Cape Town based rockers Red Huxley have been jamming the local scene hard of late with gigs at The Assembly and outdoor-fest Synergy to name but a few. It’s only up from here for the boys, whose simple blend of old skool rock leaves the crowd and the groupies begging for more.
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They’re energetic, powerful and formidable on stage. But off stage, CrashCarBurn is a chilled band, not much different from anyone else I know.
Frontman Garth Barnes and lead guitarist Fabian Sing sit across from me as cool as the Joburg night sipping on coffee, chatting about their upcoming Asian tour. "We’d never have chosen Asia," says Garth, but in s few weeks, the band will be playing at the Mosaic Festival in Singapore and then in Thailand and Bangkok. "It’s a far cry from where we started, though."
rocking it
Before the time of the interweb and chat, we used to send a letter if we wanted some useless information from someone on the other side of the Ocean. A letter on a piece of paper. Which would go through an extensive bureaucratic process before PERHAPS MAYBE arriving in your post box. Nowadays, we meet online to correspond and chat, and so Rocknroller caught up Christie from The Arrows for a ‘chaterview’ on BBM. *note to reader: smiley’s and emoticons have been deleted from this transcription.
RnR: So Christie, where are you guys? What are you doing?
Christie: We’ve been touring in the states. Going to Hawaii on Friday.
RnR: What the pants are you going to do in Hawaii?
Christie: We’re playing a show there.
RnR: Have you got a big fan base in Hawaii?
Christie: We’ve got some fans there, but you know how it goes, people talk and stuff.
RnR: You’ve been touring the states, so I have to ask, do they know you’re the sound of KFC?
Christie: Ha ha ha. We’ve actually mentioned it at a few shows and people get really excited. They love KFC over here.
RnR: I can just imagine. So what’s been your ultimate rocknroller moment?
Christie: Well I’d have to say this whole weekend we spent with Sonny from POD.
RnR: Whaaaaat? How did that happen?
Christie: We met him at a show, and became friends so we spent the weekend with him and his family laughing out bums off.
RnR: That’s awesome! Any other celebs you’ve bumped into and we should know about?
Christie: Horatio from CSI! And he was wearing sunglasses and he spoke just like he does on the show!
RnR: ha ha ha that’s so funny… some might even say dead funny!
Christie: Oh, and Pam has a pair of Katy Perry’s shoes. Long story!
RnR: Really? What size shoe is she? (Katy Perry, not Pam).
Christie: 38 ½
RnR: mmm… average… so Christie, back to the music, what is the biggest cringe song on your ipod at the moment?
Christie: Who has cringe songs on their ipods? I thought they were designed to be cringe free zones?
RnR: That’s a good point but you gotta have one song that every time you listen to it you turn it down a little so the homeless guy next to you doesn’t hear that you jamming to Michael Learns to Rock…
Christie: Ok when I was 12, I was in love with Hanson and that was pretty cringeful.
RnR: Mmmm Bop!!! And nowadays, do you ever take a little amble down memory lane to have a little jam to their prepubescent voices and naive beats?
Christie: Nooo! They don’t make it onto my ipod.
RnR: So would you go so far as to say they were an inspiration of yours?
Christie: No!
RnR: So then who would you say are your inspirations?
Christie: That’s really difficult, because my and Pam’s are so different! Mine are Architecture in Helsinki, Gungor, the Cardigans, the Bad Plus, Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainright, Bjork and Delirious.
RnR: Mmm… and if you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?
Christie: I think I’d be a mango, cos I’m round and sweet!
RnR: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Christie: Huh?
RnR: That is the correct answer. What’s your favourite song on the new album?
Christie: It changes, but right now it’s “Make Believe”.
RnR: Ok, please complete the sentence: When I was younger…
Christie: I was a nerd… oh wait I still am.
RnR: My pyjama’s are…
Christie: Awesome cos they have sushi on them
RnR: Pam is…
Christie: The best. Her muscles are the best. Her voice is the best. Rameses is the best. (Nachoooooo).
Rnr: Nachoooo? I don’t speak Arrow.
Christie: Nacho Libre.
RnR: Cool movie. Talking about cool… when is your next show in SA?
Christie: Still sorting all that out but Tings in Pretoria on December 9th, and Tanz Cafe in Joburg on 11th. Still buttoning up Durbs and Cape Town.
RnR: Cool last question, what do you think of Die Antwoord?
Christie: Every man for himself.
The Jen
Zebra and Giraffe’s brand new album, The Inside, is out today. So, Rock’nRoller caught up with singer, Greg Carlin, and Guitarist, Alan Shenton, to chat about recording, touring and marimbas.
RNR: The album is finished, packaged and sent off, what is the biggest emotion you’re feeling at the moment?
Greg: We don’t have any emotions left. We’ve been ridiculously busy. Alan I pretty much manage the band, so we’ve been planning the tour and just trying to finish everything.
Alan: I feel kind of detached from it at this point. We’ve worked our arses off, and now it’s gone, someone else has it.
RNR: How different is the new album to Collected Memories?
Greg: We think it’s the same, but you don’t know how other people interpret your music. Maybe there’s a bit more diversification.
Alan: There are a few tracks that you never would have heard on Collected Memories.
RNR: I suppose it’s the media’s job to tell you what you sound like.
Greg: Yeah, totally – Last album, some people said we sounded like Cold Play others said Joy Division, the Killers, New Order, and Flock of Seagulls. On our initial demo, someone said we sounded like Radio Head discovering themselves. And the other day someone said we’re Bee Gees meets Black Sabbath. So you really never know.
RNR: Were you guys listening to any music while you were writing and recording, or did you try and isolate yourself from external influences?
Greg: The stuff we’ve been listening to has definitely influenced us. With ‘Oxymoron’, one of the first songs I ever wrote, I was listening to Muse’s ‘Super Massive Black Hole,’ and I thought; ‘I want to write a song with a guitar riff like that.’ In the end it doesn’t really sound like Muse, but that’s where it came from.
Alan: You could never say that this album was influenced by this and that band. Maybe a riff is influence by a certain song.
RNR: And what were you listening to?
Alan: Dredg, NEU!
Greg: A lot of Bon Iver, and I always listen to Chris Isaak.
RNR: First time I saw you play, you had about 6 synths and fifteen pedals on stage, so I’m going to assume you’re tech heads.
Greg: Yeah, it’s gotten worse now.
RNR: So, did you try out any new gadgets on The Inside?
Alan: We completely changed our keyboard setup. All the stuff is keyboard based so we needed to get a better sound. We also incorporated a lot of acoustic and percussive instruments.
RNR: Did you ever have one of those moments when someone’s running around with a marimba, another guy’s playing a flute and you all stop and say, ‘what on earth are we doing?’
Greg: There actually was a moment where I was playing the marimba, Alan was playing Tams, Darren was playing a big base drum, and someone was playing the piano. It felt good to do something different, but we probably wouldn’t go there all the time.
RNR: You’re doing a national tour to promote the album, any shows you’re particularly looking forward to?
Greg: If it comes off, the Cape Town show, at the 3 Arts (theatre), is going to be a good one. But if we don’t get many people it will be really crap. We’ve reached the stage where we can sell out The Assembly, but that’s only 800 people. The 3 Arts is the next jump up, so we might as well risk it.
RNR: Pros and cons of touring: What is it like cramming five sweaty men into a bus and driving around the country?
Alan: That’s the pro, the biggest con is that, financially, it’s tough to just break even. But it’s a really nice holiday, with five other guys you really get on with.
Greg: The shows are fun. It’s a working holiday, but it’s an awesome time. We don’t really get on each others nerves that much. It’s just like a big party.
RNR: Are you planning to push the album overseas at all?
Greg: We started dabbling with the overseas thing last year with the EP (The Knife). We took five of the songs off collected memories and remixed them with Cenzo Townshend (who’s worked with the likes of U2, Kaiser Chiefs and New Order). We made some good contacts, and we’re really going to push The Inside overseas in 2011. But this year we’re going to concentrate on South Africa. Getting this album out, playing live.
Alan: And getting tighter as a band, becoming better musicians.
Somerset West based Lottery Ticketsare on the cusp of releasing their long-awaited debut album and their first video (see below) for the single ‘Mercenary’ has recently whet every one’s appetite. Rock ‘n Roller recently chatted with the lads…
========================================
Dear Lottery Tickets,
Q:
Ive known about your band for a while now, but only now you’ve had the opportunity to record an full-length album and your first video – tell me about being an underdog band?
JR: I don’t think that we are an ‘underdog’ – that implies that we are trying to win some sort of prize against all odds, like North Korea trying to win the World Cup. We make music because we love it. If you like us we’re going to be stoked. We have never taken ourselves too seriously and pretty much just go out there to have a good time. The video and album give us an opportunity to share that with more people.
RV: We put a lot of ourselves into our music. It means a lot to us and as friends this band has brought us through a lot. It took us time to save up enough money to record our songs right. We wanted people to feel these songs the same way we felt when we wrote them.
Q:
Your video sees a ballet dancer, an old man and army soldiers, of which you guys are none of. So tell me – other than sugar and spice and all things nice, what are The Lottery Tickets made of?
RV: Sons of ambitious fathers.
JA:The Video was directed by Helen Raine. We were hesitate at first because we’ve always been a band that if we want something a way we do it, but this time we gave full control to Helen and her crew and it came out brilliant. We are a hard working band that fights a lot but forgets when on stage.
Q:
What music has been in every one’s play list recently?
JR:The Almost, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Set Your Goals, Foals, Phoenix, Four Year Strong, Deftones and embarrassingly between all of that a lot of Lily Allen.
RV:Brand New, Telefon Tel Aviv
JA:Tokyo Police Club, Biffy Clyro, Bombay Bicycle Club, Jets to Brazil
Q:
I say ‘fresh début album from The Lottery Tickets’, you say…?
JR:A high-energy-pop-rock masterpiece. Cha Ching!
RV: “Ever since you missed that Springbok in the Kalahari, you have never been the same.”
Q:
The Lottery Tickets love…
JR: Sitting by the pool in summer, talking kak, while eating watermelon and drinking beer.
RV: Heidelberg, bicycles, trees, coffee, talking about books we never finished.
JA: Exchange students, watermelon, boats.
Q:
Upcoming shows?
24th July in Mystics, Stellenbosch with Black Market Riots. Otherwise we planning two launch shows in August, one in Cape Town and the other in Stellenbosch.
Catch The Lottery Tickets on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and browse their blog.
photos compliments of Michael Tymbios’ High Art/Low Life
What started out as the regularly used and adored ‘band story’ of brothers and friends making music has resulted in the equally dreamy but seldom achieved growing success of Civil Twilight. When brothers Steven (vocals, piano) and Andrew (gutiar) McKellar were joined by drummer Richard Wouters in suburbian Cape Town, they too were captivated by the idea of taking their music to the same places that the bands they had grown up listening to and being inspired by. Little did they know they would re-release their debut self-titled album in 2009 after being signed to New York based Wind-Up Records and on the heels of a charmed story – Rock ‘n Roller recently spoke to Richard Wouters…
Rock ‘n Roller:
Paint a picture – How do you think things would’ve turned out now if the band had they members not moved State-side in 2005?
Civil Twilight:
It’s kinda hard to say. It seems like SA bands are getting exposure overseas now a lot more than they did when we first moved to America and that those opportunities are now out there. When we left in 2005 our options were pretty much leave SA and try make it in America or England, or stay in SA and most likely not break outside of the country. I realize that is not entirely the case anymore, but honestly I don’t think we would be in the position we are in right now if we’d stayed in SA. We’ve learnt a lot by just being in America that has helped make us a better band and we’ve also found the financial and business backing here that has enabled us to support ourselves and keep doing this full time. Also, the way we work with our management and label here would be very difficult to do if we were not actually living in the States.
When we were kids growing up in Cape Town we were listening to all these American and British bands so our thinking when we left was kind of like, if we can “make it” in America then the rest of the world would automatically find out about us. Not many people knew about us in SA when we left, but since we’ve started having some success in the US people back home are beginning to discover us. So perhaps our master plan is working! We shall see.
RnR:
Your music has featured on the likes of One Tree Hill, House, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – yet it seems your have only this year found considerable air-play in South Africa, similar to the stories of other acts of SA-roots such as BLK JKS! and Die Antwoord. What do you think is the reason some acts are only given the nod once they impress internationally?
CV:
Well, aside from the music itself which is still ultimately the deciding factor, there are a lot of bands out there and a lot of stuff to sift through. The chances of all the necessary people even listening to our music, for example, are pretty slim given the amount of music that radio programmers and promoters etc are asked to listen to. If we are just ‘another band’ trying to get our song on the radio they are unlikely to take much notice. But if we come with a good story attached, it makes all the difference. I think it’s like that in every market. If you are able to say, “This band is #1 in the UK” or “Radiohead just took them on tour” or whatever the story may be, it helps immensely to get a person’s attention. In our case, we can tell radio people in SA or Canada or England that the song is already doing well on American radio etc and it goes a long way to getting the song played there. Eventually the public have to respond to it too of course, but I reckon the story helps to initially build hype and expectation. At least that’s my take on it, though there’s no doubt more to it than that.
RnR:
Civil Twilight has found themselves in an enviable position of having opened for some big-name acts on international soil – what have you taken from that experience?
CV:
We have been very fortunate and have learnt so much from watching and performing with some great bands. Being in the States has been an entire education in so many ways that it’s hard to pin point just a few individual things. It’s like we’ve spent the last five years at school learning how the music business works! But honestly, I think the biggest lesson one can learn is to be true to yourself through your music. You realize that even the best bands in the world are in a sense just like you. They once were where you are and they still have to impress people every night in order to get people coming back to their shows and buying their music. We are all, as Bono once said, “travelling salesmen”, selling ourselves and our music from the stage every night. No one is untouchable. It could all end tomorrow for any band. But no one’s going to “buy” anything from you if you are not honest. The best bands in the world are the most honest bands, in my opinion. Strive to create music that you love and that feels right and try not to worry too much about what other people think or what they tell you you should be. And dont believe everything a person tells you just because they have credentials or “connections” or have produced a Led Zeppelin record! No one has all the answers. It took us a while to learn that one.
RnR:
What albums have been on recent rotation on the the band’s playlist?
CV:
Paul Simon – Still Crazy After All These Years
Brian Eno – Before and After Science
The National – High Violet
Spoon – Transference
Pink Floyd – Echos
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Elbow – Seldom Seen Kid
Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
RnR:
Plans for the rest of 2010?
CV:
It looks like we’ll be on the road for most of the rest of the year. Letters from the Sky just went top 10 on the US Alternative charts a
nd we’re seeing a lot of momentum build right now which we’re hoping to capitalize on. We’ve already been touring for most of this year and have been all over the US and to the UK. It’s really exciting to see stuff start to happen.
We would also love to come back to SA to visit and do some shows there. We’re hoping to get back at the end of the year. We really love South Africa and miss it a lot and it means an incredible amount to us to do well there. I think we’ve been waiting for an opportunity to go back when we could return having achieved something. We’ve always wanted to do our friends, our family and our countrymen proud.
Click here to watch Civil Twlight’s ‘Letters From The Sky’ on YouTube
Having had the pleasure of catching Cassette during a tour, some odd shows and yes, even at a casino over the weekend there has been a remarkable change in their performance. When we went out on tour in the early part of 2009 to release their latest album ‘Who do you Trust?’ there was a sharp edginess to the feel, almost like a serrated blade held at your throat. Impossible to escape the often catchy melodies, the lyrics always delivered a mean punch. So what has changed? An all-round better delivery. Gone was the white-knuckled angst of the early make-it-or-break-it tour gigs, now replaced by a slick performance – confident vocals, exciting blend of sounds and textures and yes, still the wacky banter in between songs. The more you play the luckier you get…
After the show we spoke about the good, the bad and the future. One challenge any band faces is how to balance the time needed to write new material vs the time needed to promote existing material. When asked how they do their balancing act Jane said that they plan on taking time out early next year to dedicate time for writing a new album. Seems like they will be taking a different approach on their 3rd album, focusing more on a specific concept and feel. This will be a slight departure from an intense ‘Who do you Trust?’ which has a wide variety of styles, from driving choruses in the title track and Save this City to the low key number The Backup Plan and even the off-beat Drunk’n'Honest. Hey did I tell you the show was at a casino..?
I did the hula for the hungry wolves
I’ve danced a thousand deaths like this before
And you still don’t believe in me.
If I were good, I’d be rich
if I were great, I’d be famous
but I’m me, and that’s all I can ever be.
- Hungry Wolves
Depicting how hard, and sometimes outright cruel, the music industry is. The song was born out of frustration with and not understanding why the industry could be so fickle at times. As an artist you create what comes from your heart and it will not always be mainstream and when it is slightly leftfield of the norm it is met with resistance. Maybe the industry is to blame for mostly supporting the ‘sure deal’ or maybe it could be the majority of punters who still feel that ‘it is OK for South African music’. Fact of the matter is that the socio-economic make-up of the buying market is very small and that in itself creates a major challenge for any artist in our local scene. While we do not like to hang around the darkness too much we had to talk about when things go wrong. Think TV, think studio audience, think impromptu sing-along-although-it-might-be-in-the-wrong-key. Yeah, hellish I believe. Listen to Jon telling the crazy story…
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Coke Zero Fest 2009
So let’s have a look at the some of their highlights in 2009. Touring the UK and the Netherlands, in particular the Zwarte Cross, was good international exposure and is so important to do, despite the heavy financial outlay. Closer to home they recently played at the FIFA Draw Fan Fest in Cape Town where the streets were packed and the crowd went mad. They also did OppiKoppi and earlier this year played Coke Zero Fest where they unexpectedly became fans of Snow Partrol and also when the infamous shout-out video was shot.
Never a dull moment with the Cassetters!
>> Adriaan
You had a great 2009. What would you say was the highlight of 2009?
I would have to say The Killers tour because it is so fresh in my mind. The SAMA awards… MTV Africa Awards was awesome and then going to Kenya, which was our first trip out of SA, but yeah The Killers tour was amazing.
When did you know that you would be touring with The Killers?
We heard a while ago already but we had to keep it a secret.
In a previous post here on RocknRoller, Adriaan wrote about how you got short-changed in terms of your first sound-check on The Killers tour.
Yes, we were badly short-changed. After that first gig I hated it. I thought it was the worst thing ever and I swore that I’ll never do this again.
It was hard because we had to fit into The Killers mould and what they wanted. We weren’t allowed to use the drum rise, the lighting rig or the visuals behind the stage. There were a whole bunch of restrictions but that’s normal for a opening band.
It was because their gear got stuck in Argentina that everything got delayed. Obviously they get preference to do sound check so they did their sound check and then we didn’t have time to do our check. It wasn’t anybody’s fault but it was hard because we were up there in front of twenty thousand people and we were just like geeze… we hated it… but then the next night was amazing and it brought it all back for us.
Did you get to meet with The Killers? Spend some time with them?
No. It was strange… I walked past Brandon on the very first day and I ran up to him and I said “Hey I’m Greg rhumrum…” mumbled somestuff to him but I don’t think he knew who I was. We exchanged a few words and that was it. For the rest of the time they just did their own thing.
What are some of the best venues around SA to play at?
My favourite venue has always been Assembly. Its always the best vibe. We’ve sold it out twice now which is the only place we’ve really sold out…(laughs). We’re playing there on the 29th, which we are excited about.
Which are your favourite up and coming bands in SA?
I would have to say Ashtray Electric although they aren’t really ‘up and coming’ any more. Dear Reader although they too aren’t really up and coming anymore.
Do you think you could be successful locally and internationally?
Allot of people say “don’t go overseas… stay in SA” but I kinda have to. I’m not making enough to survive in SA and I’d like to spread my music around the world – that’s what I want to do. I suppose Seether has done it and The Parletones are getting there.
Are you a full-time musician?
Yes I am. Half-way through the year I became a full-time musician.
Did you receive any formal music training?
I did drum lessons for three years and the rest is just self-taught.
So apart from The Killers, what other gigs were highlights for you?
Cokefest was obviously cool. The first one was scary – I just couldn’t believe the amount of people. I remember standing there going… Oh sherbit! And then Cape Town was a whole lot better because I got used to it.
The Assemby shows. The Plett Rage show was actually pretty cool. It was one of those crazy gigs where the kids were pushing down the barriers – the sound wasn’t great but it was still a great gig. It’s actually a problem that we have. We try real hard to focus on good quality sound and it’s difficult getting that right. Often the sound is great but there’s a small crowd and then there are times where the crowd is great but the sound is horrible…
What advice do you have for new SA bands who are planning on touring and doing live gigs for the first time.
We have been helped allot by our sound engineer. We’ve played with the same guy since our first show. He knows our music really well. For starters this is the most important thing – It’s expensive because you have an extra member to pay, but at the end of the day it is really worth it. Our guy, Marinus, knows how we should sound on various systems and he has saved us many times by working magic on some shitty systems.
But yeah… bands should just go out there and play as much as possible. Find out which venues work for them, which promoters to use and which promoters to avoid.
At the end of the day it all comes down to the sound though. If the sound that comes out of the speakers is bad – we look bad. People don’t say “Oh the sound system is bad” They don’t understand that the sound system is bad. If you want to be a professional band you must make sure that what comes out of those speakers is the best possible sound that you can possibly get.
What can fans expect in 2010?
Quietness. It has been a hectic year and we need to write some new material. We turned down many gigs except for Kirstenbosch. We did Kirstenbosch last year and it was just amazing. We are basically booked off until April.
What does RocknRoll mean to you?
RocknRoll is that sex drugs and rocknroll crazy lifestyle but at the end of the day for me… I just love playing rock music – not necessarily heavy music. Rock music has always been a constant in my life since I was a kid. It’s a certain kind of energy. It also allows you to get way with allot of things. It’s been a crazy year… RocknRoll has been good to me his year.
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Sunshine Saturdays Concert The Dirty Skirts
Many people are chomping at the bit to find out when the next The Dirty Skirts album will come out.
Even Jeremy said that they have been playing Daddy Don’t Disco to death… So when is it going to happen?
We caught up with Jeremy at the first Sunshine Saturdays gig to ask him exactly that question… and some other equally important questions.
That was a solid sound-check session, do you often get the chance to do a proper sound check?
Yes, most of time we get enough time to do our sound checks. It’s nice to be able to jam a bit before the show. Once we even managed to compose some of our best material whilst doing a sound check at a corporate event.
What was the highlight of 2009 for the Dirty Skirts?
The Redbull sound clash was a great experience. Thumi and the Volume are very talented musicians and it was an awesome experience to perform with them.
Which are the best venues to play at around the country?
We love outdoor events – but these comes with their own sets of challenges (playing ‘into the wind’ having wind and dust rushing into your mouth, drying out ones vocal chords), it’s less controlled.
One of the best shows ever was at the Cape Farmhouse in Noordhoek a few weeks back, where there was a great family vibe, with tots doing the toddlers shuffle and everyone having a great time. Kirstenbosch is also always amazing.
Which local bands should we keep an eye on?
Ashtray Electric, New Holland, Kid of Doom and Taxi Violence. When we were starting out as a band we were in a Battle of the Bands with Taxi Violence… we were using a drum machine because we didn’t have a drummer yet… Taxi Violence completely thrashed us. (Chuckling as he recalls the event)
Are you full time musicians?
No, we all have jobs but each member’s job is flexible enough to allow us to fly to gigs around the country.
What does RocknRoll mean to you?
Doing what I love… Being able to create music and putting it out there.
Are you a self-taught musician?
I had classic guitar training. Recently I also had to retrain my voice. When we were in the studio recording Daddy Don’t Disco there were areas where I could barely reach the high notes and I remember thinking… What are you doing? Then touring in the Highveld, the dry air made it even more difficult to reach those high notes. I therefore had to retrain my voice and now I can hit those high notes… (gives us a preview of the results of the voice training by belting out a line in a very impressive falsetto)
What can fans of the Dirty Skirts expect in 2010?
We’ll be launching our new album. We are excited by the new sound that’s coming though in the new album. It is almost as if we have gone full circle and returned to our roots with is a strong electronic influence.
Thanks goes Jaki from the u-turn charity for the excellent photo of Jeremy.
» Mars
