When music gets banned from planet earth, you will probably find them on mars...
Black Market Riots
Black market Riots is Danie de Villiers on vocals & rhythm guitar, Riaan Scholtz on bass, Shaun Viljoen on drums and Pierre Joubert on lead guitar.
Streetlamp: Tell us about your background? Where do you come from, how did you get into music…
Black Market Riots: We started out in February this year (2008) and grinded with 3 songs for about a month. We then hit the studio for only 2 days to do a 3 track demo so that friends and fans can have something to get familiar with. We had our debut launch in Stellenbosch, Aandklas in May and had a very good crowd turn-up. Played at several well-known venues after this and got our foot in the door at Mercury in Cape Town which counted in our favour a lot! Now things are moving steadily and managed to get a wildcard at this year’s Oppikoppi festival.
SL: To those who have yet to hear your music, how would you describe your sound?
BMR: It would be in the range between grunge and punk-rock. Some would say it have influences from heavy rock straight through to indie rock. All in all energetic, pumping, melodic and emotionally driven.
SL: Who are your main musical influences?
BMR: All the oldie boys from back in the day and then of course the big boys of nowadays. Bands such as Brand New, Foo Fighters, Chevelle, Bullet for my Vallentine, Muse, Saosin back to ACDC.
SL: Do you write your own songs ?
BMR: Yes we do. All words and lyrics come from our bones.
SL: What is your music about? Is there an underlying message?
BMR: Mainly we try to build and create topics through our music. All about what society became in our country and also hitting personal struggles in your every-day life. To stand up for what you need and believe in your life is our main mission to convey through our music.
SL: How do you write music? Do the words come first or the music?
BMR: We normally come up with the music first and then build the topics around the sound of the song but we do sometimes have thoughts around lyrics and then add them to the appropriate vibe or style of song.
SL: If you could collaborate with any musical artist, who would it be?
BMR: Locally we would go for Taxi Violence and internationally it would probably be Chevelle.
SL: If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would it be?
BMR: Wembley or a massive organized party on a cruiser…style!
SL: Where is your favourite place to play music (venue)?
BMR: So far…definitely Mercury Live in Cape Town. Seeing that we are a “new on the scene” band we enjoyed this venue so much. Sound is always great and this is the perfect place to have a huge party night! Definitely Oppikoppi! What a festival this is! Great bands and great crazy people at this fest.
SL: Do you play any cover songs when you perform? If so, which ones?
BMR: We do not want to be labelled as a cover band because we feel we need to express our own style and genre but we have covered some tunes such as Plug in baby by Muse and Pretenber by Foo Fighters.
SL: What do you do to pay the bills, or does your music earn you enough?
BMR: At this moment we are shaking our own pockets to come up with the greens but if someone would like to donate or sponsor…info@blackmarketriots.com - whaaaaaa
SL: What's your outlook on the record industry today?
BMR: Very good. We have seen brilliant groups rising from SA soil and are so proud to be part of this revolution. The movement in this industry was very quiet for a couple of years but we have all seen the boom lately. Even the recording industry has picked up tremendously but unfortunately the quality we are lacking in SA music is the production of the albums. The other problem is that any person with cash puts an album together with gatskop beats and sends it onto MK89 and this really makes us look bad in the music industry of SA
SL: What are the biggest obstacles for upcoming bands or artists?
BMR: Exposure and marketing. If you have your marketing in a good place the exposure would come along but definitely for a up and coming band this is the areas where most bands fail. If you don’t hit the public with proper marketing material or ideas then you won’t be seen!
SL: What inspires you?
BMR: Our fans. Seeing people enjoy your music makes this all worth it. To have a love for music and to play it to people who loves it too makes it something to enjoy everyday!
SL: What music do you listen to?
BMR: Alternative, Emo, Hard-Rock, Melodic Metal, Indy, Punk- Rock…you could say all of it!
SL: The best album you ever bought?
BMR: Well for all the members of the band it goes from Dire Straits – On the Night, Offspring – Smash, Brand New – The devil and God are raging inside me,
SL: "You'll know you've made it when..."
BMR: we get decent radio play daily!
SL: "It'll be time to pack up the gear for good when..."
BMR: Music gets banned from planet earth, we will probably go to mars then!
SL: "I'll never forget the first time I..."
BMR: fell on stage…let’s leave it there
SL: What are your plans for the future?
BMR: We want to get our full track album out by end of this year and get the music video out by the same time. Hard work needs to be done and we are hoping that the money pulls in more frequently to do these projects.
SL: Can you give us a good cocktail recipe?
BMR: Get a big bowl, enough straws, loads of ice and then the real deal: chuck anything in. It will get you cross eyed no matter what!
These guys are definitely headed to the top! Visit their website here!
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