Punk went Pop

As y’all know, life can get a little bit busy sometimes. Now, add a new girlfriend, 3 major campaigns, and Pokemon GO to the mix, and you have no time to write anything other than an email to your boss saying that you found Pikachu on date night.

I am, however, home alone tonight; and the Pokemon GO servers are experiencing problems. So, I decided to catch up on some writing.

As you may, or may not, know, there was quite an interesting tour doing the rounds in SA over the past couple of weeks. Yes, I am referring to Punk Goes Pop. An awesome collection of punk bands taking Top 40 pop songs, and teaching them what life is all about.

The tour stopped by Aandklas Hatfield on the 1st of July, and as you should know by now, Aandklas is where I spend most of my time (when I’m not in the office, at my girlfriend’s, or walking after the ever elusive Growlithe).

The trio of bands that made up the show was CrashCarBurn, Held On Till May, and Made for Broadway. Now, the last two I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing live before this show, and boy, was I missing out!? These young guns nearly brought the house down with their unquenchable lust for life. An utter pleasure to see, was how these kids breathed new life into a genre whose survival has been the topic of many conversations. So let’s set the record straight right now:

Held On Till May must have been the highlight of the show for me, with their straight-out-of-a-Sex-Pistols-documentary stage presence and their interactions with the girls in the front row, many of whom I saw trying to get their underwear off to throw on stage. The drummer reminded me most of Iggy Pop and his ilk, losing his shirt halfway through the performance, and chucking wood-chippered drumsticks into the crowd.

The headliners brought a massive tweak* to the way we know pop songs. CrashCarBurn has always been an awesome pleasure to see live, always taking me back to 8th grade, with the sneakers that were too loose to do anything but drag your feet. Any show where you get to see these guys will always go down as a ripper of a performance. Hearing them having a go at Jacaranda’s Highschool Hits was absolutely astounding!

All in all this was an amazing night out. I got to experience an awesome gig with my gorgeous girlfriend (no seriously, she is breathtaking!) and many of my friends, getting to experience the future of the punk genre in SA, which I am honestly extremely excited to follow, and getting taken back to the days of House Parties* and halfpipes.

I am seriously looking forward to the next installment of Punk Goes Pop, and I hope that the line-up will one day grow to a full three-day festival, where we can mosh, get drunk and pass out, you know, like the old days…

 

 

 

 

*See what I did there?

Bittereinder does Aandklas: A Knight out with the King

Yes, you read correctly: Bittereinder does Aandklas
Now, if you know any of the words in that phrase other than “does” you are most probably a Pretorian and raised with proper taste in music (go thank your parents now).
If you know all three of those words, you find yourself part of less than 1% of human population (which is pretty much the case when you are South African, but that’s beside the point).
You are the exception!
Getting to the gig, we were greeted by an unusually empty Aandklas (everyone was on the deck at the back having some pre-drinks and getting ready to rock out with the Grind Radio people). All the tables had been moved away and the stage put to good use, having all of Bittereinder’s gear already set up.

After a couple of intense games of foose and lots of brandy (I blame the cute promo girl for my hangover), we headed to the newly created concert area where we were entertained by the awesome beat boxing talents of Aandklas manager Jodi, who has the magical ability of making even the South African anthem sound really, really cool!
When Bittereinder took the stage, it was quite difficult to find a comfortable place to stand, so we opted for our favourite spot in Aandklas: a tabletop.
Having found our spot at the top of the world and fending off all would-be intruders, we had the perfect view of the stage, with only Louis being a bit obscured from our vision by the pole that Jaco clung to so religiously throughout the show.

Then the bass dropped.

In true Bittereinder style, the boys nearly blew out my eardrums and the bra’s off the girls in the front row (though, I think that might have been more of a voluntary action from the girls’ side).

Now I myself, being not-too-sober of thought by this time, could miraculously still keep my footing on said tabletop and rock out to the sound that we as Pretorians have come to know and love as OURS.

We claim Bittereinder as our own, as they have claimed Snor City as theirs. Admittedly, I do not know all of their songs off by heart, but there is still something special that happens every time you hear the words “Pretoria in my Hart”.
Bittereinder has a way of making you move, no matter who you are or how kak a day you had.
When you hear their sound you cannot help but get either a retarded grin on your face or belt it out with them. We all know how to spell it *B I to-the-double T E R…* and we are all more than willing to put our hands up like we’re deurmekaar.

All good things must however come to an end, and this show in particular felt as though it was over way too soon (probably due to an alcohol-induced time lapse). In this time, however, I had managed to lose track of the friends I went with, chat up a girl, make new friends, piss said girl off and run into friends that I haven’t seen in almost two years.
All in all another magical Knight Out at Aandklas, with the soundtrack supplied by one of the Capital’s greatest exports.

*All pictures in this post by Henno Kruger*

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I do apologize for taking so long to write this piece, but I have been extremely busy on other adventures, all of which will also be featured here. Keep an eye open for my next post, where I will be talking about other Kings, police cars and quiz nights.

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EDIT: This is the final prove himself post for Michael King. After this, he will be an official content contributor on Baas de Beer’s Blog. – Baas de Beer

Thoughts on Sounds Wild, The Lumineers and tequila

Ask anyone that has ever partied with me at least once, and they will confirm: I love tequila.
My personal preference being Jose Cuervo.
I also love music, people and awesome events.

For this reason, I was extremely elated to be present at not one, but two events sponsored by Jose Cuervo.
The parties went down like, well, shots of tequila. Very lekker.

At Sounds Wild festival, I sadly had to arrive a bit late (tip to event organisers: Organising an awesome event that starts at 13:00 on a Friday, is not really a good idea). It’s not that I am bitching, I just feel that the quality of entertainment would have drawn a much bigger crowd if things kicked off a bit later. The bit that I did catch, was an awesome amalgamation of musical vibes, sexy females and shots with strangers and friends alike… Jeremy Loops was my highlight on stage. Man, this guy CAN put on a show. He had the crowd by the balls… in a very good way.

Bombay Bicycle Club headlined the event. They were good, but in my mind -even with their musical intricacies- they did not match up to the local talent that was on offer.
I loved the fact that there was a dedicated shot-bar that also sold margaritas. So often it happens that you simply want a few tequilas, and then you have to stand in the queue behind Frikkie ordering 24 beers, that has to be poured into cups first…

 

This was also a great bonus at The Lumineers‘ show, although the super bar made it easy to get drinks otherwise as well.
While everyone was giddy for the visiting band, I was actually more stoked to see some of the other acts.
Alice Phoebe Lou was amazing. I saw her TEDxBerlin performance that she did a while back, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that she was on the line-up for this Cuervo party. Her musical innocence was countered by her super deep and meaningful lyrics that speak of a worldly wisdom beyond her years.

I have to shamefully admit that, up until this concert, I have never even heard of Majozi, so feel free to label this act as my awesome surprise of the day. What a well rounded, quality musical experience. I would certainly suggest that you make a plan to see Nhlanhla Majozi. You can thank me later.

What praise can be sung about Dear Reader that has not been sung already? Brilliant vocals, stunning music and -not to use the term loosely at all- perfect.

The Lumineers put on a great, crowd pleasing show. Personally, I was more impressed (once again) with the local acts, but fans are still raving about the performance of this Denver based band. Just to make sure you are not getting the wrong idea, I am not saying there was anything wrong with the visitors. They were, in fact, incredibly flawless. Just not 100% my vibe, but hey ho, that’s OK. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist). Fun was had by all!

 

What make events like these even more noteworthy for me, is the fact that it is steadily setting the precedent for current industry leading bands to visit South Africa. It gives me hope to see bands like The Black Keys and such here in the near future. Who knows, thanks to sponsors like Jose Cuervo and the others who buy into our music culture, we might just see more of our favourite acts while their music is topping the charts.

Did you go to to one of these shows? How was it for you?
Who would you like to see in in South Africa next?
Feel free to express yourself in a comment below…

 

 

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