SA Rocks

I posted about a great local band trying their hand at the music biz abroad a few days ago.

Here is a follow up interview with Irvine.

So dude’s – What makes you guys different?

We used to be a girl band… Besides that, I suppose it’s because we’re a rock band that strives to make every song as unrock as possible. If something is sounding like radio rock we will do our best to mess it up as much as possible with strange chords, rhythms etc. to stretch it into something different. The end product is music that initially sounds simple but is on closer inspection much more complex and interesting than originally perceived. We strive to focus primarily on creating good music as opposed to doing nothing more than merely promoting a cliched rock star image and sound.

Why on Earth would you have followed the musical dream in SA? I’ve been down this road and it’s tough.

That’s a tough one. Basically, we have all tried other things but it turns out that music is what we’re best at. For us it has nothing to do with becoming ‘famous’, we just have an unquenchable urge to create and play good music. Whether we’re making millions from it or drowning in debt we will probably just keep doing it. Although we have also realized the importance of day jobs.

What are your immediate plans?

At present we are based in London and are playing as many clubs and festivals there as possible to build up a decent following. We’ve been promoting our EP on various London radio stations and will hopefully be getting some airplay in SA as well. A Welsh tour is in the pipeline and we are hoping to begin work on our first full studio album near the end of the year.

What’s been the best thing to date that the band has done?

To be honest, it has been pretty tough since relocating to London. The industry here is very saturated, plus we had to find a new line-up, so the accolades haven’t exactly started piling up yet. We’re still pretty much in the beginning stages. With all that in mind, I would have to say that a personal highlight for us was having the privilege of playing a show with Chris Letcher last year. He’s a phenomenal musician and great inspiration to us.

Have you noticed any measurable value that your MySpace page has given you?

Definitely! Myspace seems to be most bands’ primary networking tool these days, and we have definitely benifited from it. We’ve gained fans from places such as America, Europe and other places around the world we have never toured, but most importantly it’s been instrumental in staying in contact with our South African audience.

How big is Online in your strategy going forward?

Nowadays it seems online networking has become the primary means of getting your band off the ground, so we’re definitely hitting that angle pretty hard. Basically, when we’re not working or practicing, we’re on our laptops shamelessly promoting our music and scouring the internet for opportunities.

One of the great advantages resulting from the drastic changes that have taken place in the music industry in recent years is the rise in interest in unsigned bands and the number of opportunities available to bands now without any label backing. I think people have realised that with all the difficulty that many of the record labels are experiencing in the current climate of most music being online and free, lots of good bands these days don’t see the need for signing to a label. For this reason it seems that ‘unsigned’ and ‘independent’ have become the new buzz words of the industry and often have the power to gain you as much attention, if not more, as what the labels can offer.

Anything you want to say to your local fans as a closing statement?

Thanks very much for your support. We can’t get anywhere without you guys, so please keep spreading the word and enjoying the music. You can download our EP, ‘This is Tomorrow’ for FREE from www.myspace.com/irvineband. Thanks again.

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