| APRIL 2001 Friday 13 April - Rustlers Valley Easter Festival. This year's annual gathering, near Ficksburg in the Free State, drew around 3 500 people. I felt trepidation, with memories of strange acid-fuelled negative vibes on previous visits with ex-girlfriends, to say nothing of the mudbath episode when I played in Wanda DNA with Andy. It turned out the hotel had burnt down, and was only partially rebuilt - I found the new shape more comforting. After a bollock-cauterizingly freezing plunge in the river, we played an early evening sundowner set on the main World Stage. The set was marred by poor stage sound - my monitor was a dud, so I had zero drums, bass or guitar. Moving back and forth to hear the drums, I also managed to yank my guitar cable out of its socket in the middle of Tease. Nonetheless, as the audience was swallowed up by darkness, the applause indicated that we held their interest. I suspect everyone was still waiting for the party to kick in, acclimatizing to the Rustlers vibe after a hard week at work. |
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| Sunday 22 April - RP Studios, Auckland Park. The band spent all day in M3 Suite with Neal Snyman re-recording a "radio" version (down to skeletal 4min 30sec!) of Crazy Over You for inclusion on the 5fm Showcase 3: Unearthed Compilation. The new version is marginally faster, with a stripped down guitar solo (half the length) and edgier vocals than on the plaintive original. Nice celtic lilt coming through on Iain's voice in parts. |
| Friday 27 April - Freedom Day -Nile Crocodile, Pretoria. The band's second gig at this friendly club, this time supporting Wonderboom. Some weird vibes the afternoon of the gig, some plonker from Authentic Ideas trying to hustle Andy for a PA and a drum kit, even though we had already arranged that Wonderboom would supply. We also didn't get paid a cent - the club trying vainly to recoup the R4000 fee demanded upfront by the headliners. Attendance was disappointing - I reckon any clubbers who hadn't gone to Splashy Fen for the long weekend were all too hungover to go out, but in any event, we got the small crowd moving, with a powerful set that impressed the audience and Wonderboom alike -, Cito and Danny both very complimentary. Wonderboom followed with an excellent, kickass performance - they really are a class act, it seems strange that they always play second fiddle to the Nudies etc. Partying continued well into the wee hours, before we hit the misty road back to Jo'burg, admiring the surreality of the neon billboards looming like spaceships out of the yellow swathes. |
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| MAY 2001 For most of this month, the band kept out of the public eye, organising the production and preparing for the launch of the new CD Snowflake. Thursday 31 May - Zen Arcade made its TV debut on The Toasty Show, eTV. I was still in the grip of flu, so I passed on the aerobics which James and Andy got roped into. Iain was involved in teh cooking section, making a dubious looking "Student" omelette with 2-minute noodles, tinned curry etc. The band's misgivings about performing to a backing track of Crazy Over You proved well founded when an undisciplined and badly directed sound engineer cues the song before the short interview had ended, giving the band no time to take up their instruments! The band reciprocated with a deliberately unconvincing mime - Iain nowhere near the mic and Andy listlessly tossing and catching his sticks in a bad parody of a cock rock drummer. The humour of the situation was not lost on the band, but it was very unfortable and rather embarrassing. Certainly, any intention of using the insert as a promotional video for the song went out the window. JUNE 2001 Friday 1 June - The long awaited launch of the Snowflake CD at The Mixer Theatre, Melville. The small theatre provided the perfect setting for the band to stage a slick and professional show. Additional lighting, provided by Paulo and manned by his friend and Tyrone, was brought in and the sound was fine tuned to perfection by Lorenzo. The band kicked off at 10 with Take Out The Trash. The full house audience was very receptive and a text book set left the band and the audience thrilled. After a set that included Lopsided Affair, Jammez, Crazy Over You, Summer Sun, Up, Not About You, Ode, Sister, Gunston Tease and Step Back, the band was called back for an encore of Take Out The Trash and Sister. The party continued until late - signing autographs, getting vrot ... at one stage we were all nipping next door for tequilas in the absence of that scorpion honey in the bar. The evening ended with the die-hards dancing in a conga line - most entertaining. All in all, a huge fucking success! |
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| D-BASS DIARY |
| Saturday 14 April - Acting on owner Frik's advice, we set up an impromptu gig on the Comet Stage - smaller, but infinitely more vibey (see pic on right - a stage-eye view). Lorenz managed to get an excellent sound mix and the band was relaxed and confident. This comes through in a superb set. In spite of the pissing rain (I had to keep grabbing Iain and yanking him back so that he wouldn't put his guitar headstock into a waterfall running off the tarp that covered the stage), the punters dug it - eventually ignoring the rain to dance up front with the band. |
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| After the gig, we took mushrooms, which Lorenz had bought from the ubiquitous Gypsy and spent the rest of the night blissing out. Musical highlight was Shaktar, a 3-piece all-brother trancey band. The rest was a so-so mixed bag. |
| 3:30am found me chilling out in my bakkie, parked next to my tiny tent which the wind threatened to snatch up and hurl over the rocky cliff towering blue behind us in the full moon light. Eventually Iain and Jo joined me, and were much impressed by my Korean circus "ribbon dance" performed in the gale with a roll of toilet paper. |