How often do you get to travel along the beautiful coast line of Southern Africa, doing what you love doing every night… well, almost every night? Not very often. This is probably my 4th coastal tour, and was by far the best turn out and most succesfull tour i have been on in many ways. We started in Ballito at the Mr Price Pro, which was huge, and was really well supported…this was followed by a huge party with aKing in some dodgy club in Ballito….which ended up at our really pimpin hotel:) Andrew is so broke, he jumped off the balcony to get the money that Rob & Hunter were carelessly throwing off, while Snake and I were wrestling in the bathroom. Rob also managed to fall of a golf cart at high speed and crack his skull open. From Durban, we went on to Smithfield… a 1 horse town with a restuarant called Luigi’s (very Italian) well…not the restuarant, just the name. Best FILLET steak EVER! We had some wife-beater specials and called it a night. East London, well i never expected this…at all, 350 kids loving the music and the merch:) We ended up at Numb3rs? were all the cool kids hang out, and ManBearPig saved us from the muscles of some Tjona [noun; chaw-na]
Then we took a few days of leisure in Plettenberg Bay, after all we had been so busy and needed the break. Greg tanned, and the 4 of us did a good 5km run, it was rad…though, were still too fat for the beach. Next up was the Billabong Pro with aKing in Jeffreys Bay. Boom! Weather was miserable, and the last thing any of us felt like doing was playing, until we got up on stage and did a quick monitor mix (all on in-ears now) and noticed the crowd swell in numbers. The show actually turned out to be our best show of the tour and the night will remain forever in our memories:) haha… we went from here to the local hang out, The Lounge, it was PACKED and 7th Son were playing…rad! but too busy for us. Between the 2 bands, and sound engineers and managers and brand agents we found J-Bays best kept secret….”The Local Pub” with a dwarfed individual engineering some Kareoke (sp). The bar was closing and the DJ was done, until us LOUD individuals with only 1 plan in mind arrived. Soon Greg and Laudo were singing “Kaptein” by Kurt Darren and Hunter and I did our version of “Ice Ice Baby”…of course we all joined in for “I would do anything for love, by Meatloaf” Good times!
We felt like a few more days was deserved off, so on the way back from J-Bay we went passed the Bloukrans Bunji, and Greg and I enjoyed our CHICKEN MAYONAISE toasted sandwhiches. Until of course we got back home and spent the evening starring at those very sandwhiches. FmyL. Greg actually ended up in hospital.
From Plett, we did George…which was also unexpectadly rad! And then for the last leg of the beach tour, Cape Town. We havent played in CT since Coke Fest, but i never knew they missed us this much. We had 3 sold out shows, 3 days in a row. First at Club 91 in trendy Claremont. It was rad, we had big bouncers and a rad VIP lounge, the crowd recognized the songs from 5FM, but all danced the night away. Rudi and Andre from Ashtray Electric kicked it with us and we had a damn good time drinking coffee tequila, which no matter what anyone tells you…still is tequila! Next up Gordon’s Bay, small venue, but sold out. They actually said that outside “Zebra & Giraffe has SOLD OUT” haha…. to who? We had the schnitzel, it tasted like fish, Marinus had the chips, they tasted like fish…but he worked wonders with probably the smallest PA we have ever performed on!Big UP’s to you Marino!
Assembly! In my personal opinion, the ONLY real live music venue in South Africa. Blaise, and Pierre know how to run a venue professionally and effectively better than anyone else. Through a friend of ours Tracy Cohen, we have sorta got this thing going where by people with dissabilities have been coming to our soundchecks. You see, most venues have stairs, and even without, it is virtually impossible for a person in a wheelchair to see the stage. So Tracy and her friend Chaeli came along, with the help of all the Assembly staff, and got a lil different taste of Zebra & Giraffe. Pierre told us around 6pm that the show was completely sold out online, and he was already turning people away from the door….a bitter sweet feeling, as i knew many people didnt have tickets yet. Anyway, only motivation to return to this great venue and do it all over again…soon!
Darren and Marino had a flight to catch and were fetched straight from Assembly at 4:15 AM, yup… then! Marino had Kersfees, and Darren was off to America… the rest of us went back to our rad gay friendly, not so drunk-proof house in De Waterkant and slept for a while hoping to wake up feeling completely normal. Turns out Colesburg is really far away, so instead we drove the “Soccer Mom” van to Beaufort West were we found the Wagon Wheel and straight to Spur. Dont do a rib burger from Spur….ever! From Beaufort West, we were up early early and home safe and sound by that evening. We have a week or so off now, but August is a busy month…this blog sucks and if you read this far, you dont suck…see u somewhere…soon!
