WOW! What a beautiful guitar. Like most Fender Custom Shop’s, its made to the best standards. Precise measurements, and meticulous attention to detail. Its a N.O.S finish (New Old Stock), California Beach series and is no. 127 of 150 ever made. Alder body, maple neck, with medium jumbo frets….yes, its a players dream!!!!
Words always come short at times like these, but Herman left a wonderful memory all over South African television and in the hearts and minds of bands and fans alike. Check out the great work that Herman pioneered – Vrede Foundation.
I have been loving T-Rex pedals since i bought my first Replica in Texas at the South by South West festival in 2007. The quality of their products is really something special, and they take a lot of time in creating truly amazing HAND MADE pedals and effects. The company is based in Denmark, and although i have only spoken to them via email, they have been the raddest bunch of guys and have been so approachable. The reason i’m bloggin’ this is because they have offered me an endorsement of their pedals and effects, and i’m totally stoked and honored to be associated with a company like this. Check out their products here…T-Rex Engineering.
I have been admiring Sean Metelerkamp’s photos for a while now and was super stoked when he contacted us for a shoot. His ideas are so crazy, and his composition is so insane that if he shot this on a “point & shoot”…you would still get the same feeling from it. I’m a big fan, check out his portfolio @ Metal Box
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!
Zebra & Giraffe played at Back 2 Basix in Westdene on friday with our fellow music makers Fire Through the Window. They are a really cool band, and really cool people and i cant wait to play again with them in Durban next week. Rudi Jeggle shot some rad photos, despite not been able to get close to the stage and this is what it looked like…
Greg, Rob & I have been hanging out in Plett writing&recording some stuff as we go! This is a little pic of our setup…making music is the most fun anyone can ever have!!!
Marcus Maschwitz shot this photo of me a while back on my roof when he still lived here. I just came across it now and i really really like this one. I posted a different one a while back from the same shoot and they both such rad pics.
This weekend we played two really big shows called Campus Invasion, one with aKing, Fokoffpolisiekar, and Tidal Waves at the Tuks Rag Farm in PTA, and then on Saturday at the beautiful Emmarentia Dam with aKing, HHP and Goldfish. This photo is from the dam where a good 8000 people piled in, and as you can see the weather held out. This was a lot of fun. Photo by Sean Brand.
