Friday, May 17, 2013

SMAC Comics 08 - OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!

The first Hi5 Live with Dune Rats was just incredible. Good vibes overload! Was just the loveliest show and I had such a fun set alongside my friend Nathan Scott Phillips. Thank you so much everyone who was there and made the night what it was! Thanks to ShortStraw for being so eager to join in the awesome, thanks to my stellar co-conspirators Plaat Japie & Doctor Khumalo for putting the night together with me and thanks to everyone who pulled through, danced and dished out high fives!

Next up: Tonight at Amuse I'm doing the keytar-throwing, eyeball-melting thing with my band, Eyes Like Mirrors!

Then, Saturday! I'm getting to whip out some more rock and roll in support of The Dune Rats AGAIN! I feel like one lucky Sassquatch! Sooo much awesome going down on this night!

Then I have no less than SIX performances of different kinds around the country next week, but I'll wait for Monday to stick them all in one list!

Thanks again for warming this Sassquatch's heart Joburg. Last night was just incredible!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Days Like Telvision: Shortstraw!


So ShortStraw just released a new video:

As I was planning to post that up here, I realised there's also a really fun video from last month that I failed to post as well. So here's that one too!

Don't forget, you can catch the band supporting Dune Rats at Hi5 tomorrow night!

Friday, May 10, 2013

You are invited: Dune Rats 1st South African Tour!!


Oh man - this is a an exciting one!

There's this pretty fantastic Australian band called Dune Rats. They're pretty new, so this could well be the first time you're hearing about them. And you may ask yourself "WHAT THE HELL?!? WHAT'S A DUNE RAT? DO THEY BITE?!".

If that's the case, I suggest you take a deep breath, calm down and aquatint yourself with the joy of Dune Rats via the following videos:



Pretty swell huh? Now here's the good news: Dune Rats are coming to South Africa!

The cherry on top, for me, was being invited to illustrate the posters for the tour as well!

Another stroke of good luck was that Ri and I are able to host the band for one of their Joburg dates! Next Thursday, the 16th, we'll be happy to have Dune Rats performing at our brand new weekly Kitchener's night, Hi5! Ri and I will both be supporting the band alongside the legendary Doctor Khumalo!
 

Then! I'm flying down to Cape Town on Saturday to spin another DJ set in support of The Rats! The night will also feature Dr. K, as well as great selection of other DJs and 3 killer local bands! This is gonna be out of hand!

Fun times ahead everyone!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Fridge Poetry - Soweto Slo Mo EP

Today's music comes from one of my favourite people on planet Earth. Together, we've shared some of the highlights of my life including the time that:

In Johannesburg we tamed lion cubs.
In Cape Town we got lost in the mountains.
In Baltimore, some crazy man convinced us he was part of Pretty Girls Make Graves.
In New Orleans we had an impromtu dance party in the middle of an empty club.
In New York City we played our hearts out.
In some random diner "learned us how ta eat Suthern".
In the middle of nowhere USA we ripped the roof off our camper van, then played in fountains. 
In Philadelphia we got shut down by the cops. Had a drink, then finished our set.
In Manchester we saw the world's most frightening backstage graffiti.
In Lausanne we played under a bridge, built hundreds of years ago.
In Rotterdam we got silly.
In Berlin we cleaned out a whole buffet.
In Rosenheim we ran around on hotel rooftops, in the rain at 2AM.
In Achen we played in an abandoned Cold War bunker.
In Prague we drank absinthe.
In Paris we played the quietest rock and roll show ever.
In Birmingham we played X-Box and ate curry and hung out in the park
In transit we defeated The Ice Of Boston.
In Chicago we did scream-acapella covers of Weezer and mimed playing drums for Mock Orange.
In Madison we raced office chairs around a fancy boardroom.

I could just keep going on and on and on about all the awesome memories I've generated alongside this lovely man, through Africa and Europe and The States. But that's not what I'm here for! So let me just jump straight ahead to saying today's music fix comes from none other than Junior Foreigner!
Best known as the beast behind the beats and bleepy-bits of Johnny Foreigner, Jun also produces some super lush electronic music under the name Fridge Poetry. He's just released his debut EP which you can freely stream to your heart's content bellow!


Friday, May 3, 2013

Free Music Friday: Humanimals!


Today's free music is a pair of singles from the magic hands of Matthew Watson. You may know Matt as the entity behind the drums in my band Eyes Like Mirrors.
But outside of his extreme drumming powers, Matt is also pretty damn awesome at guitar and singing like the guy from Creed and composing songs about pizza. Making use of his skills with other instruments and his mad song-writing abilites, Matt has started a project called Humanimals. Under that name, Matt produces lovely, tappy, mathy kinda stuff, which is so my cup of tea. I hope you like it too!

 While Humanimals is still a studio-only-project, you can catch Matt kicking out the jams with Eyes Like Mirrors. Our set at Red Room tomorrow night would be a good opportunity to do this!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Free Music Friday - Ampersand edition!

As you may know, I've vowed to make every day a Free Music Friday till I get through all the good stuff I've not shared over the last while. It's been going well so far. Two days straight. That's a far better job than I've been doing for months right? But now a problem has presented itself. What if people release more awesome stuff while I'm still making my way through everything I missed already?

This problem became a reality last night when I saw the link to download a collection of songs i have been looking forward to for literally years.
So yeah, no two ways about it, today has to be all about sharing "I wish I were who I was when I wished I was who I am" - the massively anticipated new EP from Ampersand!


You are invited: ELM at Red Room

I'm playing a show with Eyes Like Mirrors this Saturday!

This May the Forth, ELM will be sound-tracking the celebration of The Red Room's tenth Birthday. The night will also feature Dead Alphabet, plus a fine selection of regular Red Room DJs. Fun time guaranteed - come through!