MUSIC: Irvine Band Summer Tour

I've been living in Cape Town for a little over a month now since moving down from Pietermaritzburg. One thing I've been really impressed with during my evening social endeavours is the Cape Town music scene. I've been supporting local bands at venues such as Zula Bar, The Armchair and the Purple Turtle.

One band that has played each of these venues in the past month, and which have been quite memorable, is a band called Irvine. They have quite a unique sound, but I suppose if one were to categorise their music style you might call it Indie Rock. Here's the splurb off their website.

"Irvine is a group of like-minded musicians who aim to put the heart and soul back into indie rock. Formed in 2006 by brothers Bob and Chris Thorpe, the band spent much of their time performing, writing and recording in London, England, before moving to Cape Town, South Africa, in 2009. The following months saw Irvine develop their line-up with bassist Doug Gass as they focused on the recording of their as yet unreleased full-length album.

With songs that are as memorable as they are intricate, voiced through sincere, unassuming lyrics, Irvine has developed a sound that has fused the art of the emotive big chorus rock anthem with the experimental low-fi production and subtle aural anarchy of the authentic indie tradition."

Irvine "The Chase" Music Video

The Irvine band is currently on tour around the Southern and Eastern Cape with the band Crashcarburn. They will be building up towards a grand finale at Raggies in East London. If you are in the area on any of these dates, Irvine is certainly worth lending your ears.

Irvine Band Tour Schedule

• 19 DEC: George: Zanzibar
• 23 DEC: Kei Mouth: Wild Kei Fest
• 24 DEC: East London: Raggies
• 26 DEC: Port Elisabeth: Pool City
• 27 DEC: Kei Mouth: Bush Pigs
• 28 DEC: Knysna: Zanzibar
• 30 DEC: East London: Raggies

Check out Irvine's website for more music videos and some free MP3's.

VIDEO: Interview with Mango Groove's Claire Johnston

CLAIRE Johnston of Mango Groove fame was at Gateway the other week promoting her band’s latest album Bang the Drum. The album is great – a little different in pace to what Mango Groove fans are familiar with but is still in vibey and Proudly South African Mango Groove style. A colleague and I caught up with Claire Johnston for an interview. The video supplement and article follows:

Interview with Claire Johnston

Ryan Calder

IT’S 9 am on Monday morning, and my colleague Galen Schultz and I make our way to the food court of Gateway Shopping Centre, carrying video cameras and dictaphones. Claire Johnston of Mango Groove is instantly recognisable.

Wearing a funky tartan cap, the famous blonde singer is sitting with her EMI rep Kevin at a coffee table in the food court as we approach. They stand to greet us and I immediately note her black and white jersey, which I refrain from mentioning, given the poor run of form of the Sharks in recent weeks. Still, I like that she’s thought about it. When in Rome...

We find the quietest corner of the busiest shopping centre in Umhlanga and get to the interview, which has come about after the release of Mango Groove’s latest studio album, Bang the Drum. The album is the band’s first in 14 years.

“Very good question, why now?” Claire Johnston reflects. “Mango Groove never split up, but we all took a break to pursue various projects which we had all wanted to do for a while. You get to a point where you love what you do, but probably don’t appreciate it as much as you should, and that’s a good time to take a break and explore different things.”

Johnston was 17 when she joined the group 25 years ago, and after Mango Groove’s success went on to pursue a solo career which saw the birth of three albums. “But slowly, over the past seven years, we had each started feeling those stirrings again, which was nice. It was nice to know that we were ready.”

Claire highlights the launch of the band’s website as a catalytic point in deciding to record again. “It was amazing once the website was up, we got responses from people asking where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing.

“We did some shows in Gauteng and people went crazy for songs like Hometalk and Special Star, and we knew the magic was still there. That’s why we’re in this industry: it’s a feel-good industry as much as it is a business industry.”

Claire Johnston knows the hardships of making a career as a musician, having recorded Fearless, a solo album in the UK, which she admits was very different from Mango Groove and “refreshing on a personal level”, but which wasn’t received well in South Africa. She then recorded Africa Blue, a collection of songs “which have influenced me and which I am fond of” which were closer to the sound of Mango Groove.

“I like to think of my solo career as running parallel with Mango. It can be done, you just have to be savvy about it.”

For now, however, Johnston’s focus is clearly on Bang the Drum, Mango Groove’s new 16-track offering which clocks in at close to 70 minutes. Recording the album “was like coming home,” Claire Johnston reflects, “because it was in the same studio where we recorded our first album. They’d changed some of the wallpaper and some of the technology was new, but it really felt familiar.”

Out of the studio has come an album that is typically Mango Groove. “People ask us who our target market is. I just say ‘well, everyone’. Perhaps I’m naive, but I like to think that music can do that, that it can stretch across all sorts of boundaires.” - www.witness.co.za

Related posts: Video interviews with ...

• Watershed • Magna Carta • Guy Buttery

MUSIC: White Mountain Folk Festival

IF you want to get away from it all and chill out in a superb mountain setting while listening to acoustic performances by some of the country’s top artists, then look no further than the annual White Mountain Folk Festival.

Running from 24 to 27 September, this intimate, family-friendly festival is held at White Mountain Lodge near Giant’s Castle in the beautiful Central Drakensberg region of KwaZulu-Natal, only 34km from Estcourt on tarred roads and 200km from Durban.

On offer is a four-day programme of laid-back acoustic music, as well as a wide choice of outdoor leisure activities, arts and crafts, a beer market and assorted food stalls. Festival-goers can also make full use of the lodge’s facilities, including a restaurant, pub, games room, swimming pool and satellite TV.

Check out the following video of last year's festival to get a good idea of what you can expect...

White Mountain Festival 2008

How much are the tickets? I'm keen! (I hear you shout). Early Bird tickets are now on sale at Computicket for just R350, which is a saving of R150 on the gate price. This offer is limited to 500 tickets only, so make sure you get in early. Children under 12 pay R50. The price includes camping in the newly graded and grassed festival campsite overlooking the dam.

White Mountain

If you’ve ever been to Splashy Fen before, the White Mountain Festival is basically a smaller, more acoustic-sounding version. However, because of it smaller numbers, it is far more organised, controlled and comfortable – making the whole outdoor experience that much more enjoyable.

Now in its fourth year, White Mountain has quickly become a firm favourite on the events calendar and is perfectly timed to coincide with Heritage Day and the start of the school holidays. The line-up is currently being finalised and will be announced shortly.

For more information, visit www.whitemountain.co.za
or contact Pedro at 082 892 6176.

Click here to see the 2009 video:
White Mountain Folk Fest 2009

** More Promotions and Events **

SPLASHY FEN VIDEOS: Splashy’s 20th birthday jam

THE 20th Splashy Fen came and went in a drum-beat and proved to be one of the best ones yet. A diverse crowd of about 9000 people descended on the Ferraz farm in Underberg for five days of good South African music and festivities.

The crowd of festival goers ranged from metal-studded Goths to colourfully-clad hippies, whose Splashy spirits remained high whether they were jiving to a great South African band or chilling down by the riverside. The weather was kind this year and brought four full days of KZN sunshine.

Often a serious detox, a long shower and some much needed R&R, I put together two videos that I hope encapsulate the Splashy experience for any of those who couldn’t make it to Splashy Fen’s 20th birthday jam. Enjoy.

Splashy videos: The 20th Splashy Fen

Splashy Fen videos: 2009 highlights

** Click here to see videos from last year’s Splashy Fen **

VIDEOS: White Mountain Folk Festival 2008

THE White Mountain folk festival is an annual event that takes place near Giant's Castle in the Central Drakensberg region of Kwa-Zulu Natal from 24-28 September. If you have been to Splashy Fen before, this is basically a mini-version of that whole scene, only with more acoustic-type music and more of a relaxed, family vibe.

This was the third White Mountain festival and the event seems to be growing in popularity. I highly recommend it and suggest booking accommodation in the lodge if you're not the camping type. It is during the rainy season after all.

White Mountain Festival 2008

If the above video doesn't play you can watch it here

White Mountain highlights

Meet James – the ultimate festival hippie