one small seed made it to RAMFest 2011 in Cape Town, but barely made it out alive! Check out the footage to see what went down at South Africa’s only REAL Alternative Music festival.

RAMfest – The Cape’s Ultimate Rock Festival – spanned 3 venues this year for the first time, bringing Real Alternative Music (spells RAM, get it?) to South Africa’s metropoles. The main 3-day fest was held once again in the Cape, at the idyllic Nekkies Resort in Worcester, also home to  hippie-fests like Earth Dance. Following that, two more day-long festivals were held at the Wavehouse in Umhlanga in KZN and at Riversands Farm in Fourways in Jozi (who knew there were farms in Johannesburg!).

RAMfest 5 brought music fans more genres to enjoy than ever before, a bigger dancefloor, and hosted three equally awesome stages. There was the main carnivalesque rock stage, a grungy tented metal stage by Metal4Africa and the glowing Electronic Pyramid by Griet Events & Artist Management – all back to back with killer tracks.

The main stage hosted two international headliners: Welsh rock band Funeral for a Friend and American punk rockers Alkaline Trio… who, to be perfectly honest, were a load of shite if you’re not a 12-year-old boy.

But with the host of amazing South African acts to pick from, no one really minded the well-timed beer breaks. Without a doubt, the South African stars on the lineup stole the show, as RAMfest fans witnessed stellar worldclass performances by bands like Die Antwoord, Van Coke Kartel (below), Gazelle, Zebra & Giraffe and more

One of my personal highlights of the festival was a very warmly welcomed return of Pretoria band Not My Dog.

Just prior to RAMfset in early March, Not My Dog reunited with their original vocalist, Hanu de Jong of The Narrow, and have graced the stage together for the first time in around ten years, bringing back their notorious brand of hard rock that South Africans back in the day grew to love. Back when ‘Toxicity’ was at number one, a Black Label cost R5 and you painted your nails black… Well, I did anyway.

Back to RAMfest, Hanu and the gang put on an epic show, and if you happened to miss them, make sure you check them out out and about on their month-or-so-long SA tour.

Other big names on the main stage that can’t not be mentioned were the angel-voiced (and faced, come to think of it) Isochronous, indie band Desmond and the Tutus, the awe-inspiring, internationally acclaimed Blk Jks, Cape Town kids Ashtray Electric, Tumi (of the Volume), Sowetan rockers Ree-Burth (one of whom I got a nice little snap of below) and Cape Town electronic act Mix N Blend.

Artists on the metal stage included Sabretooth, The Dead Will Tell, Enmity, Mind Assault, Contrast The Water, Knave, Haggis & Bong and Juggernaught.

Think electric saws, Slipknot t-shirts, loads of sweaty, greasy headbanging and that move the kids call ‘the windmill’.

Down at the electronic stage were French act Tom Deluxx plus South African favourites Haezer, B-Team, Double Adapter, Niskerone, Toby2Shoes, Jam Jarr, P.H.Fat, Counterstrike, FunaFuji, Sedge Warbler and more. See the pic below for why it was called The Electronic Pyramid.

In addition to the great lineup, festivalgoers had fun in the sun in the river, splashing in the pool, browsing through the market, jamming in the Mercury tent, chilling at the cocktail bar and beer garden, and tripping mildly on space cookies. Plus there was a host of live entertainment in the form of fire spinners, dancers, stilt-walkers and half-naked performance artists all dressed to fit the festival’s really well-designed carnival branding.

(Carnival meets Chinese circus more like it – I’m pretty sure I even saw a fire dragon. If you think I was tripping, see below.)

(That’s totally a fire dragon.)

One thing is for sure, RAMfest5 really outdid itself, bringing South Africans a truly first-rate rock fest. For those who made it out alive, who knows what next year’s festival will hold?

An interview conducted a while back. Enjoy…

Sarah Claire: So Spoek, tell me a bit about yourself.

Spoek Mathambo: I’m an Ndebele prince, rapper, dancer, DJ, dreamer, illustrator and graphic artist. I live between Johannesburg and Malmö Sweden. I work as various art/music collectives… Namely: MSHINI WAM, SWEAT X, PLAYDOE and DJ as HIVIV. You can get my township-tech sothocore world bass mixes on the net. My favourite one is called ‘Devil House Mafias 2.’

What are you all about?

I am about absolutely nothing specific. More than being an identity based on content, I am interested in the world.

What inspires you?

Everything. The latest thing that has inspired me is Red, the homeless G-funk beat box and Gou Miyagi the Japanese skateboarder. I usually document everything that inspires me on my blog ZOMBO (http://2faced1.com/zombo). For a long time I made a specific point of making Africa my central inspiration…but I think I am trying to transcend petty nationalism and ‘isms.’

What’s the first album you ever bought?

The ‘Above The Rim’ original soundtrack featuring H-Town, Lady of Rage and Tupac.

Do you even bother buying albums?

Yes… It’s f%*king important to my life! I spent my entire teenage period developing my concept of ownership based on my records and CDs.

What’s your all-time favourite track?

Tough to say… changes ever day…today it’s Doneao – Be Mine.

Describe Sweat X in a sentence.

Markus and Spoek having fun.

What’s next… ?

More world tours, more boobs…onward and up.

Your partner-in-beats, Markus – what three things come to mind?

Literary genius, Musical genius, lying son of a bitch!

Favourite festival?

Valtifest in Amsterdam…Oslo live in Norway. Sibot and I played a great festival in Metz in France. Le Printemps de Bourges in France was great… It was amazing to watch The Brian Jonestown Massacre. They also had a huge SA contingent with BLK JKS, Gazelle, 340ml, Die Antwoord and PLAYDOE.

Is improvisation important to you?

A show with no improvisation is a schitt show for us. Routine is schitt.

Why do you dress so funny?

Your mother dresses funny.

What about bringing out a clothing label? What would you call it?

I am currently doing some collaboration designs with label called Doe out of Cape Town. I work on prints under the name Zombo and am working on some knitwear pieces at present.

If you could MC alongside someone – anyone – who would it be?

Iggy Pop, Sun Ra, Prince, Fela Kuti.

What’s the most insane thing you’ve ever done?

Eaten a box of cigarettes.

What’s next for Spoek?

“%^&%@$”And I will be breeding…little Spoeks.

So from myself and Spoek, “don’t be a f#*king dinosaur…use the Internet and talk to your counterparts all over the world.”

Check out the latest album review of Spoek Mathambo’s Mshini Wam in the latest issue of one small seed, issue 22 – the “Hi, my name is Joburg” edition – or right HERE on onesmallseed.com!

ISSUE 17 FEATURES:

• LOCAL DESIGN: SA’S CONSCIOUS DESIGNERS
• WILD PERSONALITY: IGGY POP
• MUSIC: OFF THEIR ROCKERS
• WILDLIFE: THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS & DOGS
• INTERNATIONAL ARTIST: MARK WHALEN (KILL PIXIE)
• COMIC STRIP: GAZELLE – THE GOLDEN RULE
• LIFESTYLE: EXTREME BEHAVIOUR
• FASHION: DISCOTHEQUE COUTURE – WILD YOUNG THINGS
• SA ART SCENE: UNTAMED ARTISTS
• TATTOO SHOOT: SOUTHERN INK XPOSURE
• HERITAGE & CULTURE: THE DOGON – LOVING THE ALIEN
• INSIDE A DJ TOUR: MIX N BLEND VS P.H.FAT
• SUMMER SPREAD: SOUTH BEACH
• LADIES’ WEAR: JUST SWIMMINGLY
• FOOTWEAR: ADIDAS FIVE-TWO 3
• INDIE ELECTRO-STEEL: SHE MAN LION
• POST-RAVE FIRESTARTERS: PRODIGY
• RATTLESNAKE ROCK: DAMN RIGHT MUSIC VIDEO
• RETURN OF THE MONKI-PUNKS? BOO!
• AFRO PROG ROCK: BLK JKS