MusicalMover Exclusive – Interview with Sky Ferreira.

I’ve always made music as long as I can remember, I’ve never really had a reason why. – Sky Ferreira.

Take every preconceived notion you have had of a teen pop star and turn it on its head, then you might just have yourself Sky Ferreira, one of the most talented 17 year old’s out there.  In a world saturated with identical acts, she is new, bold and refreshingly herself.

Her first-grade classmates had never heard her utter a word until she did a rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” at her Los Angeles school talent show at age six. She explains “It’s always been a lot harder for me to communicate because I’m shy, but when it comes to music, it’s quite easy for me to talk. Performing is a stress release for me.”

At age 11 she sang for Michael Jackson – and some say made him cry. His encouragement for her to professional training “definitely helped” fuel her desire to sing, she elaborates “the thing is I’ve always known I’ve wanted to be a singer so I never really had to think about it. Performing for Michael Jackson is a very big, big honour. It was very flattering that he liked it, and really cool.”

Growing up in LA, Ferreira gained attention and notoriety through the local club scene, as to how all that affected her she says “people around me have influenced me going out, but that’s pretty much it. I think that happens in any place you grow up in.

She describes her music as “new and exciting.” Which it is, as well as  being enchanting and wholly unique. Her image is certainly very different in comparison to the teen girls in the pop market, as to whether it helps her stay true to who she is; she concurs, “I believe it makes me more real. I’m not just someone who people put clothes on. I feel like a lot of girls can relate to that.”

The story of how she contacted and then met Bloodshy & Avant is well known – that of a contact through Myspace – and as for their subsequent interest in her she muses “I’m sure it was because I’m a little bit different. A lot of it was based off talent, but lots of people have talent, so a lot of it was based off luck too.”

Her cover of Miike Snow’s ‘Animal’ is sublime and is a song which showcased her talent and garnered much talk across the world. She tells of her reason to cover that song “I was in Sweden with them at the time so it just made sense. I was hearing it all the time and just wanted to do it. Also, it’s just a very good song.”

She recently released the video for ‘Obsession’ and the concept behind the video  hinged on “instead of me being the obsession, I wanted to be the obsessor.” says Sky. Speaking of videos, working with Rankin for her video ‘One – a simplistic piece yet enthralling piece – she explains “I’ve worked with Rankin in the past so it was really easy to work with him again. I’d love to work with him more.”

Dance music is a “very big influence” and is that’s why she did a lot of the album in Sweden. She adds “there are a lot of other influences you might not notice… yet. Recording her debut album has been “a very long process but it’s been fun…”  As for the overall sound of it is “Angry Dance”! She explains “It’s very dance, but I also feel like it’s writing style is very angry…”

She’s worked with many prominent producers on the album and says of it “I’ve learned a lot from each producer and writer and it’s very flattering to work with some of the biggest producers around.” There’s a rumour that has been circulating that she is working with Britney Spears, it’s known that she’s written for her – as for her hinting if it’s true, she says “I can’t say that it’s happened… yet.”

Sky is known for her interaction with her fans on Facebook and it is incredible. How she keep up with everything? Simple, she says “I set aside like an hour a day to make sure I keep in touch. It’s one of the best parts of my job.”

One of Sky’s most loved – and talked about – assets is her hair; she explains “I’ve always had really long hair. I’ve cut it a few times, but to get it this long it’s taken…maybe two years?”

2010 is Sky Ferreira’s year and while her album will only be released next year she is cementing her place in the hearts and lives of her fans around the world. As to what she would like to achieve? She says simply “I just want to keep making music that’s new, different and creative.”

MusicalMover Exclusive – Interview with Pendulum.

“We spend nearly every waking moment trying to create music that takes you out of this universe – for ourselves and anyone else who wants to listen.” – Pendulum.

Pendulum. A name synonymous with the now six piece outfit that formed in Perth, Western Australia in 2002, when producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen teamed up with acclaimed local DJ Paul ‘Elhornet’ Harding. Their vastly different musical roots helped define Pendulum’s unique style.

The name Pendulum as Gareth describes it was chosen “from a list of names!” unbeknownst to them the name would be the epitome of their music, a force that alternates between extremes, that of rock, electronica, metal and drum and bass, with a ferocity and level of brilliance their fans have come to know and love.

Their song “Vault” released in 2003, launched Pendulum onto the forefront of the drum and bass scene, and looking back Gareth explains “‘Vault’ was almost like a lucky break, it hit drum and bass at a time when it needed something new and a new sound and we were lucky enough to have such a track out around that time. It was literally the first track we wrote together so we were lucky to hit it off in the drum and bass scene so promptly.”

At the end of 2003 the band relocated to the UK and proceeded to dominate the music scene, where their debut album “Hold Your Colour” spawned many hits but having their first Top 30 hit in the shape of ‘Slam’ was “amazing!” The band gained many a fan and over the next few years and cemented Pendulum’s reputation as a formidable act.

Flash forward to 2010 and Pendulum’s newest release “Immersion”. The album has an atmospheric quality about it, it shimmers, and then subtly the mood shifts to one of surging baselines and soaring synthesisers, merging into nothing short of a sonic masterpiece. It’s an album that will take you on a journey unlike any other.

The band’s influences “vary from album to album” Gareth elaborates “for example big influences on ‘In Silico’ were Queens Of The Stone Age and Led Zeppelin, whereas I think on this latest album, ‘Immersion’ our influences were specifically our last two albums, as we wanted it to be a perfect blend of the best parts of our last two albums. “

They chose “Immersion” as the title for the album as they has come “up with a short list of names that fitted the vibe of the album for us and ‘Immersion’ had the strongest meaning to describe the album.”

The recording process was “better then the last album” explains Gareth, he adds “‘In Silico’ nearly killed us, we learnt a lot of lessons on how to work whilst doing ‘In Silico’ and so when it came time to work on ‘Immersion’ we didn’t chase our tail over direction and vibe, and we just enjoyed writing it a whole lot more. The problem with ‘In Silico’ was self inflicted second album syndrome.”

As for a favourite track off the album, Gareth muses “it’s hard to choose one, ‘Witchcraft’, the second single from the album is up there as one of my personal favourites, but ‘Self vs Self’ featuring the guys from In Flames is also a mile-stone track for us since we’ve always wanted to meet heavy metal styles a bit closer than we have been able to on past albums.”

The new single they are releasing is called ‘The Island’, out on September 19th. He explains “it’s somewhat of a departure from our typical tempos. The song was inspired by our trips to Ibiza, we’ve becomes big fans of the heavier side of house music again and wanted to reflect that on a two part song on the album.”

Gareth’s favourite aspect of performing is the “audience reaction” he adds “in my opinion, it is the most important thing”.  A favourable audience reaction is not hard to come by as their performances are the stuff of legends, having been described “one of the most enthusiastic reactions afforded a main stage act in Big Day Out history,” by Kerrang! They recorded the Live At Brixton’ DVD to capture the essence of such shows, working with director Paul Caslin. Having Caslin direct the live DVD was “an honour” says Gareth “as he has done lots of live music DVD’s that we really respect.”

They have only recently begun to make progress at breaking into the market in the USA and their tour there last year where they played at Coachella, SXSW as well as Miami’s Ultra Music Festival garnered them  rave reviews from music critics, Gareth explains “America is a very hard market to crack, we’ve toured out there a few times already and got more out of it then we could have imagined. One thing we will not do is constantly tour America and end up hating each other, its a very big place and cracking it can be mostly down to luck and being in the right place at the right time.”

As to who takes the longest to get ready before a gig, he jokes “I think Rob takes the longest to do anything and I think he’s proud of that!” As for the messiest on tour, it’s not one of the band members as you might assume but a clothing item, Gareth elaborates ”None of us are really messy, I have the worst smelling item – my jacket, but its dry cleaned now so its better! None of the band are working on side projects but “there’s always the desire to, just no time.”

Pendulum. Part band. Part myth. Part live legend.
I have a copy of ‘Immersion’ to give away, all you have to do is tell me why you would like a copy of their latest release and it’s yours!

Meet Richard Jay. Rising Star.

Kids these days. They all seem to be ridiculously talented. Take Richard Jay for example, this 17 year old rising British pop star writes all his own music, plays, sings, records and produces it all himself. His is making great waves in the music industry with his “blend of pop, electro and heartfelt balladry”.

Richard decided to start making music as “it’s a passion, that’s the best way to describe it. I got my first guitar when I was about 5 and I remember writing songs, well kind of songs, about being a cowboy, you know just being the general cool kid that I am” he laughs and says “when I turned 13 it just turned in to this thing where I completely fell in love with music, my mum booked me in to a recording studio for my birthday and I went in totally unprepared and came out with this cool (at the time) song which is now very cheesy looking back on it.”

The story of how he shot to fame is an interesting one. He admits it “was weird when it first started happening” He elaborates “I got played on 2 radio stations in a week and I was just kind of shocked! I remember getting a phone call from a friend screaming “you’re on the radio!” and then a day later I got an email from the BBC saying they were playing one of my songs on BBC Northants, it was then that I just got this huge response from everyone, the station told me they were flooded with emails from listeners asking for more details about me… I’d just love to say thank you to those people. My Myspace suddenly had more than 80,000 hits in about a week and it was then that interest from other people in the industry began coming in. It was so surreal…”

Calvin Harris and Dallas Austin called Richard “one of the most notable new pop talents to look out for…” He feels “it really is an honour to be referred to like that and I am such a huge fan of both of them” As for the raised expectations regarding his music  he says ” I’m sure some people would expect more but I think as long as you’re making music with the best intentions and you’re making music that means something to you, people are going to respond well to it…. or at least I hope so.”

Richard featured in the new Converse shoes global initiative campaign in which they promote new young upcoming talented artists He explains of it “it’s been quite a cool experience, it was the first time I actually got paid for an interview so I was like “yeah!” but it’s been a great way of getting people to notice me and my music.”

He writes, produces and records his tracks, he explains “I love being in the studio. I feel like I have to be involved in every part of the production as every part effects the total outcome of the sound, so it’s a great feeling when the song’s done.” As for off the wall antics in studio he explains there aren’t any “not really” anyway He adds “I just really like to focus on the task at hand so once I’m into the music that’s it.

He is working on new material and constantly spending time in the studio, he explains “there’s a certain mind set I get into where I have to do a song, but I can come back to the same song a few minutes later and hate it and be like ” what was that? ” and start all over again.”  He is also “hopefully working with some awesome and talented artists very soon.”

As to what he would you like to achieve in the music industry, it’s a simple case of “world domination!” He laughs and continues “I’d like for people to respond well to my music and be like ‘yeah this is something different, this is cool’..”

He recently played at The Umbrella Fair and as for a standout moment that happened where “some guy was reaching up to me, either trying to reach me or trying to steal my laptops” he laughs and adds “so I reached back and almost pulled him on stage. The end was great, people were dancing and it was just a great moment and a great feeling to give people that enjoyment. “His favourite thing about performing has to be “the reaction from the crowd, that’s the best thing there is when performing, as long as it’s a good reaction it gives you a real high and it’s just the most amazing feeling!”

Last but not least, what one thing would he like people to know about him is that “I’m a Batman fanatic! He pauses and adds “That’s probably more of a weird fact; I grew up on those movies, if you ever want to buy me a present, make it Batman related!”

Jay is set to go places! Keep an eye out for him.

Last Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.The Sick-Leaves.

“It’s an album that breathes and undulates like a ship on the open sea. It deals with fantasies, real life experiences, mountaineering and social commentary. It is much more rhythmic than the first two albums….” – Eksteen Jacobsz

Twice SAMA nominated artist The Sick-Leaves independently release highly anticipated third album Last Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on 8th March 2010.

Renowned Grammy Award winning producer, Darryl Torr produced this album from The Sick-Leaves that was recorded in November 2009 at SABC’s M5 studio. The album follows from the critically acclaimed SAMA nominated first & second albums Tunnel Vision & Stone the Crow (2007 & 2009 respectively), with Stone the Crow also having been released independently.

The Sick-Leaves is singer/songwriter/guitarist Eksteen Jacobsz. He wrote the songs for Last Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy “soon after Stone the Crow was released in 2008.” He adds “most of the songs were written in that 6 month period after the release, but a few sneaked in just before we started to record Last Dance…

As for the direction he wanted to take with the Sick-Leaves with the new album, he explains “I did the epic thing on Stone the Crow so in a way I wanted to go more in the opposite direction– shorter songs, more to the point, minimalist. I also wanted to pull the sound a bit more together by shedding a few layers of guitar and bringing the vocals to the fore.”

The song writing process “was a bit different from the first two albums. For the first time I started to write all the music and arrangements before I even contemplated writing lyrics. That’s how a song like Tell It Like It Is came to be an instrumental. I listened to it and it already had everything it needed, which meant that vocals were unnecessary it anyway didn’t fit with the song.”

He says is inspiration for the album “is hard to put my finger on it but a source of inspiration might have come from REM’s “Accelerate” album. The sound and concept of a short rock/punk album appealed to me at that stage.

He feels “in a sense” the sound has matured since the last album, he explains “we had put a lot of thought into this one with regards to it being more accessible. So where there was before feedback and millions of guitar noises we pulled back on that. This meant of course that a lot of space was created,  which was quite a scary thing for me at first. The biggest thing I probably learned on this album was that “space to breathe” is an integral part of music and that if you don’t create it it’s easy for the listener to be overwhelmed.”

He chose “Last Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy” as the name of the album as he had “read the title in a book by Stephen Venables, “Higher than the Eagle Soars”, which described his adventures in the Himalayas and in particular scaling Everest from the most difficult east side without supplemental oxygen.  It stuck with me and I really liked the ring to it. To me it means that we all have something or someone that can be taken away at any moment and that we must cherish and appreciate them while they’re here.”

Working with acclaimed producer, Darryl Torr “was a fantastic experience. I learned a lot of new things from him. The fact that he has overseas experience was a big consideration. He’s a perfectionist and in the studio that is the perfect person to have behind the desk. “

Eksteen tracked all the instruments on the album bar the drums and found it “time consuming.” He elaborates “every album is the same story so by now I’m quite used to it. It’s a case of assuming the specific instrument’s mentality when you record it. When you do the bass, you have to think like a bassist and play like a bassist. A bit of role and personality reversal. The toughest part of recording was undoubtedly the vocals”

Photographer Sean Brand designed all the album artwork using infrared photographs taken in Namibia to fit with the concept of the album and working with him “was a privilege and a pleasure. He adds “I didn’t really have an idea until I saw some of Sean’s infra red photographs. It made an immediate visual impact on me and I asked him if he’d be interested in doing the cover artwork. The brief basically was a “sense of vastness’’. When he said that he was off to Namibia for a holiday I knew that he would come back with something amazing….He knew what I was looking for, without me giving him a very detailed brief. He is very dedicated to his craft and it’s an inspiration to see someone have so much passion for photography and music.”

There weren’t any off the wall antics whilst in studio he says “apart from studio skateboarding, not really. If you have time to fool around in the studio you either have too much money or too few ideas.”

His favourite track off the album would be Run Away “for the reason that it was the easiest song to write and that everything was basically in place when I wrote it. Lyrically, it sums life up for me.”

He works as “one man band” in studio and then translates that to a band when performing live, he thinks “the positive thing about it is that the music comes alive when you play it live and there is definitely much more energy. Live is a different beast from the studio so it brings its own challenges to the party.”

He admits he thinks it’s rather clichéd but it’s “all about getting the music out there, to whoever is interested.”

You can catch Eksteen in action tonight on MK’s Studio 1 at 7:30 pm. I suggest you tune in!

‘I am Jax Panik.’

“It’s an album of extremes.”- Jax Panik

Jax Panik. Always one with a flair for the creative, eccentric and outrageous. With his second album, ‘I am Jax Panik’ out in mid September, he has been creating hype, causing a stir and constantly keeping fans wondering about what is to come.

Never one to slow down he has been creating the songs for the latest album from beginning of 2009 to the present day. As to where got his inspiration, it was from “all over.” He laughingly adds “but mostly from within my crazy brain…”

The name of the new album is called ‘I am Jax Panik’. He explains “We’re featuring various other voices on this album and a bunch of unexpected genres. Johnny de Ridder is also 50% of the band now, where before I was really the only one working the tracks. I’m also not in any of the new music videos. And on Facebook and Twitter my face nowadays is always covered by a mask. So the question around this album is: who the hell is Jax Panik? With this in mind the title just seems perfect.”

He admits he didn’t really think about the direction he wanted to take with Jax Panik and his music with the new album “until recently”.  He says the album “is not for everyone. I think people who really loved tracks like Cigarettes & Cinnamon might be slightly confused. This album’s definitely a move away from that familiar pop-rock sound and more towards a sort of black electro hip hop dance vibe…the serious stuff is way darker and the poppy stuff is way over the top! It’s an album of extremes.”

He’s worked with Johnny on Cigarettes and Cinnamon and now on ‘I am Jax Panik. He explains “He’s great. He’s really capable of anything; it’s just a matter of giving him a clear brief. The great thing about this album was the process – I’d work on a track, then he’d work on the track, then it would go back to my studio for a bit, and so on. Before it was more a matter of, right Johnny here’s the song, now make it better. Where now it was way more a 50/50 kinda thing. So it’s the best of him and the best of me on each track!” He laughingly adds “Sometimes he’ll spend a lot of time on something I don’t think is appropriate, but then I’ll bring him back down to earth with my amazing creative direction.”

Recording the new album was “Tough. Long hours. Trial and error. Blood, sweat, and tears.” As for the off the wall antics whilst in studio, he explains “We really went all out on this one. That’s one of the reason’s it’s taken so damn long to complete the album. We made snare drums by smashing cups and plates, got a host of session musicians in, experimented with countless crazy keyboards, effects pedals, samples, etc. We’re probably the best stocked studio in South Africa by now!”

His interaction with his fans on Facebook is admirable and they inspired him. He says “We ask their opinion on things all the time – reference tracks, lyrics, what they think about certain videos or bands. It’s crucial to bounce your wacky ideas off the people who already have an understanding of your brand and also to get a sense of exactly how far you can push their hearts and minds before losing them completely.”

He feels collaborations with SA R&B legend Ameen Harron, rapper HC, Locnville and Will Mono will showcase a different side of his music. He elaborates  “some people will go, what the hell is he doing now? But that’s cool.” He laughs and says “When I made the Cigarettes and Cinnamon album I was into Metrostation and The Killers. Goodness, now I’m into like death metal and breaking stuff!”

“Every song on this album’s a bit of a surprise.” He says “First time around I think people will just go, what the heck is this?! That’s definitely the sort of initial reaction we’re hoping for. After that some people will regret buying the CD, and others won’t stop dancing and singing in the shower for at least the next year!”

As for his favourite track, he explains “it’s difficult to say at this stage. We’re currently in the final stages of production and mixing. Once everything’s done and dusted and mastered I’ll make a decision. Every track on this album’s close to my heart. I’ve really put in 110% of myself in to every single one of them – lyrically and production-wise.”

As to what would he like to achieve with this album is simple. It’s “World domination.”

Live shows are something that all of his fans have been clamouring for since the release of the first album, when asked if he’d be doing live shows after the release of ‘I am Jax Panik’ he responded with something that would probably incur the wrath of many a live band, if it wasn’t done with such Jax Panik flair. He says “Probably. But it definitely won’t feature me on stage with some sort of backing band. I hope to never be another live band – ‘oh look they’re actually playing their instruments!’ That’s totally lame in my opinion. And personally I hate going to live shows. I don’t get it. I’ve never liked it one bit. Entertainment for me has never been standing around in a sweaty crowd having your ears blown away by some ‘band’. No thanks. Expect more video performances, arty happenings, online stuff… “

To fans he expresses his gratitude and thanks “for all the support, keep it up and spread the word. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see what all the fuss is about – The new album is coming…”

The final – and undoubtedly – most important question remains, will the music still be so catchy that you’ll rip out a hairbrush, break out some moves and sing along? Jax “sure hopes so.” He adds “These new tracks are pretty arty at times. I don’t think everyone’s going to get it. But hopefully the ones who do get it will love it!”

Exclusive Interview with Gorilla Breakfast.

 

Gorilla Breakfast are about as cool as the recently released game God of War 3. Yes. They are that cool.

They are self confessed gamers  who share a collective love of punk rock, electronic music and video games and used it to form their unique “don’t-stop-rockin’til-your-modem-disconnects” sounds. As the band are obsessed with video games they only sing songs about gaming and situations involving that subject. They have been  creating a stir amongst the gaming and local music communities with their Their debut EP, “The Yellow EP”.

I cornered  Bollo and Baker (as Norimasa notoriously doesn’t do interviews) and picked their brains on all aspects of the band and their recently released EP…

Musically, who most heavily influences you?

BOLLO: I like a lot of old, fast punk. I grew up listening to a lot of Roxette though, and Mango Groove – not even joking. These days it’s a lot of Rise Against, Shiny Toy Guns and Simon Kuhn.

BAKER: There are many many bands that we like but I cant say we really sound like any of them though we may want to. We just play what we can and hope that we like it. Bollo tends to trash everything I make up though and I keep the peace by saying he is a good writer.

Why did you start making music?

BOLLO: I wanted to have something to do in between playing old Sega Megadrive games on my PC.

BAKER: Music is the coolest thing in the world next to video games. Actually the coolest thing in the world is those two combined, like in Halo 2 when you fight in that huge battle near the end and Blow me away by Breaking Benjamin starts playing. Even if you don’t like the song or band when its all done you think “crikey that was awesome!” yes I say crikey.

How would describe your music?

BOLLO: A show promoter described us as “nerdcore”. I think she may have been mocking us, but I don’t care if people call us nerds. Just because we aren’t super trendy and wearing skinny jeans doesn’t mean that we can’t be the best band in the world ever.

BAKER: fun electro rock punk. Not to be taken to seriously but good for a laugh.

Why did you pick the band name?

BOLLO: It was literally two words that were stuck together to try and make Baker laugh. I succeeded! Only afterwards did we find out that it actually meant something on Urbandictionary.com – oops.

Baker: Ya, it made me laugh cause its so ridiculous. I like being ridiculous now and again.

How did the band meet?

BOLLO: I’ve known Baker for a long time now. We met at a ballet class. His sister was the teacher and I was the only male student. Don’t get me wrong, I was amazing. I could do the splits like nobody’s business. Then all of a sudden I turned 13, my voice broke and I couldn’t do the splits anymore – my dream was dashed! I’ve only spoken to Norimasa about five times; he’s very private, but man can he beat those drums.

BAKER:Bollo talks kakas alot. It was actually through a mutual friend, it was random, just driving around town.

Bollo got in the car and didn’t really talk to anyone except for quoting the Simpsons every 2 minutes. It was funny as heck at the time.

Norimasa is a mail order bride mistake on my part but it worked out well thus far.

Has living in Quigney affected the music you make?

BOLLO: Yes.

BAKER: It has definitely made us more trashy though the music is still uppercrust and sophisticated. Its good for high tea.

What are the new things happening?

BOLLO: In the world today? Or with us? I know God of War 3 just came out for the Playstation 3. We are also shooting a music video for “PS2>PS3” as well. That might be more interesting to you. Also, Baker has begun to write poetry as an outlet.

Baker: yeesh! Tough question. Its seem like motion control is all the rage these days and the Koreans are building mechs. No lies. Youtube it.

What would you like to achieve in the music industry?

BOLLO: Respect (even if its grudging). We would love to tour with bands who wouldn’t mind lending us money for the new NAG magazine.

BAKER: Honestly, I want no part of the industry other than playing music.

Its all about acting/looking cool and being fashionable playing a certain genre because its in, Looking down on your fans like you’re some god.etc etc. Its all lame. Ya being paid to play a show, that would be unreal! Have I come across as a bit of a douche with this answer!?

What is your favourite thing about performing?

BOLLO: Flashing lights. Free bottles of water.

BAKER: Goofing off and throwing name just so people can have a good time.

Why did you choose The Yellow EP as the name of the EP?

BOLLO: I don’t remember.

BAKER: If you study the work of art that is the EP’s cover. You will see it is a pleasing shade of yellow with undertones of wild bananas. Plus yellow is such a soothing word and also a greeting.

What’s the new single you’re releasing?

BOLLO: The single is for “PS2>PS3” and we are sending it out to all the campus stations in SA. There have been murmurings about radio play on regional radio stations, but we’ll see what happens. It’s all about how the old Playstation 2 is better than the new Playstation 3. You know – important stuff that affects everyone’s daily lives. I’m sure you’ve been thinking about it…?

BAKER: Yes what he said. We know the PS3 is a better machine but the PS2 has such charm and its so cheap with a massive catalogue of games. Its been going for 10 years! The Ps3 is also too darn expensive.

What was it like recording The Yellow EP?

BOLLO: I had a lot of fun. We learnt a lot too, I think our next EP will be a lot better produced, and hopefully I won’t make too many mistakes. On some of the songs on The Yellow EP, I was on a high from too much Cream Soda and Cheese Curls…I guess it helped for the faster songs.

BAKER: It was really fun and hot. We did in the middle of summer with no aircon except for open doors and windows. The neighbours could hear everything but because we are quig locals nobody stuffs with us.

The quig is a rough ass part of town.

What’s your favourite track off the EP?

BOLLO: Every one we speak to seems to like “64-In-One” the most. I like “Wii Night” – it has a dark kind of melody and cool synths in it.

BAKER: Yo-She, it was written and recorded within what felt like minutes and the end product was surprising.

The EP covers subjects such as ‘retro game cartridges, having a girlfriend who doesn’t appreciate your incessant gaming, chronic datelessness due to a Wii obsession, as well as the benefits and hang-ups of different next-gen consoles.’ Those are issues most geeks face, what advice for you have for them?

BAKER: Ok, you cant help what your interests are, if you spend a few hours a week doing what you enjoy then by all means. Just don’t let it get in the way of life like most WoW players. Also gaming is expensive, go budget if you don’t have the cash like me. I always get my stuff second hand or much later. Honestly no game is worth over R300.00

Chicks will dig you because of how you treat them not on what you do for fun. I’ve seen fisherman with hot wives before so we all have hope and those guys are stinky.

Did you do anything off the wall whilst recording?

BOLLO: As I said earlier, I was on a Cream Soda high. I know that Baker did scare a cat while he was screaming on “64-In-One”. I guess that’s not as exciting as you might have hoped.

BAKER: Actually no. If you were there you would have just seen us sitting in front of PC with headphones on. Does this mean we’re boring?

Why did you choose to make the EP  available as a free download?

BOLLO: It seemed like the best way to get our music out there to fellow nerds. Giving it away on a website means that we can reach geeks that were already using the computer anyways. Sweet!

BAKER: It really cost us nothing to make, and we were mainly doing it for ourselves. We just want to share it and get as many people to have a listen.

Who takes the longest to get ready before a gig?

BOLLO: Baker always has to “use the bathroom” when it comes to stage time.

BAKER: Ya definitely me, I get nervous pretty easy and always have to ‘go’ But I’m always the first one on stage strangely enough.

Are any of you working on side projects?

BOLLO: I think Norimasa may be working on a project to bring about the end of Myspace. Oh, and he also makes ceramic ashtrays for his mom. He is potent with a kiln.

BAKER: I’ve had side project for a while called Kung Fu Beach, I started it to show my friends that I can actually play music.

Bollo has a fully fledged band in Cape Town but I cant say the name because then about a gazillion people will know his secret identity.

Who talks the most rubbish?

BOLLO: Definitely me. Give me a microphone and I could talk for hours about anything. For some reasons, girls don’t seem to flock around me when I do this – perhaps I need to find out what women want. Bookmarks, maybe?

BAKER: Bollo is the king of trash talk. I’m just there egg him on. Egg? What?

What is one of the craziest things that has happened at a show?

BOLLO: People turned up to watch us play. That, and applause.

BAKER: Ya, that was amazing! We played Mortal Kombat 2 against each other during a song on stage. Pretty mental hey?

Gorilla Breakfast are here to prove that you’re not alone in your 64-bit addiction. Be thankful.

Live and direct from the Honky Tonk of Electro, I give you Hyper Crush.

“Live and direct from the Honky Tonk of Electro comes three shit-faced extra terrestrials known amongst the elite simply as Donny, Preston and Holly.” They are Hyper Crush. They are wacky, unique, outspoken and are bringing the 80’s back one dancefloor banger at a time.

The trio “have been friends since we were really young, Donny and Preston were causing trouble in middle school together at 15 years old, We met Holly in high school and shit just made sense..” Originally, the name of the band was the Bel-Airs, but the name changed along with their style and Hyper Crush was born. They picked the band name as they “wanted an original name that did not have any meaning and sounded rad, the two words Hyper and Crush sound like our music, and we like both of those words”

Their musical influences range from “Pet Shop Boys and Rage against the Machine to New Order” as well as “any groups that are pushing the envelope musically.” and bands like “Daft Punk or Tony Scott (director of Top Gun and Days of Thunder) are who they would like most to collaborate with. As for pushing the envelope musically and experimenting, it is something they are doing themselves-they have used sounds from Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game to begin the song “The Arcade” and music from The Legend of Zelda to end it.

Making music was something that “just kinda happened, [as we have] loved it since we were kids…”  As for their sound, they describe it as “High Energy. Fun. A swift side-kick to the face.” Which it is. It’s upbeat, funky and has an irresistibleness that one cannot deny.

When asked what they would like to achieve in the music industry, their reply was “Have you seen the movie Wall Street? We wanna be the Gordon Gecko of the music Industry.” The movie Wall Street is about stockbroker with “a strong desire to get to the top” and who will do “just about anything to get into the big leagues”. One can only admire their determination to make it in the industry.

Hyper Crush toured with Kevin Rudolf in spring 2009. The second half of the tour was cancelled for unknown reasons, but touring as the opening act for Lady Gaga surely made up for the botched Kevin Rudolf tour. Opening for Lady Gaga was a mixture of “great exposure, bad sausages” it was also “an amazing opportunity that we took full advantage of, gained a bunch of new fans in Europe, and didn’t eat for a solid month (bad food)…and blew up 2 lasers because of the power conversion..” Now that’s how every tour should be.

Their favourite thing about performing is “the feeling we get when we hear the crowd screaming, and chanting your name before the show, it’s an amazing feeling to know hundreds of people are in the audience that appreciate what we do…” They add “we also love to stage dive and to spray the crowd with super soakers…”

Recording their debut album The Arcade “was awesome, and very time consuming, sometimes we would be up till 10 or 11 am, We were able to try new things musically that were not really being done at that time, We did all the artwork too..” After some delays in releasing their second album they chose to release Mixtape Volume 2 through the internet as their “goal was to get it into as many people’s hands as possible, so we gave it away for free [so] we put up the Mixtape everywhere we could…”

They have a new album coming out soon and so far the name for it is most likely going to be “Flip the Switch”. Recording the new album is going “Fantastic! It is mostly done, we are super happy with the way it turned out. We were exploring a newer bigger sound on this record…” The new and bigger sound is something to look out for. As for their favourite track off the album as of yet it is probably “Flip the Switch”

Their song, “Keep Up” has been described as “a dance floor banger, sure to make you dance so fast you can barely see your sneakers.” It also happens to be the new single they have released and they will have a video for it “coming real soon” as well as a “new album coming soon and when we say soon we mean in the next decade hopefully…”

They have some crazy off the wall antics in studio which include “Preston trying to buy a shotgun (but settled for the most powerful fully automatic BB guns) which we fire at cans in the studio while recording to keep our wits about us…” A typical day in studio for Hyper Crush…

The trio aren’t satisfied with just making music; Preston is working on “developing interplanetary commuter space travel mainly through magnetic powered super crafts.” Donny is practicing being a male escort for lonely upper class housewives in and around southern California and Holly has always dreamed of working at hot dog on a stick and has an interview in the coming weeks. She is keeping her fingers crossed.”

As for the band members themselves “Holly has the mouth of a trucker and is quite a hussie at times. Along with having an unmatched amount of sass she is also very opinionated.” This means she talks the most rubbish (at any given moment). Whilst on tour, it’s all about being clean, clean, clean. Very clean. “We are all really clean, we think Preston has OCD. Donny refuses to let his bare feet touch any type of floor. Ideally we wish we could boil the entire world to completely disinfect it.” You know, the usual.

I had to know with a band such as Hyper Crush just exactly what their craziest show experience has been and it happened at “one of our first shows” “It was in a club in Hollywood. We performed right on the dancefloor. Some guy grabbed Holly’s mic (she got caught slipping) and started talking shit. We ended up getting the mic back and continued to rock. That person is no longer with us.”

Donny is the brash, no nonsense, rapper who tells it like it is. He has the nickname “PonyBoy” and he “took it from the movie The Outsiders which we were obsessed with for a time.” He continues “I’m a straight shooter just like PonyBoy was.” Word. He happens to have the “wits of a pigeon and an ego big enough for 5 men”. It’s pretty impressive and he feels “It is stressful at times. It consumes alot of my energy causing me to have to rest sporadically throughout the day.” He would rather have “Worldwide fame” than a pair of vintage 80’s sneakers as he has “plenty of dope sneakers.” Worldwide fame it is. When they take over the world Donny’s message to their fans would be “Thank you for sticking by us.” Short, sweet and straight to the point.

When asked who would win in a fistfight, Donny or Preston? Donny says “Well being that I test my strength often in drunken street fights I might have an edge on Pres.” Preston says “That would never happen; we would end up fighting you first. If it did though we would duel to the death…”

Preston is a take no prisoners kind of guy. He also happens to be a convicted felon and a fulltime alcoholic as well as a DJ/producer extraordinaire. That doesn’t leave much time for anything else, how he manages it all is simple he explains “the fact is, I have an addictive personality. It works to my advantage, I never stop working, just keep going and going…” Donny has a nickname (“PonyBoy”) and Preston doesn’t although his “old nickname was “Cutti”” That counts for something on the nickname front.

Holly is the bubble gum to their lollipop, metaphorically of course. She has to handle a lot of testosterone with the two guys but she “loves it!” As for the hard decisions in life, such the question of shoes or gum? She would go for “shoes. A lot more damage can be done with my kicks and heels” True that.

When they take over the world she would tell their fans that “Honestly, we couldn’t have done it without you guys…” and  Preston would say “Thanks [to the fans] for riding hard with us and we hope you keep repping the crush till the day you perish from the earth because you know we will.”

They have “fresh rhymes and funky beats and they are armed with enough neon to make you wear shades.” You have been warned. Now get ready for them to tear up the dancefloor.

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“Live and direct from the Honky Tonk of Electro comes three shit-faced extra terrestrials known amongst the elite simply as Donny, Preston and Holly.” They are Hyper Crush. They are wacky, unique, outspoken and are bringing the 80’s back one dancefloor banger at a time.

The trio “have been friends since we were really young, Donny and Preston were causing trouble in middle school together at 15 years old, We met Holly in high school and shit just made sense..” Originally, the name of the band was the Bel-Airs, but the name changed along with their style and Hyper Crush was born. They picked the band name as they “wanted an original name that did not have any meaning and sounded rad, the two words Hyper and Crush sound like our music, and we like both of those words”

Their musical influences range from “Pet Shop Boys and Rage against the Machine to New Order” as well as “any groups that are pushing the envelope musically.” and bands like “Daft Punk or Tony Scott (director of Top Gun and Days of Thunder) are who they would like most to collaborate with. As for pushing the envelope musically and experimenting, it is something they are doing themselves-they have used sounds from Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game to begin the song “The Arcade” and music from The Legend of Zelda to end it.

Making music was something that “just kinda happened, [as we have] loved it since we were kids…”  As for their sound, they describe it as “High Energy. Fun. A swift side-kick to the face.” Which it is. It’s upbeat, funky and has an irresistibleness that one cannot deny.

Their song, “Keep Up” has been described as “a dance floor banger, sure to make you dance so fast you can barely see your sneakers.” It also happens to be the new single they are releasing and they will have a video for it “coming real soon” as well as a “new album coming soon and when we say soon we mean in the next decade hopefully…”

When asked what they would like to achieve in the music industry, their reply was “Have you seen the movie Wall Street? We wanna be the Gordon Gecko of the music Industry.” The movie Wall Street is about stockbroker with “a strong desire to get to the top.” and who will do “just about anything to get into the big leagues” and whilst they are no means stockbrokers, you can only admire their determination to make it in the industry.

Hyper Crush toured with Kevin Rudolf in spring 2009. The second half of the tour was cancelled for unknown reasons, but touring as the opening act for Lady Gaga surely made up for the botched Kevin Rudolf tour. Opening for Lady Gaga was a mixture of “great exposure, bad sausages” it was also “an amazing opportunity that we took full advantage of, gained a bunch of new fans in Europe, and didn’t eat for a solid month (bad food)…and blew up 2 lasers because of the power conversion..” Now that’s how every tour should be.

Their favourite thing about performing is “the feeling we get when we hear the crowd screaming, and chanting your name before the show, it’s an amazing feeling to know hundreds of people are in the audience that appreciate what we do…” They add “we also love to stage dive and to spray the crowd with super soakers…”

Recording their debut album The Arcade “was awesome, and very time consuming, sometimes we would be up till 10 or 11 am, We were able to try new things musically that were not really being done at that time, We did all the artwork too..” After some delays in releasing their second album they chose to release Mixtape Volume 2 through the internet as their “goal was to get it into as many people’s hands as possible, so we gave it away for free [so] we put up the Mixtape everywhere we could”

They have a new album coming out soon and so far the name for it is most likely going to be “Flip the Switch”. Recording the new album is going “Fantastic! It is mostly done, we are super happy with the way it turned out. We were exploring a newer bigger sound on this record…” The new and bigger sound is something to look out for. As for their favourite track off the album as of yet it is probably “Flip the Switch”

They have some crazy off the wall antics in studio which include “Preston trying to buy a shotgun (but settled for the most powerful fully automatic BB guns) which we fire at cans in the studio while recording to keep our wits about us…” Can you say a typical day in studio for Hyper Crush…

The trio aren’t satisfied with just making music; Preston is working on “developing interplanetary commuter space travel mainly through magnetic powered super crafts.” Donny practicing being a male escort for lonely upper class housewives in and around southern California and Holly has always dreamed of working at hot dog on a stick and has an interview in the coming weeks. She is keeping her fingers crossed.”

As for the band members themselves “Holly has the mouth of a trucker and is quite a hussie at times. Along with having an unmatched amount of sass she is also very opinionated.” This means she talks the most rubbish (at any given moment). Whilst on tour, it’s all about being clean, clean, clean. Very clean. “We are all really clean, we think Preston has OCD. Donny refuses to let his bare feet touch any type of floor. Ideally we wish we could boil the entire world to completely disinfect it.” You know, the usual.

I had to know with a band such as Hyper Crush just exactly what their craziest show experience has been and it happened at “one of our first shows” “It was in a club in Hollywood. We performed right on the dancefloor. Some guy grabbed Holly’s mic (she got caught slipping) and started talking shit. We ended up getting the mic back and continued to rock. That person is no longer with us.”

Donny is the brash, no nonsense, rapper who tells it like it is. He has the nickname “PonyBoy” and he “took it from the movie The Outsiders which we were obsessed with for a time.” He continues “I’m a straight shooter just like PonyBoy was.” Word. He happens to have the “wits of a pigeon and an ego big enough for 5 men”. It’s pretty impressive and he feels “It is stressful at times. It consumes alot of my energy causing me to have to rest sporadically throughout the day.” He would rather have “Worldwide fame” than a pair of vintage 80’s sneakers as he has “plenty of dope sneakers.” Worldwide fame it is. When they take over the world Donny’s message to their fans would be “Thank you for sticking by us.” Short, sweet and straight to the point.

When asked who would win in a fistfight, Donny or Preston? Donny says “Well being that I test my strength often in drunken street fights I might have an edge on Pres.” Preston says “That would never happen; we would end up fighting you first. If it did though we would duel to the death…”

Preston is a take no prisoners kind of guy. He also happens to be a convicted felon and a fulltime alcoholic as well as a DJ/producer extraordinaire. That doesn’t leave much time for anything else, how he manages it all is simple he explains “the fact is, I have an addictive personality. It works to my advantage, I never stop working, just keep going and going…” Donny has a nickname (“PonyBoy”) and Preston doesn’t although his “old nickname was “Cutti”” That counts for something on the nickname front. When they take over the world Preston would say “Thanks [to the fans] for riding hard with us and we hope you keep repping the crush till the day you perish from the earth because you know we will.”

Holly is the bubble gum to Preston and Donny’s lollipop, metaphorically of course. She has to handle a lot of testosterone with the two guys but she “loves it!” As for the hard decisions in life, such the question of shoes or gum she would go for “shoes. A lot more damage can be done with my kicks and heels” True that. When they take over the world she would tell their fans that “Honestly, we couldn’t have done it without you guys…”

They have “fresh rhymes and funky beats and they are armed with enough neon to make you wear shades.” You have been warned. Now get ready for them to tear up the dancefloor.

Exclusive Interview with Thieve

 

Take ex members of New Loud Rockets,(Philip), Ashtray Electric (Andrew), and Die Helde (Fred) then add a bass playing friend (Jako)and you’ve got Thieve.

Their ‘motto’ and reason for picking the band name comes from the fact that “everybody steals.” Andrew says “The trick is to embrace your plagiarism, and then you are free to do whatever you want”

Andrew and the bassist Jack were trying to get Thieve up and running and “seeing who we could poach.” He says “not many people believed in a project with a couple rough ideas, but after a few toots I convinced Phil to jump on board and Fred soon followed.”

Their sound has been influenced by the respective bands they’ve all played in-but “to a degree, as it definitely doesn’t sound like anything either of us has done before.”

They have a few warm up shows planned with aKING and Ashtray in May and then are off to Boksburg in June to record a full length album at B Sharp Studios. After that Andrew says “it’s pretty much tour, tour, tour and do it all again.”

Their upcoming music video will be due for release sometime in the very near future…All that can be promised is “fireworks and flames.”

Andrew says “We don’t know much about the industry yet, but we are definitely trying to sell out…Thieve is a pop band.”

Their musical influences are “way too varied to pinpoint any band in particular, but I can say that any form of feel good melody tends to catch all of our attention.”

For them making music is better than a 9-5 and “playing in front of a big rig always raises the ole arm hairs. Anyone who says they don’t enjoy applause is a liar.”

Their new single Last Day December is out and available on the Bellville Rock City compilation as well as at Rhythm Online, being featured on the BRC package and to them “was obviously a great opportunity and served as a well needed platform. Although there was a certain amount of shit we had to deal with, not having gigged yet or having an album, a few people felt slightly sour..”

The song showcases the bands talent and abilities-if the rest of their music is anything like it, expect great thing from these guys! Enjoy the video for their first single ‘Last Day December’ below.