MK Awards 2014 – I was wrong, but so were you

The MK Awards this year stood out for a few reasons, least of all how wrong I was with most of my predictions or the fact that I wore a tie.
The biggest reason surely being the fat finger they flipped everyone who said that MK won’t make it to see another awards ceremony since going off-air and on-line.

Another outstanding aspect was a delightfully hilarious egg (Anne Hirsch) enhancing the lol-factor brought to the stage by Bouwer Bosch and Jean Jordaan. (Well done on the Parlotones joke. Made my night).
I also loved the new song by Fokofpolisiekar (although I can for the life of me not remember it’s name. Might have been Paranoia or Afrika or something like that)

Lastly, before we get to the actual awards, I must mention something that made me glad: It was as if the online culture seeped through to the style of the ceremony.
Sure, you might see it as being shorter, with less awards and less performances than previous years. You might even have attended another one of these and noted that this year they had less going on pre- and post-event.
You would, of course, be wrong.
I prefer to see it as MK embracing the nature of an on-line identity. Short, to the point, here you go now fuck off. That, ladies and gentleman, is the internet for you in a nutsack. If MK were to splash out on an MTV size event, it would almost have gone against what they are slowly but surely busy accomplishing: Creating a fully digital platform where they can excel.
Also, we partied our tits off afterwards, so stop bitching.

While on the topic of how wrong you might have been, let’s go to the awards.
And yes… YOU, dear voter, did get it wrong a few times. Because I said so.
(Feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments below)

Video:
Winner: Shortstraw – Waterworks
I said: Van Coke Kartel ft. Jack Parow – Chaos
Why you were wrong: Shortstraw’s video is cool… but Van Coke’s vid just compliments the song better. It is also a better song.

Live Act:
Winner: Jeremy Loops
I said: Bittereinder
Why you were wrong: Yes, I did admit that Jeremy Loops is AMAZING live… but take a look at the size and quantity of awesome shows Bittereinder played in the last year.

Album:
Winner: Shortstraw – Good Morning Sunshine
I said: Bittereinder
Why you were wrong: You weren’t, you could have been more right though.

Budget Video:
Winner: Al Bairre – We move on
I said: The Plastics
Why you were wrong: Here you really picked probably the worst nomination. And I really am sorry to say it, coz I love Al Bairre and it is a GREAT tune… It’s just that the video is absolutely unoriginal and really boring. After 40 seconds an epileptic seizure set on by the flashy images starts looking like a more pleasant experience…

Newcomer:
Winner: Al Bairre
I said: Matthew Mole
Why I was wrong: Yes, you read right. I was wrong. In retrospect I have to give it to Al Bairre… And no, I am not trying to make up for my comment regarding their video. I really do believe that they deserved to win this.

Afrikaans:
Van Coke Kartel
No argument here.

Festival:
Oppikoppi
The masses spoke, and you settled the little argument I had with myself…

To crown it all, 2 new (and rather unexpected) awards were handed out. I, for one, am absolutely stoked about them…

Legend:
Haddad Viljoen
I spoke to the man afterwards, and let me assure you , he deserves this award and 10 more.

Basically, this award goes to someone who MK would like to honour for his/her contribution to the SA music industry. To festivals, to media, to.. well, everything. For being THERE.
I foresee this award being bestowed on many more. I should think that the next one could very well go to Carel Hoffmann, the main man behind Oppikoppi.

Venue:
Arcade Empire & Assembly (shared)
Yes, Arcade won… and having never had the opportunity to party in Assembly (I know, sad hey?) I can only assume that they must be ridiculously awesome to even be named in the same breath as Arcade.

Well done guys, let’s see which venues step up to the plate for next year’s awards.

Well, that was that. And yes, my opinions are just that, my OPINIONS.
So just coz I say some other bad deserved an award, doesn’t mean the other options were shit. I love most of the nominated bands,and would really like to see all of them rise to deservedly win tons of awards.

Drop YOUR opinion here below. Or don’t.
Whatever.

All pics by Henno Kruger. See more here.

aKing – The band who went up

Mentioning aKing in a conversation, is sure to get quite a variety of reactions. Everything from absolute awe and wonder, to distant musings of what could have been had they not [insert reasoning here]. Personally, I edge much more to the “awe”-side of things.

The reason for the vastly varying viewpoints, is quite simple actually. You see, when aKing was formed in 2007 by Hunter Kennedy and Jaco Venter from Fokofpolisiekar, many FPK fans expected to hear the same sound we got to know from the legendary Afrikaans rockers. This was, however, not the case. Hunter and Jaco teamed up with Laudo Liebenberg and Hennie van Halen to form a completely new musical experience. It was melodic rock like never heard before. Unfortunately, many people are so anally retentive that they just couldn’t make peace with the fact that this was not another Fokof. Simply put, they missed out on the opportunity to love an awesome band from the start.

Giving birth to a band, and by default being compared to one of the greatest bands ever to see the light of day in South Africa, has been a tall order. aKing however, managed to not only hold their own, but as a matter of fact go UP from their already high starting point. A list of highlights from their career so far (almost 6 years and counting) include 4 album releases:

• Dutch Courage (LP, 2008)
• In The Twilight (EP, 2009)
• Against All Odds (LP, 2009)
• The Red Blooded Years (LP, 2011)

Radio stations on which they have topped various charts include:

• No 1 – Highveld Stereo Homebrew Top 10.
• No 1 – Kovsie FM (Bloem) Top 30
• No 1 – TUKS FM – SA Top 10
• No 1 – RMR SA Top 10 (Grahamstown)
• No 1 – UJ FM SA Top 20
• No 1 – PUK FM – SA Top 20
• No 1 – MFM – Top 10

In 2012, Hunter Kennedy (one of South Africa’s best lyricists) left the band and was replaced by Andrew Davenport. Other than that, the band has remained unchanged. Growing musically, and overall creatively with every new venture (such as their incredible music videos), I can assure you that aKing is a band that will still have an even bigger impact on the South African music industry than they’ve already had.

Here’s one of my favourite aKing songs, Safe As Houses, off of their first album “Dutch Courage”

Check them out on:

• Twitter @aKINGband
• Facebook
• www.aking.za.net

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This post is part of my “A2Z Blogging Challenge”, where I have committed to creating one post per day, every day of April (except for Sundays), thematically according to the alphabet. For more info on this challenge, check out www.a-to-zchallenge.com

The Coming of The Ram

Yes fellow Lovers Of Good Music, it’s RAMFest time.

Saturday 10 March 2012: Johannesburg, Riversands Farm

This year, the runup to the fest has generated quite a lot of hype. There was that unfortunate incident with the anally retentive attention seeking twat in Bloemfontein who likes sending around chain-mails. (In short: RAMfest is satanic, music is evil, and all such nonsense). That, however, was overshadowed by the positive vibe building around the 2012 RAMfest experience. So many people, blogs, celebrities and media are psyched about the events.

I am going to the Jhb-leg of this epic fest this coming Saturday, 10th of March. Let me tell you, I am excited. It’s as if RAMfest’s awesomeness just increases each year! Things I can’t wait for:

• Fokofpolisiekar
• Inflames
• Stalletjies
• Freakishly awesome people
• Moshpit!
• Chilling on the grass after hectic day with drink in hand, burger in the other
• Let us not deny, RAMfest always has a lot of extraordinarily beautiful ladies
• ALL THE MUSIC (That’s what a rockfest is for, after all)

Yes, I did list Fokofpolisiekar above Inflames. I did that for a reason. The rest is just random.

@HennoKruger and myself are organising an informal TweetUp to kick off the experience. 11:30 at the main Beer Garden. Here’s the link to the tweetup: https://www.facebook.com/events/119992298125448/

If you haven’t yet been to RAMfest, make sure you get your tickets, and go! The rest of you who have been there, I am sure I don’t need to motivate you to go again.

Here’s the full schedule for the day (in reverse, coz RAMfest is awesome like that:

RED HEART MAIN STAGE

• 22h30: INFECTED MUSHROOM (Israel)
• 20h30: IN FLAMES (Sweden)
• 19h15: THE NARROW
• 18h15: PESTROY
• 17h00: AWOLNATION (USA)
• 15h30: FOKOFPOLISIEKAR
• 14h30: CHROMIUM
• 13h30: SHADOWCLUB
• 12h30: NEWTOWN KNIFE GANG

OLMECA ELECTRONIC STAGE

• 20h00: DOUBLE ADAPTER
• 18h00: NETSKY dj Set Ft. MC Darrison (Belgium & UK)
• 17h00: NISKERONE
• 16h00: RUDEONE
• 15h00: TASHA BAXTER
• 14h00: DEEZIAK
• 13h00: BENSON
• 12h00: CUTKEYLOW
• 11h00: AMBUSH

Some more info:

Camping:

This year there is also an option for camping. Camping tickets are R50 pp for 2 nights (Fri and Sat) and R30 pp for 1 night (Sat). No camping tickets available for only Friday.  Space is limited so book asap.  Buy your camping tickets here.

Please note: Camping ticket does not include festival ticket and does not allow you entry to the festival arena. You will also not be allowed into the campsite without a valid festival ticket.

RAMfest JHB Party Bus from Pretoria:

After the success of Railway to RAMfest in 2010 & 2011, Hotbox Express has decided to organize a party bus from Pretoria to Ramfest JHB. For more info mail us at hotboxexpress@yahoo.com or contact us on 074 143 7471.

For more information, click here.

TICKETS

RAMfest Johannesburg – R350 (EFT or credit card options)
available at: www.ramfest.co.za or www.ticketbreak.co.za

 

Click here for the facebook event details.

Also, make sure you follow @RAMfest on Twitter