane and I don’t make music that fits into any particular genre. When we started producing together we had all these tracks that went from hip-hop to drum and bass and were even more unpredictable in their mood. So we came up with an idea to release three EPs, grouping the tracks together as best [as] we could. The Black EP is really special to us, in that it’s way more personal than the others. Most of that music doesn’t belong on dance floors and comes from weird places in our heads. I think, if given the chance, most of [our] music would angle towards the dark side, especially Jane. Classical musicians are a bit weird.

Will your next release, Colours, follow the same style?
Jane: Colours falls into the dance floor orientated stuff. There is quite a bit of drum and bass and some heavy glitch bass numbers. The focus is mainly quite positive and uplifting, I guess. We have already started playing out some of the tracks in live gigs and the response has been awesome. Releasing it cannot come sooner.

You guys churn out music regularly. Do you find the song-writing process to be quite an easy one?
Liam: We are lucky! Our creative process is normally really painless once we have a solid idea. We have so much stuff backed up that it’s just a question of deciding what to work on and when. We also understand each other and our process is really quick once it gets going. That being said, I never want to see how many hours I wasted on bad ideas or songs that just ended up in the bin. As with most artists, we are really reactive to our moods and we do have really bad days, but luckily they are in the minority. Mostly we are really grateful to have such a talented team. Jessica Sole and Maxine Matthews are super professional and always exceed our expectations when we call them in.

It’s safe to say that there’s nothing quite like Veranda Panda in the local music scene. Were you worried about how your sound would be received by audiences who are not familiar with what you have created?
Liam: When I started making music as Veranda Panda, I somehow managed to skip the part where you have reservations about your sound. The music was completely awful. I still have some and cannot believe I confidently went out and assaulted people with that. There wasn’t much of an alternative electronic scene in Durban back then and I sort of just carried on in my spare time. [After] I met up with Jane in 2010, it sort of went from bedroom (and occasional gig) to clubs. Once we took that leap we began having reservations about our sound. People are obviously conditioned into the house orientated genres, especially in Durban, and I can name plenty of times where we have hated being on stage. We had some guy throw bottles at us, pull out our plugs and once a dude tried to jump over the booth to hit me for playing music he didn’t like. We laugh about it now, but it was pretty awful back then. Now and again I had serious reservations about pushing our sound, but we stuck with it and are really happy that we did! Jane has been particularly adamant about it, and I am really grateful for the amount of times she has persuaded me to play our tracks. Particularly we are really amazed how Durban nightlife has changed since mid-2010, and have to credit guys like George Kretsos for helping to challenge mindsets.

Your music boasts a number of collaborations. Do you think electronic music makes it a lot easier to experiment in this way?
Liam: Yeah definitely. We have two rules at the moment: 1) Don’t collaborate with drummers. 2) Don’t collaborate with bass players.
Jane: Other than that, we are so keen to work with all types of musicians. There really are no boundaries and the more creative the collaborations the better. It also helps to employ the skills of others, because if Liam had to sing on a track, nobody would like us ever again.

Does Veranda Panda have any plans to break into the international market?
Liam: We would love to break into the international market. At the moment we manage ourselves and have to admit that our knowledge on how to go about such a thing is limited. We are working hard to build our name in SA and have a good little following building up in France and Germany. We are confident that something will fall from the sky and send us to Europe.

You have revealed that Liam is determined to somehow work his harmonica skills into your set. Will we bear witness to this at your RAMfest set?
Liam: Jane laughs every time I play it. So I am still a bit insecure. But not this time around – the good old mouth organ has not truly found its place in the set yet.

What else can we expect from Veranda Panda in 2013?
Jane: Black and white bears, immaculately dressed, sitting on country verandas, drinking tea, trying to keep making music we like that makes people happy. And our next EP launch party in June.


Listen to some Veranda Panda below: 




(Images from here.) 

RAMfest 2013: Extremely loud and incredibly close

Have you seen our (Perdeby's) RAMfest spread? It's a beauty, no? I'll do a post with a few of my own photos soon soon. Until then, enjoy this. 

(Click on the article to enlarge it.)

Open publication - Free publishing - More campus

Ashtray Electric: an exercise in WTF

This interview was originally published in Perdeby on 11 March 2013.  

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                                                                                                                                           PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

“Somebody tweeted the other day that they’re glad to see we’re out of our hiatus. It’s like, what f**king hiatus are you talking about? I don’t know where you’ve been, but we’ve been playing,” vents Ashtray Electric guitarist Rudi Cronje, clearly irked.

Not only have they been playing, but Ashtray Electric have recently released new material too and, true to their moniker as indie rock mavericks, they opted for an unorthodox approach to the whole process.

Truth is, Ashtray Electric have since their inception spat in the face of the mainstream music industry and given commercialism an abrasive middle finger before walking out the door to do their own thing.

The band decided to produce, record, engineer and mix their fourth offering themselves. The result? WTF, a tantalising five-track EP that still totters between being angsty and alluring, while making way for a far more gritty, experimental sound.

“This time around, we didn’t allow ourselves to dig so deep into the actual process. It was always an exercise in spontaneity. There wasn’t too much time to think about stuff and we sort of sat back and saw what would come out of it,” says bassist Reggie Nel.

                                                                                                                                         PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Rudi agrees: “Maybe there’s a lot to be said for not thinking about it too much and four guys getting together to make music. Literally, that’s what it is – four guys getting together and making tunes.”

“I think we were just keen to throw something out there with a bit of attitude and just say, ‘Well, we’re still around. We’re still writing the songs that we want to write,’” adds frontman and guitarist Andre Pienaar.

Unusually, WTF was given away for free. Fans could sign up for the EP, which meant that once it was released, they got it in their inbox as a digital gift.

“Because it’s digital, your response is a lot quicker, instead of waiting for it to be distributed, stocked in the shops and then for people to buy it and put it in their car and listen,” says Rudi of the benefits of giving WTF away online.

Andre says that doing things the way they did meant that there was no pressure on the release because the band didn’t have to be concerned about selling enough albums to cover things like studio costs. “It’s out there. If people like it, cool. If people hate it then … ”

“ … who gives a f**k?” says Rudi, finishing Andre’s sentence.

One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the way Andre pours out sexy yet afflicted lyrics over a microphone. “I’ve always said that writing is a lot cheaper than going to a psychologist,” he says.
“Unless there’s a piece of me inside of it, I don’t want to create it. There’s zero point.”

                                                                                                                                                PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

If there was ever a song which reflected this, it’s “Looper”, which is almost like a piece of performance poetry, with Andre reciting the lyrics, allowing his natural stutter to take centre stage against a musical backdrop. It starts off with staccato-like drums that echo his erratic flow of speech.

“The rad thing about what we do is that you get to do scary stuff. Writing and recording it wasn’t too stressful because I recorded it in my room, but playing it – I mean, we’ve played it like, what, 12, 15 times and performing it is still f**king frightening. I won’t lie,” admits Andre.

“I remember after the first time we finished playing it, Andre said to the crowd, and he doesn’t really talk a lot on stage, he said, ‘Thank you. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.’ That was quite rad,” says Rudi, sympathising with his band mate. “I mean, it’s hard for the rest of us. We don’t understand how these things influence the people who write it and especially, like he said, that is a piece of someone else put into a piece of music. Even though it’s not you, you’re still a part of it.”

The conversation turns to the weight of creating an album. Is it perhaps a bit outdated and are EPs the way forward? “I think if you’re going to do a full-length album, you’re going to need a full body of work that you want to release,” muses Andre. “There should at least be some kind of line drawn through it that you, as the band, try and bring something, whether it’s a message or a sound or a theme. There has to be something about that album that makes it have a beginning and an end. EPs are nice when you don’t really know what you’re doing but you are just keen to f**k around a bit.
 When you’re really passionate about doing something f**king rad, you can do an album.”

                                                                                                                                                PHOTO: Christelle Duvenage

Reggie adds that, “People are sort of going through singles really fast. It’s so easy to quickly buy a single online and enjoy it for like two, three weeks and move on to the next thing. I think there is a subculture that is forming and people like to just sift through music really fast, but there is still a lot of weight in an album.”


“It gives you a backbone, you know? I think all of us love putting an album on and listening to it and going on the whole journey that an album takes you on, because that’s why bands write it. That’s the reason that they put it together and it’s put together in a certain way and it portrays a certain time of your life,” says Rudi.

What journey does WTF take you on then? Well, that’s probably best described by Rudi’s parting words at the end of the interview: “See you later for some chaos.” And chaos it is, but of the most delightful, head-spinning, shoulder-grooving, foot-tapping kind.

Read my review of Ashtray Electric's EP, WTF, here.

Q&A: Tailor

This article was first published in Perdeby on 4 March 2013.

***

In the middle of Cape Town’s train station, as hurried commuters were mindlessly heading for their destinations, Tailor burst out in song. People slowly started paying attention to the petite figure that was the source of such a commanding voice. Local indie record label Just Music noticed too. A few months later, Tailor landed herself a record deal and released her debut album The Dark Horse. Nominated in the Best Newcomer category at this year’s MK Awards, it’s as if the songstress came out of nowhere and made a beeline for success. Truth is, Tailor’s talent had been hibernating in another incarnation. She fronted the now defunct punk-rock band Mel-funktion which toured Japan but didn’t ever get to release an album. Perdeby caught up with Tailor to talk about her loyal fans, the lessons she learned from Mel-funktion and what she misses about Pretoria.

You plan on moving from Cape Town to Jo’burg pretty soon. Has that happened yet?
No, it hasn’t happened yet but it will later this year. It’s to promote the album and just 24/7 focus on that.

You have an astounding ability to manipulate your voice in various ways. Is this something you practise or does it come naturally?
I remember as a kid it used to be quite strange figuring out that part of me. I knew I could do it, but it wasn’t something I focused on while performing, or ever. It just came very naturally.


Your lyrics are deeply personal and expressive. Do you find the songwriting process cathartic?
It’s quite an easy process. Writing is quite an easy process for me, especially with The Dark Horse. It was a very natural process in writing.

You bring that same emotional intensity into your performances. Do you find it draining?
It is very draining but it still feels so good. Some people think that I leave the stage feeling angry. It just happens, once again, very naturally. It’s not something I force and if I feel it, it happens and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But it is tiring.

Is it difficult to bare your soul to an audience?
No, because I get on stage and I become Tailor, a part of me that I don’t show offstage. It’s just very truthful and raw, but it’s not premeditated at all.

What was it like working with producer Matthew Fink on the album?
It was amazing – he is a genius. He just let me do my own thing and be myself. He pushed me very hard and it was very long hours, literally 10 to 11 hours every day in studio. It was a magical journey.

What lessons did you learn being a part of Mel-funktion that you are applying to the music you are making now as Tailor?
To be honest, in Mel-funktion I knew that the music industry was difficult and it was a lot of hard work, but it’s even more hard work than I thought. I guess that built me, it kind of put down the groundwork for what was to come and I know who to work with now and who not to work with. It taught me various things, but that’s one of them.

Have you been working on any new material, perhaps a follow-up album?
I have, especially since the Zebra & Giraffe tour, I’ve written over 20 new songs. It’s crazy. I’m actually performing one of the new songs tonight, to kind of test the waters and see what the response is.

Do you have any music videos in the pipeline?
For now, I think we’ve shot pretty much all of them, especially the live ones just came out, like the live ones of “Shaped Like A Gun” and “Wolf”. You never know, some creative idea might pop up, but for now, music videos are complete.

Fans from all over the world have asked when you are going to pay them a visit. Do you have plans to try and break into the international market?
There are talks of it, so somewhere in the pipeline.

Anywhere specific?
I’ve been getting a really good response from Ontario, so that could maybe be a possibility.

You’ve been nominated for an MK Award for Best Video and Best Newcomer. How would you convince our readers to vote for you?
I’ve been working really hard at this. I’m not saying that the other musicians didn’t, but I’ve been working ten years at this and especially the Best Newcomer one is quite special to me, so to just be recognised. I think to just be nominated is very cool but obviously to win it would be the bonus.

You’re actually a Pretoria-born girl. What do you miss about the city?
I miss the people. They’re much more different than [the ones] in Cape Town. Pretoria people are so welcoming and heart-warming and friendly. I just met this amazing fan now, Nadia Coetzer, she always comes to my shows. She brought me this present, like this horse and a little heart with it. That was just a sum up of how amazing Pretoria people are.

You have quite the fan base.
I know. I have a very loyal fan base. I might not have 20 000 likes on Facebook but the people that are there constantly come back.

Fans are constantly saying how much your music has changed their lives. Do you feel that the job comes with a big responsibility?
I feel like what I do is such a blessing. I keep reminding myself that I don’t want to do this for me, though I am the face of Tailor, I want it to be a very selfless project almost. My main mission with Tailor is to change people’s lives. Writing is a very natural process for me, so I’ve been blessed to do that and change people’s lives, so my job is done. I’m just going to sit back and gig. So no, I don’t think it is, in that sense, a big responsibility because it’s not all about me, it’s about them.

“As long as we’re writing, there will be Fetish.”

 This interview was first published in Perdeby on 4 March 2013.

“Everything that ever involves Fetish always nearly falls apart,” says frontwoman Michelle Breeze, tilting her head back in nervous laughter. She’s talking about the band’s tour to promote Little Heart, their first album in ten years.

But fall apart it didn’t, and as Fetish finish the Pretoria leg of their tour at Arcade Empire, a fan comes backstage to proclaim his adoration for the band. He wants a photograph with them and a signed CD, of course.

“On the cover or on the disc?” asks guitarist Dominic Forrest.

“Wherever. Just sign it. Please,” he says emphatically, as if the question is frivolous. He’s probably been waiting for this moment for years, much like everyone else who worshipped Fetish at their peak in the 90s and who genuinely mourned when the band crumbled in 2002.

Before the internet democratised music, before Belville spawned artists like Fokofpolisiekar and before Jack Parow made kommin cool, there was another band with a cult-like following: Fetish.

The band burst onto the local music scene at the same time that alternative rock erupted in South Africa. There was a music revolution in the pop-dominated market and Fetish was at the forefront of it. They offered something different, a sound that was dark, edgy and contemplative.

Along with that came unmatched live performances with the gamine-like Breeze intoning the most undisguised lyrics. You would find yourself just standing at a Fetish gig and listening. Listening, and watching. No dancing. Breeze’s commanding presence wouldn’t allow it.

The band’s success snowballed after the release of Fetish in 1997, So Many Prophets in 1999 and the Shade of A Ghost EP in the same year. They opened for bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Goo Goo Dolls, Skunk Anansie and The Cure. It seemed as if they were destined to go far or, at least, as far as a local band can go, and that was exactly the problem.

Fed up with the tiny South African market that saw their music career plateau, Fetish decided to give the overseas one a go. Breeze and Forrest made London their home and, with band members scattered all around the world, that was the supposed end of Fetish.

Now, years later, after getting an offer from Cape Town’s Digital Forest Studio to record again, Fetish have made a much anticipated comeback. “We hadn’t written together in about five years, but it took on a life of its own, really. There was nothing forced about it, which was nice,” says Forrest about the band’s reunion.

All the tracks for Little Heart were written in London in the two-month period before the band started recording in Cape Town. The recording process was also quick, with the entire album taking just two weeks to record. This brought about a more stripped-down, gritty, guitar-driven sound that still sounds like Fetish, just minus the electronic sound that underpinned their sound in the 90s. “It’s rawer than the earlier ones because it was done in such a compressed space. You also get a bit more of a live feel to it. I know everyone says that,” says Forrest looking at Michelle and laughing, “but it’s true.”

That’s not the only thing that has evolved about Fetish’s music, though. Breeze’s songwriting has, inevitably, also taken a slightly different direction. “I think my perspective is more outward-looking instead of that much inward-looking. There’s more of a consideration of the world that is going on around me,” she says. And this shows, especially in “Paper Skies”, a collaboration with Shadowclub frontman Jacques Moolman about the London riots that Breeze experienced in her adopted hometown.

Johan Smith from Muse magazine once argued that Fetish were never able to reach their full songwriting and musical potential. He said that glimmers of their promise could be heard on 2006’s Remains, an album of unreleased songs and demos.

Do Fetish think that they have lived up to their potential? “I think it’s a continuous thing,” says Forrest. “We always think we can write newer, better songs. Every song we write just evolves naturally.” Breeze adds, “We’ve already been talking about the new album and how we’re going to approach it and we want to express different things this time and probably take the music direction slightly differently. You want to keep changing things, otherwise it becomes boring.”

Does that mean there’s a future for Fetish? “We definitely want to continue making music and I think the chemistry is really good for us as a band. That’s not really easy to find just anywhere,” says Breeze. “As long as we’re writing, there will be Fetish,” adds Forrest.

Perhaps the best way to understand Fetish’s journey is by listening to “Merry Go Round”, the second single off Little Heart. “Merry go round / merry go round / everything changes / pity we got off so soon,” sings Breeze in the song’s chorus.

Everything has changed, yes, but one thing that has undoubtedly remained the same is Fetish’s ability to create more than music. They create art and Little Heart is a perfect example of just that.

Watch Fetish covering Rihanna's "Diamonds" below. It's so much better than the original, you guys.


Fetish - Diamonds (Rihanna) from Ross Campbell on Vimeo.

A Jakkals expedition: who's new in the zoo?

I visited Joburg's Puma Social Club for the first time to interview Jakkals. Published in Perdeby on 25 February 2013.

Jakkals at Puma Social Club.

“We’re from Cape Town, but the funny thing is, by the end of this tour, we will have played more shows in Jo’burg,” says tousle-haired Jakkals lead singer and guitarist, James Boonzaier, to a rather rowdy crowd at the Puma Social Club. Some are playing table tennis, some foosball, but as Jakkals launch into another one of their syrupy spoonfuls of indie pop, the crowd slowly starts paying more attention.

Boonzaier, drummer Tim King and bassist Mark de Menezes are venturing up north for the first time as a mere three-month-old three-piece. The popular venue in Braamfontein is the third stop of their tour and, having played only two small acoustic shows so far, tonight’s considerably larger audience will be the barometer for how well their new sound is received.

Truth is, Jakkals has seen many incarnations over the years and with so many members coming and going, it’s quite tricky keeping up while Boonzaier tries to explain the band’s history.

Boonzaier and King first did a few small shows with session musicians before putting together a formal line-up for a gig at Purple Turtle in Cape Town. That’s when former bassist Patrick Skuce and guitarist Johnny Kotze (popularly known as Johnny Neon) came in. The members eventually went their separate ways for various reasons, leaving Boonzaier and King in the company of session musicians once again.

Fast-forward a few months to where popular alt-indie-rock band The Dirty Skirts was winding down and drummer of the band, Mark de Menezes, was keen to try his hand at playing the bass guitar. Boonzaier, who had been friends with De Menezes for years, invited him for a jam session and the rest, as they say, is history.

Have all these changes in Jakkals’s line-up affected the band’s sound? “Profoundly,” says Boonzaier. “The energy, the song-writing process has changed. Jakkals 1.0, let’s call it the first Jakkals, was very simplistic rock. I would call it less intricate, less interesting, perhaps. I think with this set-up, there’s been a lot more push and pull, a lot more people bringing in their opinions, rather than going along with what’s happening. There’s been a bit of a tug to and fro and that’s resulted in a more intricate and interesting sound, something I’d like to call a bit more fresh,” Boonzaier says.

King agrees. “I think this time around, we’ve all grown up a bit and become a lot more mature. Our whole process has been a lot cleaner and it’s resulted in a sound which is, I suppose, more mature,” he says.


Jakkals went into studio mid 2012 to record a three-track EP, Trifle, at Teejay Terreblanche’s Coffee Stained Vinyl Studio in Cape Town. “We had a discussion about it and we kind of feel that albums are possibly a bit in the past. People want singles,” says De Menezes, explaining why the band decided to record a mini-EP.

Another reason is that an album would be inappropriate to the style of writing that Jakkals is working on at the moment. “An album would just be a collection of songs rather than a themed collection of songs,” says Boonzaier.

So are there any lyrical themes on the EP then? “The way I often write lyrics, no individual song seems to be about a particular theme, but over a period all the songs I write are mixtures of current themes. I think those songs are deeply rooted in being love songs, but not in the generic sense. Love songs in the sense of relationships and your life reconciling, transition periods, coming of age, reaching adulthood and juggling things, changes, and making it work,” says a contemplative Boonzaier.

Their new set-up seems to be suiting Jakkals well, with the band gaining momentum quite quickly. Last year they were chosen as one of 12 bands to have a music video commissioned by the MK Music Video Project. They teamed up with Kelsey Egan from production company Crave Pictures to make a video for their track “Rum Trifle”. “She [Egan] is very passionate and has a lot of drive. I mean the team that she put together was completely insane. We were very lucky,” says De Menezes about the experience. “It was a hotshot crew, hotshot equipment,” adds Boonzaier.

Back at the Puma Social Club, Jakkals have just completed the final song of their set. Boonzaier props his guitar against a speaker on the side and heads straight to three girls who have been standing in front and who are easily the band’s most vociferous fans. He wraps his arms around each of them, whispering a soft “thank you”.

As the crowd erupts in a call for an encore, another group of girls head to the stage for a photograph with Jakkals, followed by another hug-seeker who squeals with delight when she gets what she is looking for.

If the Puma Social Club gig is supposed to be Jakkals’s likeability barometer, it’s safe to say that the forecast looks good.

The Wisest Ones: Zebra & Giraffe's dark metamorphosis

This is an interview I did with Zebra & Giraffe a while back when they were touring in Pretoria on the back of their recently released third album, The Wisest Ones. Because we had a break in between then and now, it was only published in this week's issue of Perdeby.

***

With the release of their third album, The Wisest Ones, SAMA-winning electro indie rockers Zebra & Giraffe have undergone a complete metamorphosis. It started at the end of last year when drummer Darren Leader and bassist Andrew Maskell decided to leave the band. Mike Wright, who previously played the keyboards, happily picked up his abandoned drum sticks (he’s actually a drummer), and Stef Henrico later joined the line up on the bass.

But what about the keys that give Zebra & Giraffe their distinctive dance-pop sensibility? “It’s been quite hard with the keyboards. That’s been our biggest challenge,” admits front man Greg Carlin. “Obviously we can’t play everything because we’re down to a four-piece now, so it’s about trying to figure out the key parts that we need to play and what looks cool visually,” he says. He and Henrico now juggle playing their own instruments as well as the keyboard for live performances. 

This isn’t the first time Zebra & Giraffe have been left without a keyboardist, though. When Carlin recorded and released the band’s debut album, Collected Memories, they had to find someone to join them on tour. The band then went into studio to record their second album, The Inside, and the keyboardist left during the process. Wright hopped on board, which meant that they had to teach someone to play keys yet again. “I think we are all up to the limit,” says guitarist Alan Shenton, clearly frustrated. “I’ll do the album again, that’s no problem, but to do that again, to restructure live shows and think about the sounds again? It’s a serious process. Very time consuming as well,” he says. 

With the absence of someone permanently behind the keyboards, Zebra & Giraffe reveal a more guitar-driven sound on The Wisest Ones, even though this shift was unintentional. “We had it [the keyboards] in the studio the whole time. We said when we got to the end we would do some keys but then we filled it up so much with the guitars, that we thought it just didn’t need it. And we aren’t going to be able to play it live, so what’s the point of overlaying all this stuff if we aren’t going to be able to pull it off?” explains Shenton. 

But that’s not the only noticeable change on Zebra & Giraffe’s third offering. Their new bouquet  of songs seem more mature and have a darker, more menacing sound, courtesy of Carlin’s lyrics. He attributes this change to getting older and questioning whether or not he should still be in the music industry. He had a big party and got over his doubt, but says that the song-writing process is quite cathartic for him. “I think that’s why I do it. It’s how I deal with things, like a little therapy session. I get stuff out that you wouldn’t normally say in general conversation, and put it in a song,” he says. 

One thing that certainly has remained constant is Zebra & Giraffe’s ongoing relationship with producer Darryl Torr, choosing to work with him for the third time now. The band recorded their first two albums at the SABC, which made it a very rushed process as they had a limited time to get everything done. With The Wisest Ones, they opted for recording at Torr’s studio, Openroom Productions, in Greenside.  “I think he just works really well with us and we work really well with him. We understand him. You don’t have to worry about stepping on each other’s toes. He’s deadly honest with us and we’re completely honest with him and it just makes the process very smooth,” says Wright. “We also had a lot of fun in studio. We do a lot of work but a lot of it is picking on each other and banter and stuff like that, which we’ve always enjoyed with Darryl,” adds Shenton. Shenton explains that there is also a downside to continually working with the same producer. “We’re probably very comfortable with him, so maybe now or one day, it’s time to move on from that, not for any other reason than that the point of a producer is to make you feel uncomfortable sometimes and push you in directions you don’t want to go,” he says. 

With band members continually changing since their inception, and with their music being steered in a different direction, is Zebra & Giraffe older and wiser this time round?

“I think we definitely have learned to relax a bit more. We used to stress a lot about unnecessary stuff. Not it’s a lot more relaxed and the writing process, recording [and] playing live is a lot better,” says Carlin. Shenton says that they have also learned how things work in the music industry.  “It took a while to get that right, to figure out how the South African music industry works professionally, when you are doing it full time. We’ve made mistakes and we’ve learned from those mistakes. We’ve just learned to deal with those sorts of things and that has definitely matured us,” he says. 

With “I’ll Blame You”, the first single off The Wisest Ones, already enjoying extensive airplay by radio stations across the country and with an impressive music video for the song to boot, where to next for Zebra & Giraffe? “Our next plan is to go to Europe in February/ March. We have someone working on that at the moment. Ultimately, that’s the most important thing, to find someone to be the pull factor there. That’s very difficult. It’s a slow process but it’s also an inevitable process for us. We have to do it,” says Shenton. 

All photos were taken by Christelle Duvenage.  

• Read my review of Zebra & Giraffe's The Wisest Ones here.