Posts Tagged ‘must see bands

03
Oct
12

Rocking The Daisies Must-See Bands (Part 3)

bloc-party-050629-799747Excitement for this year’s Rocking The Daisies 2012 is mounting party people! Three sleeps and I’ll be there, cracking open a cold one at Camp Tiger and letting the good times roll.

So in this, the last instalment of my must-see bands, I am going to be tackling the bands you can’t miss on the main stage on Saturday.

Sure, there are other stages and other bands I could be covering, but as mentioned before, I can’t research every band at the festival so if there are other acts you think deserve some love, hit me up in the comments section.

If you’re also in this for the long haul from Thursday to Sunday, then Saturday is either going to make or break the festival for you.

Thursday night you’re probably gonna go balls to the wall and the same goes for the entire day on Friday so by the time Saturday rolls around you’re going to feel like you need a blood transfusion to boost the level of blood in your alcoholstream.

 

 

The trick to getting Saturday right will be to take it as super easy as possible during the day. Go for a dip in the dam if you’re feeling brave, indulge in a hot Woshbox shower, get a hearty breakfast in you and down at least a litre or two of orange juice and as much water as you can handle.

Flush your system out, rest up as much as possible and don’t even think about hitting the sauce until at least 4 or 5 in the afternoon because it’s gonna be a looooooooooooooong night and you want to be as fresh as possible when the big acts of RTD12 take to the stage to melt faces.

Though the main stage kicks off at 10am, I’m probably only going to mosey on over there at 12.10pm to catch Southern Gypsey Queen (featuring Al Frost).

It’ll be a bit like holding a defibrillator to my chest, cranking it to 11 and hitting the “charge” button (watch the video below and you’ll see why), but I do love me some loud, bluesey rock and roll.

This is the band sans Mr Frost – throw him in there and you’ve got a guaranteed recipe for face-melting good times.

 

 

Dig that drummer. What a flippin boychay.

After that it’ll be time to grab a bite and head back to your campsite for some R&R in the shade. Or go have a float in the dam (inflatable lilos are a must. Or you could go the Tiger route and take an entire inflatable BOAT. Bada-BANG!).

At 2.20pm Moving House are lighting up the main stage, a supergroup of sorts consisting of Andre Pienaar (Ashtray Electric) and Rob Davidson (ex Zebra & Giraffe).

I haven’t been able to find any of their material, but if I can summon the strength, I’ll definitely go check them out just based on the merit of their two previous bands.

The next band to watch out for will be Jeremy Loops at 6.05pm, who is one seriously talented guitarist and songwriter.

As the name suggests, this guy’s loop pedal skills have to be seen to be believed. One man. One guitar. And here’s what he’s capable of:

 

 

Insane sheeit right?! People who use loop pedals like that fascinate me because if they fuck up one of the loops, the whole song falls apart. So yeah. No pressure.

After that it’s Desmond And The Tutus on the main stage, but I’m gonna leave that one totally up to you guys.

The new single (“Zim Zala Bim”) has been murdered on local radio to the point where when it came on 5FM the other day the guy in the lane next to me deliberately swerved into oncoming traffic.

But let’s not forget what these guys are capable of. Here’s “Tattoo” off their most recent album Mnusic in case you need some reminding:

 

 

After that, run away.

Arno Carstens is up next and he’s probably going to play material off his new album, Atari Gala which, if the first video “Two Dogs” is anything to go by, could very well send you spiralling into a post-90s, ballad-rock depression guaranteed to kill whatever buzz you might have been feeling up until that point.

My advice would be to go line your stomach and start drinking heavily. It’s time to up your game, once Arno clears out it’s going to be two and a half hours of bone-rattling badassery, starting with Shadowclub, the made-in-SA version of The Strokes.

 

 

Funny story is I interviewed these guys back in ‘08 before they skyrocketed to fame. I used to do this fucked up show on UJFM called The Tuesday Night Bandslam With Rick Hunter And Al Burton (I was Al Burton).

Myself and Graumpot would go around with a roving mic and arrange to interview bands in weird places like bowling alleys, the Zoo Lake, the planetarium and in the case of Shadowclub, the putt-putt course at Fourways.

Our sound equipment kept fucking out and Jacques from Shadowclub (frontman) had this look like he was smelling a fart throughout the interview.

Then we started playing putt-putt so we could record some funny, random shit like we did for all our shows but Jacques was so over it by that stage he just walked from one course to the next hitting his ball into the water, kicking it around and generally just making it known that he thought the whole thing was a load of shit.

 

 

We ended up throwing the interview in the bin. The bassist at the time (forget his name) felt bad and suggested we try again when Jacques was in a better mood.

Second time around, we just interviewed them at Fuel Bar one night before they got onstage to play a gig at Carfax. The interview went a lot better and Jacques seemed to be much more chilled until about 30mins in when he started laughing in this really creepy way and told us he’d taken a large quantity of acid before the interview that felt like it was kicking in.

Crazy cat that guy. In my experience a bit of a douche, but I can’t fault the band, especially not Isaac the drummer, he’s a real stand-up guy and one of the best drummers in the business.

 

 

After that, it’s time.

Get your head in the game, smash a tequila or three, go take a long pee, fight for a spot nice and close to the stage and steel yourself.

Bloc Party, this year’s headline act are up at 11.20pm and trust me, you are not gonna want to miss this one.

This band was instrumental in kick-starting the indie movement that’s been rolling out in its various guises over the last decade.

Here’s their best track, “Banquet” which I’ll be losing my goddamned mind to when they rock it live:

 

 

So those are my must-see bands on the main stage on Saturday, like I said before, holler if you think any other bands deserve a mention and I’ll gladly show them some love.

Otherwise I’ll try have a review up by Monday / Tuesday after the festival has ended, so watch this space because I have a feeling Daisies is going to be pretty damn epic this year.

You can still get tickets from www.webtickets.co.za so get on that if you haven’t already.

Oh, and if you see a guy with a Tiger on his head missioning around, don’t be a stranger Winking smile

-ST

25
Sep
12

Rocking The Daisies Must-See Bands (Part 2)

KongosNow that I’ve recovered from the “IDFFLT” state that I found myself in last week, it’s time to get things back on track with my second Rocking The Daisies Must-See Bands post.

Originally I was going to break this festival down stage by stage until I realised how much work that would be on my part.

Instead, I decided to go day by day rather, a much less painful option.

So the first post pretty much covers everything for Thursday as there’s only going to be one stage up and running. Come Friday however, the festival will start coming alive and when it does, these are the bands you need to check out.

One more disclaimer before I start though – all the bands I’m recommending are playing on the main stage.

Yes, I know how lame that is, most people will just go to the main stage by default so I probably don’t need to big up any of the bands playing there, but holyfuckingshit, I’m writing this post on a machine that crawls like a goddamned dying snail, it’s already taken me THREE FUCKING HOURS just to find the videos below.

 

 

As much as I’d love to give other bands and artists from the Beach Bar Stage, the Nu World Beat Barn and the Electro Stage some love, that will literally take me another ten hours at the very least.

If ANYONE reading this knows other sick bands and artists performing on the Friday, drop a video link in the comments section below and if I get enough, I’ll write a follow-up post to this one.

Moving on, Friday kicks off at 1pm on the main stage with the Black Handed Kites. This band will make for a perfect, chilled start to the day with their acoustic guitar / banjo folky vibes. Check out their video for “Up”.

 

 

The next band I’d keep an eye out for on the main stage is Beatenberg, who are stepping up to do their thang at 3.10pm.

They’ve got a nice acoustic pop vibe, easy listening kinda stuffs to zone out to and get lost in. Really liked the sound of their track “Scorpionfish”, check it:

 

 

Anyone planning to indulge in some shrooms or anything else of a hallucinogenic nature should probably give the main stage a wide berth at around 5.20pm when The Brother Moves On take to the stage.

Or not. Depending on what you can handle…

These guys are like the Mars Volta of African music. Massively experimental, they won’t be everyone’s cuppa tea but I’ll definitely make an effort to see these guys. Should be pretty entertaining to watch if nothing else.

 

 

Of all the bands playing the main stage on the Friday, the first one to really make me sit up and listen when I was researching this piece was Machineri, who are up at 6.25pm.

From the couple of tracks of theirs I’ve managed to dig up, I like what I’m hearing. The guitarist Andre Geldenhuys is on a whole other level and the vocalist Sannie Fox has a Jefferson Airplane / Janis Joplin vocal tone that is all kinds of sexy.

 

 

Once Machineri have melted a few faces, I’d strongly recommend EVERYONE AT THE FESTIVAL heads to the Lemon Tree Theatre to watch Dylan Skews do the funniest stand-up you’re likely to see the entire weekend.

I watched this man at Synergy and literally cried laughing. Here’s a clip I dug up of some of his material from last year:

 

 

After that, I’d grab a bite to eat, smash a few tequilas and get ready for Friday’s big acts, starting with Isochronous, (who recently shortened their name to ISO), who are up at 9.40pm.

They wrote a pretty mesmerising, almost ethereal kind of indie which balances nicely with the Ben Gibbard / Death Cab For Cutie vocals.

Here’s a taste:

 

 

Last up is a band that I will personally kick you in the shin if you even think about missing.

Kongos are up at 11pm and they are going to blow everyone the fuck away. You can pretty much take that to the bank.

Here’s their video for “I’m Only Joking” if you don’t believe me.

 

 

Love those Queens Of The Stone Age / robot rock vibes. That relentless, driving bassline sounds like something stolen straight from Song For The Deaf, beyatiful.

If you’ve still got any strength left in you after that, I think it’ll be worth staying to watch BEAST, Inge Bergman’s new band.

I loved Lark, so even though I haven’t been able to find any of BEAST’s material to show you guys, I have high hopes for this band.

So that’s Friday for ya, anyone have any other suggestions of bands to watch, don’t be shy Winking smile

-ST

14
Sep
12

Rocking The Daisies Must-See Bands (Part 1)

Wstock MafiaFor those of you that didn’t catch my tweet earlier this week, my media accreditation for Rocking The Daisies has been sorted!

Having learned the hard way from Synergy last year, this time around I kept it classy and applied way the hell in advance and having seen the lineup I am beyond fucking excited.

So every Friday leading up to RTD12 I’ll be posting videos and tracks from the bands you HAVE to catch this year come hell or high water.

To keep it simple I’m breaking it down one stage every week, starting with the Thursday night “Campsite Stage” which kicks off at 6pm.

Man-o-man what I wouldn’t give to be able to get through in time to set up and have all my shit together to catch the bands on Thursday night, but at this stage it ain’t lookin likely.

IF I do manage to make it though, it’s probably not going to be before 8pm, which sucks gigantic balls because it means I’ll miss Woodstock Mafia who, in my humble opinion, are probably the best band playing on Thursday night.

Just watch this video. Seriously. It’s fucking awesome.

 

 

How fucking intense is that solo?! Christ, gimme a minute while I quickly mop my face back up.

Right after them another sick band will be hitting up the Campsite Stage just after 8pm, The Very Wicked, who have a pretty sick stoner / desert / 70s rock vibe.

Another reason to get your ass to Darling on Thursday.

 

 

I actually heard that song earlier this year when the video was first released and had no idea they were South African. Apparently their live debut is going down on 19 Sept (next week Wednesday) at SGT Pepper on Long Street.

Carrying on in the 60s garage rock vibe, another sick band to catch on the Thursday night will be The Future Primitives whose track “Try On Something That’s Really You” is packed to the max with dirty surf rock vibes.

 

 

And last but not least, the main act on the Thursday at the Campsite stage will be Goodnight Wembley who are on just after 11pm.

I’ll be honest, the single that’s playing on 5FM at the moment isn’t really blowing my hair back, but I have a feeling these guys have a couple aces up their sleeves because Goodnight Wembley is a supergroup consisting of the guys from Taxi Violence, 7th Son, Dead Lucky and Yes Sir!Mister Machine.

 

 

And that, boys and girls, is the down lizzo for Thursday night at RTD12. If I can make it there, you bet your ass I’ll be losing my mind to the bands above.

Have a killer weekend Party People, see y’all at the beach tomorrow Winking smile

-ST