When Seether came to town

It's really cool to get to see a super-star group like Seether perform live. But to see six of SA's best acts joining them on stage - that's just crazy! Skyla gives us a rundown of who's gonna rock the joint this June. And check out our new artists!

On Streetlamp…

• Calling Kingston joined us this week. Listening to their track: Look To The Sky, I could not decide what genre it is. Rap, electrical guitar – how would we classify a song with a combination of these elements? But that’s Calling Kingston! Clearly they won’t be boxed in by simple terms. Definitely worth a listen.
• Welcome to new artist: Tim Pepper. The song I’m in love has an old school rock sound that is refreshingly honest, much like the lyrics if his song: Something Inside Of Me. Listening to this song makes you feel that you see a piece of Tim – no crap & pretend, just raw emotion.

Six to support Seether

As we reported last month, Seether (previously known as Sarin Gas) is coming to SA to perform 4 shows in June. They have since released the names of the groups that will be supporting them. Yes, groups. Plural. In fact there are six! Performing with them in all cities will be Stealing Love Jones and 12th Avenue. The bands that will perform in only one city of the tour are: A King (Cape Town), Myepic (JHB) Perez (Durban) and Scarlet Box (Port Elizabeth).

Stealing Love Jones (supporting artist on all shows)

This 4 strong pop-rock act was formed in 2005. Their name was actually Love Jones but they had to change it very early on as a band in the USA has the same name. Apart from playing all the major SA festivals and having 3 of their songs peak at number 1 on local radio stations, they have also received quite a bit of airplay on American radio stations. Seether will be another name to add to the long list of bands they have already supported including Violent Femmes, Fall Out Boy, 3 Doors Down, Staind, Evanescence and Jimmy Eat World.

12th Avenue (supporting artist on all shows)

12th Avenue is a rock band hailing from Cape Town. The band just released their first full-length album: “Insane”. This is a concept album, which follows the story of two characters; 12 and Anjee. The single “Living In My Life” received extensive airtime on 5 FM as well as other smaller stations. Their debut EP “Crazy” was not only voted Album of the Year by ZaZone last year, but was also number 1 on 5 FM’s Hi5@5 for 6 consecutive weeks.

A King (Cape Town)

Hunter Kennedy and Jaco Venter (from Fokofpolisiekar) together with Laudo Liebenberg and Hennie van Halen are the members of latest English rock band: A King. They describe their sound as melodic pop-rock – a country-inspired sing-along alternative sound.

Myepic (JHB)

Myepic is not a new face at any major SA festival. They also landed a spot at Berlin’s Popkomm during their 2006 tour of Germany. Their sound is a blend of hard rock and melodic pop-rock. They released their debut album titled: “The Love Industry” in 2006.

Perez (Durban)

In 2001, a band with amazing stage personality, energetic shows and infectious rock music exploded onto the scene. Within 18 months of their debut show at Splashy Fen they had four No. 1 singles. With little exception they sell out the venues they perform at, performing favourites that made them known such as Picture Perfect, Dreams And Troubles, and Wasted Out.

Scarlet Box (PE)

Scarlet Box got our attention in 2004 with their self-titled debut album. With vocalist Jenna Lee’s golden voice together with the bad-rock-girl appeal, their fan base grew steadily and they are releasing their second album: “And the rest of us die out” this month. Their single “I Knew” from this album has just been released.

Unlucky number 27

When she heard of her son’s death at the young age of 27, Wendy O’Connor said: “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club.”

The look on her face would’ve been one of sadness or maybe anguish, but definitely not shock or disbelief. The reason for this is that her son, Kurt Cobain, would from his teenage years say that he wanted to be part of the music industry’s most notorious club: Club 27.  Also known as Forever 27 Club or The 27 Club.

The 27 Club is a list of musicians (mostly rock & blues) who died at the age of 27. Most of the names on this list are legends that added invaluable progression to their genre. Most of them died tragic and mysterious deaths. There is some debate on who should be on the list and who shouldn’t – some claim that only rock artists who died at the age of 27 should have their names added to the list. The reason for this is that inception of this club was driven by 4 rock musicians dying at the age of 27, in a short period of only two years. Between 1969 and 1971 Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison passed away. Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison all died within a ten-month period. Morrison and Jones died on the same date two years apart.

Subsequently names of musicians who died before 1969 have also been added to the list, the earliest one being a ragtime musician: Louis Chauvin who died in 1908 form Syphilis. Also on the list is Robert Johnson, who saw his end in 1938 from Strychnine poisoning.

Musicians dying from overdoses at the age of 27 include: Gary Thain (bassist for Uriah Heep) Kristin Pfaff (bass guitarist – Hole) Jeremy M Ward (the Mars Volta) Bryan Ottosan (guitarist for American Head Charge) Janis Joplin and possibly Jim Morrison. The official cause of death on Jim Morrison’s death certificate stated heart failure, but speculation has it that he died from a drug overdose. This can’t be proved though as no autopsy was ever performed.

Other causes include: drowning in a swimming pool (Brian Jones – Rolling Stones founder and rhythm guitarist) suicide (Kurt Cobain – Nirvana) electrocution by microphone (Les Harvey – guitarist: Stone The Crows) murder (Mia Zapata – lead singer: The Gits) and asphyxiating on vomit (Jimi Hendrix).

Posi+tive

Posi+ive is a three-day fusion of fashion, art, cuisine and music to raise funds for Sun International’s HIV/AIDS initiatives: Tapologo Aids Hospice, Noah, St Michaels and Missionvale Care Centre. The first Posi+ive was held in 2006. The event was hugely successful and raised much-needed funds to build more wards in hospices and care for HIV/AIDS patients.

This year’s Posi+ive starts on the 13th June with the Posi+ive Rocks concert. This show will include performances by local artists: Lira, Gang of Instrumentals, HHP, Jannie Moolman, Danny K, The Parlotones, Louise Carver, and wonder child In-Cha.

But it won’t only be local talent that you can expect…

The Mexican-American pop singer Marcos Hernandez will be performing at this year’s Posi+ive Rocks. Hernandez started gaining recognition in the R&B and Pop genres with his debut single: “If you were mine” in August 2005. This is not the first time that Hernandez will be in South Africa though – his previous visit to our sunny country was in 2006.

Also joining us at this year’s Posi+ive is Backstreet Boys. The boys have not lost the magic touch, and they will prove they still know how to melt hearts on the 13th and 14th July at the Sun City Superbowl. Band member Howie Dorough says the last time he was in South Africa it was all work and no play, but that this time it will different. He says he is looking forward to a South African Safari with his wife.

Since their start in 1993 they have released seven albums and will head back into studio to record number 8 as soon as their current world tour is wrapped up.

Book your tickets at www.computicket.com.

Techno Talk

The South Korean company, Audizen, is currently marketing a revolutionary new digital music format called MT9. Commercially named Music 2.0, this format was developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

What sets this apart from other formats is that with MT9 you have 6 different audio channels (vocals, chorus, guitar, piano, base and drum) that can be controlled individually. This format gives you freedom to edit MT9 encoded files - you can turn off vocals completely, or increase base volume.

According to ETRI, MT9 is poised to replace the popular MP3 file format as the de-facto standard of digital music. The international body of the digital music and video industry: MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) selected MT9 as a candidate item for the new digital music standard. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are also both interested in equipping their mobile phones with an MT9 player, with their first commercial products likely to debut early next year

Says spokesperson for ETRI: “The music industry should change its attitude to the market as music is becoming a digital service, rather than a physical product."

Quickies

• Chicago hard rockers, Disturbed, released their 4th studio album on 3rd June. They cancelled the second leg of their "Music as a Weapon III" tour in late 2006 to start working on this album. Titled “Indestructible” this album has 3 different covers: for the CD, the DVD and the limited edition.
• Alanis Morissette is releasing her new album on 10th June. Morissette says  “Flavors of Entanglement” is her “coming-out-from-under-the-rock record” referring to her break up with fiancé, actor Ryan Reynolds, adding that it helped her “through some fragile moments”.
• Coldplay decided to not include the song “Luna” on their Viva La Vida album as it is “too sexy” and they “cannot be that sexy at this point”. They do however say that this song, recorded with Australian singer Kylie Minogue, will be included in their next album that should be released by end 2009. Frontman Chris Martin calls Kylie's performance on Luna “particularly brilliant”.
• Hip-hop artists such as Will.I.Am, Talib Kweli, Common, The Game, Jay-Z and 50 Cent have been publicly supportive of Barack Obama's quest for presidency. Nas however took his support one step further by recording a track titled: “Black President”. This track voices his hope that Obama will be the next president. It also depicts his anger at the police for their alleged brutal killing of black youths. This is one of the issues that Nas feels Obama should look at if he becomes president.

Confidence…?

"We're not arrogant. We just believe we're the best band in the world."
- Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
        

If you've got breaking news or want to comment on ours, drop Skyla an e-mail here: skyla@streetlamp.co.za

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