Poet. Praise-singer. Sex Symbol. Orphan. The Voice. That threat. Beatnik. Hipster. Cigarettes. Sunglasses. Thinker. Traveller. Writer. Wanderer. Artist. Imitator. Innovator. Prophet. Hypocrite. Young. Old. Acoustic. Electric. Traitor. Friend. Lover. Father. Evasive. Narcissist. Creative. Passionate. Pitch. Drawl. Strum. Story-teller. Inspirational. Therapist. Enigma.
There hasn’t been much to really shout about this year in terms of the Cape Town rock scene. Sure, some exciting shows have gone down, Tallest Man on Earth, Two Door Cinema Club, RAMfest but those guys aren’t from here. Cape Town’s bands, while not doing anything wrong, aren’t really doing anything exciting either.
With few exceptions the city’s scene has hit cruise control. The lights have been dimmed and we’re just standing, nodding our heads and tapping our feet; a little bored.
Of the notable exceptions, those with their feet firmly in control of the throttle, is Mr Cat and the Jackal. Their allure was enough to get me to Assembly on Saturday night, 5 May. They opened for Scoundrels, a blues rock 4-piece from London who are said to be primed for world domination but more on them later.
Mr Cat and the Jackal have to be one of the most wholly creative musical outfits South Africa possesses. They play a variety of instruments that construct a sound pleasingly peculiar. Accordian, slide guitar, autoharp, marimba, piano and banjo are just a handful of the instruments used on their 2011 sophomore album ‘Sins and Siren Songs’.
Live, this band of gypsies is just phenomenal. You cannot help but be drawn into their world. The emotion and intensity and enjoyment the entire band puts forth produces a piece of theatre that I don’t think any other South African band can match right now.
Their show at Assembly gave me faith in the local scene again. Their performance of ‘The Rain Came Pouring’ and ‘The Spawn of Pirates’, together making up a single narrative was pure insanity, complete with a metal breakdown (using an acoustic and a slide guitar) spanning the two halves. They also showcased a new track that proves their rock ‘n roll credentials.
Also worth mentioning was Bicycle Thief, who opened the evening’s proceedings. They’ve only been around for a year, this was the first show I’d seen of theirs and I was cautiously impressed. They certainly have good ideas, and their sound is not easily pigeonholed which is promising. Keep your eyes on this 4-piece.
Scoundrels have been on a 3 week tour of South Africa. Their shows on the Highveld were said to have gone down well but the turnout at Assembly proved that this was a band still largely an unknown entity – more people watched Mr Cat. As to whether they will take the world by storm is something I’m not sure of but I can’t say they disappointed. The guitarist, George Elliot, shreds. When the youngster isn’t shredding, he picks ferociously.
They can tone down for some country and simple blues numbers too. I’m always a little sceptical of ‘happy blues’, a contradiction if there ever was one. Scoundrels manage somehow though to keep things light, both in their banter with the crowd and their lyrical content. It works but whether they can be taken seriously as a blues band remains to be seen.
Mr Cat certainly stole the show at the Assembly. Show these guys some love next time they’re in town. South African rock music (I use the term losely) has a new torchbearer.
This review originally appeared on What’s On. By Murray Walker.
Yesterday the normal, banal banter on Twitter was interrupted by the revelation that c-list celebrity and fledgling model Jessica Leandra had uttered the un-utterable ‘K-word’ in a tweet about a man in her local Spar supermarket.
The Twitterati swarmed around her like a ravenous group of piranhas, gnashing their teeth and ripping into her bigoted flesh with a zealousness that was quite astonishing. And it was good. Those that feasted on her true colours (I include myself in that group) are as intolerant of racism and stereotyping as Leandra is intolerant of blacks.
The court of public opinion in South Africa has shown its power. Ruthless and swift. Leandra was dragged into the town square, flogged, pelted with rotten tomatoes and sent to the gallows where she now lies, a sniffling wreck, alone and bleeding.
If there is one truth in this country, it is the power of the K-word. I doubt there is a single South African who doesn’t understand its connotations. Sure, some will choose to ignore the force that the word yields but they still understand. They get it. So why would someone use the word on such a public platform? No matter how angry one might be, as your fingers dart across a keypad surely you feel that force powering up? It is like winding up a spring that, when triggered – in this case via the ‘post’ button – unleashes 300 years of hatred, suspicion and fear into the air. The residue that falls on all of us burns and irritates. We gasp and cringe and cry.
The popular excuse of acting out in anger is weak. Granted, humans can act irrationally when they get upset. I almost punched my friend yesterday when he beat me at FIFA10 but if you have the presence of mind to pull out your mobile, log onto Twitter, type an update, you surely understand and mean what you write.
Leandra apologised via a blog post yesterday. In the post she referred to the man she’d previously called the K-word as a ‘gentleman’. A drastic about turn, clearly she’s reformed. Ha! She probably hates blacks more now and blames them for the spectacular implosion of her career. The apology read more like an attempt to save face rather than a sincere realisation and admission that she had committed the biggest sin possible in this country.
As the dust settles, perhaps only one positive can be salvaged from this eruption; that South Africans won’t stand for archaic and hurtful thinking. We want to move on and remove racism from our society.
Goodluck emerged in 2009 as an off-shoot of Cape Town rock band jacSharp. The son quickly out-grew the father to become a sought-after live dance act consisting of Ben Peters, Juliet Harding and Raiven Hansmann. Ben and Juliet produce all the tracks in their home-made studio, the venue for our interview. Goodluck has since been nominated for three SAMA awards and have scored three number one hit singles.
Juliet spoke to What’s On about retro sounds, Adele, touring Europe and lucky packets.
You’ve been defined as an ‘electro swing’ act. Can you explain what that means? My view of electro is that it’s this fast, grungy, sweaty form of dance music. Something Goodluck certainly isn’t.
Juliet Harding: We see ‘electro’ as ‘electronic music’. There is a lot of swing, but not all our tracks have that element. I’d define it more as ‘electro swing pop’. There is a strong pop element. We try to write melodies and lyrics that many people can relate to, that can touch people on some level.
The swing element is certainly there. A few of our tracks have quite an old-school feel that goes back to the war-time era which I love. I’m guilty of writing licks and lyrics that sound as though they come from that era but are actually straight from 2012.
What is it about these retro sounds that people are finding appealing?
JH: I think popular music has been through quite a low point in recent years. What I mean is I don’t think much effort has gone into writing good songs. Things have just sounded the same. The fact that Adele is doing so well now is a case in point. She has a very old-school sound and she writes beautiful songs. She’s killing it, Lady Gaga didn’t even get a mention at the Grammy’s this year. It shows that credible and good music still has a place in the world.
What inspired the move away from jacSharp?
JH: Ben has always been into electronic music and he approached jacSharp and asked if he could remix some of our tracks for a club environment and we agreed. Ben then asked if I’d like to sing live on some of the tracks. The songs were well received but we decided they weren’t exactly right for that scene so we wrote a completely new set. I think it was 6 songs in like two weeks. We called it jacSharp electro and what happened was people were going out and buying the jacSharp album and finding completely different music on it and obviously got confused. So we decided to give this thing its own name. Goodluck was born and things took off really quickly.
You were in the Netherlands recently and you sold out a show. What was that like?
JH: It was amazing because we haven’t sold out a show in South Africa yet and it was our first sold-out show. I think it’s a testimonial to the Dutch fans; they really have a strong appreciation for live music there. It was surreal and we owe it all to them. We’re going over there again in May for four months to really try work the scene. We’ll be starting from scratch again which we’re excited about. It’s funny because you’d think the fun times are when you’ve made it but I’ve found it most exciting when you’re knocking on doors with your demo and really pushing. It’s a really good challenge to start from the beginning.
While you’re based there will you be touring the rest of Europe?
JH: No, we will hit England briefly but we’ll be concentrating on Holland. A lot of bands make the mistake of touring all over Europe in a month and then leaving. You’re not actually making an impact that way because you’re in and out and you have to do that so many times before people really know who you are. We feel that’s the wrong way to do it, other bands might have other ambitions and goals but we want to actually make an impact in that territory and that means sticking around.
What does Goodluck have baking in the oven right now?
JH: This year we’re doing a mixtape called The Lucky Packet Mixtape. It’ll consist of remixes of tracks that we love and a few originals. It won’t necessarily be current stuff but we think it’s really cool music and that’ll be launching in August this year. We’ve started on a few remixes and we’re really excited about the results so far. We’d like to alternate between Goodluck albums and mixtapes so we’ll do Lucky Packet this year and then a new Goodluck album next year.
Isn’t it dangerous to put out something like a mixtape that is Goodluck but at the same time, isn’t?
JH: I don’t know. We still have a lot of establishing to do in terms of identity. We’re not a band, we’re a duo of producers and as producers there is a whole other element to creating dance music and that is that you seek to do remixes and that’s such a fun aspect to dance music because you can give your own take on other peoples music, it’s almost expected of you.
It could be confusing in the beginning but I think once Lucky Packet gets going people will embrace it. The idea is borne from when you were young and made a mixtape for your girlfriend or boyfriend and you had to listen to it the whole way through. Our hope is that we can put together a compilation that people will want to listen to from beginning to end and not skip a track.
Lucky Packet won’t just be a compilation. We’re going to do a whole bunch of parties in the summer. It’ll be its own sub-brand. Music isn’t one-dimensional anymore, it’s difficult to do just one thing and this is us branching out.
What’s the advantage of having live instruments in your show as opposed to just laptops?
JH: Live instrumentation is the way for me. It brings an energy and garners respect that I don’t think can be re-created on a computer. People still want that element of live even when they like dance beats. If Raiven or I aren’t there it takes away from the show. I’ve lost my voice before and the boys (Raiven and Ben) had to play on their own and it’s a struggle. When one of the three live aspects (percussion, saxophone and vocals) is missing it’s a struggle to build the energy that we’re used to. Our aim is have a show that we can expand and add more live elements, like Faithless would do.
Most local acts struggle to get onto radio. What’s it like not only getting airtime but having your track ‘Hop on, Hop off’ hit number one?
JH: It was a real surprise for me. Ben reckoned it would make it but I was surprised and of course happy. We’ve had a lot of support from the radio stations and I know it’s difficult for people to get onto radio. It’s really a mystery as to how one gets on radio and I don’t have the answer. We were fortunate that they embraced our style and sound. There is certainly some luck involved.
Do you think the proliferation of internet radio will make any difference?
JH: I think it presents a challenge to the local industry because I can now listen to any station I want. I can listen to Carribbean radio or Israeli radio; I’m not confined by borders now. Soon we’ll have internet radio in our cars and I’m not really sure what that’s going to do.
Goodluck has come out with some staggeringly good music videos and it seems South Africa is really producing some quality videos lately. How important are videos to Goodluck?
JH: Thanks. All our videos were done by Kyle Lewis. He’s really brilliant. When he puts his mind to it he can make an international quality videos that wouldn’t look out of place on MTV or Trace.
The visual side of your offering is so important now. They are part of your brand identity and more and more bands are being discovered on Youtube these days and if video can capture another angle of your music that’s great.
Generally speaking, what do you think of South African’s musical tastes compared to Europe where they’re possibly more discerning?
JH: To be honest I think the majority of South Africa is not that educated when it comes to music. Having said that I think we’re certainly catching up. It’s still a case of whatever is being played on radio is what is popular at the moment whereas overseas radio is pretty much dead. People look to the internet for their music now and that’s not really possible for many people in South Africa yet.
This interview originally appeared on What’s On
My dad was in the army during Apartheid but he has barely spoken about it and I’ve been scared of asking him to many questions. All he’s really told me is that he hated it. A feeling I imagine many people have towards their compulsory time in the South African Defense Force.
Somewhere on the Border is a snapshot of a small infantry’s time in the SADF during the war with Angolan communists. It was written in 1983 by Anthony Akerman, and was subsequently banned by the Apartheid government. Intense and quite stunning acting by the entire cast sucked me straight into their world while the dialogue smacked me about the head so I would wince and clench my teeth. The play follows the group as they prepare for a tour of the Border which invariably they are not ready for and the emotional stresses of war take their toll.
Doug Campbell, played by Dylan Horley, arrives at base and it’s immediately apparent that he doesn’t want to be there, that he doesn’t believe we have anything to fear from the Communists in Angola or from the Blacks in South Africa, an indoctrination that new recruits are force-fed by their superiors at every opportunity. He has trouble fitting into his platoon where many of the other soldiers blindly buy into the paranoia and racism.
Campbell does befriend Paul Marais (Luan Jacobs) and tells him about what the army did to him after he refused to enlist. While in a Pretoria Psyciatric institute he decided it was better to play their game than get electro shock therapy to ‘fix’ him.
So begins a massive personal battle for Doug where everything he believes is undermined for reasons that seem so utterly ridiculous now but were considered pure fact during Apartheid.
Seeing this play as someone who grew up in a free South Africa, the racism, paranoia and disrespect was painful and embarrassing to watch. Somewhere on the Border aims to show up the ridiculous state of mind that gripped the average white South Afican but also expose the trauma that these young men were forced into in the name of fighting an essentially invisible enemy. Without fully understanding what they were doing these soldiers were sent to their deaths fighting against an enemy that had no tangible negative influence on their lives and posed no immediate threat to them in South Africa. A situation that even Doug Campbell could not overcome as survival became the only objective, over-riding even his strong personal beliefs about his fellow man.
I understand now why my father hated the army.
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Somewhere on the Border is on at the Baxter Theatre Flipside until 17 March.
This review originally appeared on What’s On. Written by Murray Walker
24 minutes of Bon Iver brilliance
There is something special about arriving at your holiday destination. Bringing very little but the Love of Your Life and good friends. It’s this combination of relief, excitement, quiet fatigue and escape that one feels. It’s an environment that begs exploration and adventure. There is a translucent veil of rebellion about a holiday. Of getting away and out from under the thumb of worry, The Rush, stress. There is power in being able to decide exactly how to spend your day. When to wake up, when to behave, when to misbehave, not wear a shirt, fart loudly. A holiday makes you king. A holiday makes you human again.
He saw her there on the sand but his mind quickly turned away from her to other things. The time, his boy’s handiwork with a spade, his wife’s rapidly reddening skin and her bitching during the aftermath. What might he have done had he known she too was family, his daughter. The result of one night of weakness and self-doubt about his imminent marriage with a lady whose name he never caught.
What might the little girl have done if she’d known her father was metres away? She’d been asking about her Daddy for ages, she would draw him into her life but he had yet to actually appear. Until that moment. But she would never know. Eventually she stopped drawing him. Eventually he forgot the transgression. Until now.
The red reminder of a fresh message, he could never imagine what lay behind it.
“I found you, you son of a bitch. You have a daughter.
Yes, I’m the lady you took home just weeks before your wedding. I fell pregnant. Your daughter is 17, her name is Tracy. I told her I found you. She wants to meet you”
