Josh Kempen speaks with an unfamiliar accent, especially for a Jozi-born singer-songwriter. And it’s got something to do with having travelled the world, as far as I can tell. Having been nominated for a 2014 Wawela music award as “Songwriter of the year”, this guy’s obviously got something to say.
Tommy Gun isn’t a machine gun used by gangsters in old movies – he’s a DJ from Cape Town, who’ll be visiting the last Park Acoustics of 2016 – this Saturday (26 November) at the Voortrekker Monument. We caught up with him, and had a quick chat about Aqua’s Barbie Girl, afternoon DJ sets, and – wait, did I say “Barbie Girl”?
Malkop Summer Rock Festival is around the corner, and are playing host to a bunch of legendary artists, like Francois van Coke, Koos Kombuis, Mr Cat & The Jackal, and many more. You’d think that being included in a line-up that reads like the who’s who of local live music would unsettle a young band, but Slow Jack is certainly prepared.
Next Saturday, at the “Last Park Acoustics of 2016”, local comedian Alan Adyms will be one of many entertainers working hard to provide a day chock-full of music, comedy, and dancing. We asked Alyn a few questions ahead of the event.
October saw the release of Aidan Martin‘s latest single Refugee, a tour-de-force rock and roll anthem perfectly fitted for tense political state of mind the world finds itself in lately.
Aidan Martin is the real deal. With a career stretching for almost a decade, Aidan has been touring, moving around and adapting. A true musical refugee in every sense of the word, never settling for what is given to him, swimming upstream from the norm for a place to call his own. Aidan Martin is one of the true few keeping rock & roll alive in South Africa.
Though tempting, it’s hard to call Academie a side-project or spin-off band. Yes, husband-and-wife duo Jean-Louise and Alex Parker have been seen in bands as diverse as Dear Reader, Fulka, and ISO in the past, but their new band has practically nothing in common with those acts. We talked with Academie in anticipation of their set at the new festival just outside of Pretoria, A Place In The Sun.
BCUC burst onto stages in the same way that their music knocked down your heart’s door. They might not be the band South Africa deserves, but they’re the band we need right now. With their debut EP Our Truth just released, and their visit to The Good Luck Bar for OneSight Acoustics this Sunday, we asked them a few questions about why taking your time is important…
After scoring the well-deserved Best Live Act MK Award a few years back, The Black Cat Bones exploded. They’ve since become the must-book band for every major music festival around the country, so there’s nothing strange about their slot at the new outskirts-of-Pretoria festival, A Place In The Sun. Oh wait, there is something strange about it: They’ll be sharing the stage with the super energetic, Soweto-based, abstract African band BCUC.
We asked Bones guitarist Andre Kriel about their band, their albums, and what A Place In The Sun will bring.
As we move further and further into the future of convenience and technology, new possibilities are arising to find love, be it scanning dating apps for the perfect partner, stalking the girl of your dreams online or building the perfect mechanical partner that passes the Turing test to keep you warm at night. The Stepford Wife generation.
Tuesday saw the release of the brand new single from the Pretoria based indie/folk act Kabaal klankbaan in which he explores the very real theme of building the perfect girlfriend. You know, one that would not break your heart.
World, meet ‘Robot Girlfriend’.
George van der Spuy, who’s mostly known as the frontman of Capetonian rock band Taxi Violence, has recently launched his career as a solo artist, under the name Crawling King Snake. Along with the announcement, he released a first single, Land of the Blind – apparently a “baptism” for the project, and a preview of a still-to-be-launched EP titled The Gospel According to George. All this is a predictable move that we’ve seen before by rock band frontmen, but there’s something fascinating about the way he’s doing it, and the imagery he uses. We asked George a few questions in an attempt to decipher Crawling King Snake.
