PURE VOODOO EFFECT

Wow! What an awesome weekend. I got to see VOODOO CHILD twice (officially raising my status from ‘fan’ to ‘groupie’ according to Fuzz), NEW ACADEMICS, GREENHOUSE EFFECT, and eventually MUNKINPURE.

The weather couldn’t keep us away from the awesome line up at BACK2BASIX. GREENHOUSE EFFECT were playing as we walked in and with such a good opening act we knew we were in for a great evening. At first I thought they were from Cape Town due to their laid back style, sound and attitude…and the fact that one of the band members wasn’t wearing shoes(!) They really have a great sound, enhanced by a guy mixing in the background. Cool. We were happy to hear that they are, in fact, from Joburg meaning that we had more opportunities to see them.

It finally happened…we finally got to see MUNKINPURE. It took about a year and I want to kick myself for missing all their other performances. I was really blown away as this is going straight on our list of kick ass bands. Travis, the lead singer, is also the drummer. At the same time. They are an amazing band to watch and even more amazing to listen to. They were really so much better than we expected and I cant wait to see their next performance. If we get there on time.

VOODOO CHILD headlined and were as brilliant as ever. My one gripe about BACK2BASIX is that they don’t have a dance floor/area – so we made our own and as always, had a great time. This band’s following seems to grow at every gig which is always a great sign for the band and SA music as a whole, of which VOODOO CHILD are a great ambassador.

THE NARROW, 16 STITCH & INERSHA @ TEMPOS

Even though we keep promising each other that we will never take another step in, or trip over another drunken passed out teenager at Tempos, we are always lured back by some brilliant band.
To find out that we had missed MUNKINPURE’s set (AGAIN…the third time), bummed us out a bit, but surely the evening still had much promise.

I think we’ve been a bit unfair on 16 STITCH lately. We’ve seen this band so many times that we either leave before they play, arrive after a set, or just don’t go because we’ve “been there, done that”. We also gave them a bad review once for taking over an hour to set up for a set. We will be the first to admit that we can be fickle at times, and through it all we have actually forgotten how good these guys really are. They played a fantastic set and entertained the crowd more than I think anyone expected. Good going guys!

Some bands just seem unavoidable and INERSHA are currently that band. They are not bad, but unfortunately they aren’t very good either. They played an average set resulting in us adding them to our list of ‘sameish’ bands.

After missing their reportedly fantastic gig at Woodstock, I was really glad I got an opportunity to see THE NARROW. People seemed to appear out of nowhere and we ended up standing on a wall on the side of the stage to see anything. By ‘anything’ I really mean the occasional appearance of the bassist between people’s heads. But the most important thing was the music and I really enjoyed every bit and everyone else seemed to be under the same impression. They showed yet again the level of professionalism that comes with being one of the countries ‘bigger’ bands. They take rock to it’s full potential without compromising the vocals (they rock harder than most heavy bands without screaming). THE NARROW made up for an otherwise not particularly musically interesting evening and made yet another trip to Tempos worth it.

Battle For Woodstock 07 November 2007

The whole intention of going to The Olive Lounge on Wednesday was to watch Munkinpure – a band that has been on our “really must see” list for a while. Forgetting that this was not a ‘normal’ band night, we arrived at about 9.30 to be told that Munkinpure had already played. A bit bummed, we did what we could to look really disappointed at the door and we got in for half price.

“Oomniek” were playing when we walked in. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical about their name and didn’t expect much, but did these guys prove me wrong! They knew how to rock and how to hold the crowd who loved them throughout their set. The Afrikaans rock scene seems to be growing steadily, and with bands such as Straatligkinders, Foto Na Dans and Oomniek, I can only see it going forward from there. Good guys. Good times.

Next up were Norwood, who were…ummm…okay, the less I say here the better. They committed too many band crimes in a 20 minute set to make any positive impact. Steve’s advice for this band would be 1. Keep your lead singer marginally sober until after you have played, and 2. Never, and I mean NEVER do a rock cover of ANY Justin Timberlake song. It is bad for you! Stop it!
There was a bit of talent hidden in there, but they still looked like a high school band.

Iberah were great to watch as they salvaged that part of the evening. Not only were they good-looking guys (which made their setting up quite interesting), but they really know what they are doing. There are some bands that are a step above the rest from day one, and this band would be one of them. They looked the part, they played the part, they even dedicated a song to all the emo kids in the crowd. There you go emo kids…someone does care.
They are a great band with great style and a great future. I really hope they hold it together long enough to make an impact.

We could hear Fragmented Children were quite heavy from where we were sitting outside, so decided to go in and take a look. I’m not too sure where all these people had been hiding up to this point, but the place was packed! There were a few hard core fans head-banging in the front of a huge group of people – the most I’d seen in this venue – taking in all they could. They were clearly the most popular band of the evening and deserved all the support. Despite not being our type of music, they were really good and if you are looking out for something heavy, keep an eye out for Fragmented Children.

It’s always great getting Steve back to his roots and checking out some new indie bands. Unlike most evenings such as this, the organisation was excellent. The bands moved on and off the stage according to schedule, played up to their designated times with enough exposure to show what they do best.

See you at Woodstock!