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	<title>one small seed &#187; psychobilly | one small seed</title>
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		<title>&#8216;LET&#8217;S ROCK THIS PARTY LIKE IT&#8217;S 1955&#8242;</title>
		<link>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/lets-rock-this-party-like-its-1955/</link>
		<comments>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/lets-rock-this-party-like-its-1955/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:59:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[christine hogg]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[A lot of us will know Them Tornados. They&#8217;ve had many of us swing our body parts about at the one or other Cape Town show. Sadly, their sound &#8212; rockabilly &#8212; has always appeared to be a rather isolated venture in this city. With more and more bands that loosely fall into the psychobilly/rockabilly category surfacing, this could, however, be changing. one small seed investigated.  &#8216;You&#8217;ve got to have somethin&#8217; they can tap their foot, or dance to, or to make &#8216;em feel it,&#8217; were the wise words of Fred Maddox of The Maddox Brothers and Rose. He was one of the first to develop the slap bass technique and his band thus one of the first to create this new sound, which could no longer be categorized as the familiar blues, country or rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. It became &#8216;rockabilly&#8217; – a term that is derived from the words &#8216;hillbilly&#8217; and &#8216;rock&#8217;. More than 60 years later the carefree feet-stomping honky-tonk spirit is still alive and resurging subtly but significantly in our very own Cape Town. Be it via the routes of reviving &#8217;50s rockabilly, creating modern neo-rockabilly or being a part of the more aggressive subgenre psychobilly, more [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>A lot of us will know <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Tornados.Home?fref=ts">Them Tornados</a>. They&#8217;ve had many of us swing our body parts about at the one or other Cape Town show. Sadly, their sound &#8212; rockabilly &#8212; has always appeared to be a rather isolated venture in this city. With more and more bands that loosely fall into the psychobilly/rockabilly category surfacing, this could, however, be changing. one small seed investigated. </strong></p>
<div id="attachment_26096" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowscroppedres.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26096" title="Th' Damned Crows - Image by Leon Visser" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowscroppedres.jpg" alt="Th' Damned Crows - Image by Leon Visser" width="600" height="388" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Th&#8217; Damned Crows &#8211; Image by Leon Visser</p></div>
<p>&#8216;You&#8217;ve got to have somethin&#8217; they can tap their foot, or dance to, or to make &#8216;em feel it,&#8217; were the wise words of Fred Maddox of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddox_Brothers_and_Rose">The Maddox Brothers and Rose</a>. He was one of the first to develop the slap bass technique and his band thus one of the first to create this new sound, which could no longer be categorized as the familiar blues, country or rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. It became &#8216;rockabilly&#8217; – a term that is derived from the words &#8216;hillbilly&#8217; and &#8216;rock&#8217;. More than 60 years later the carefree feet-stomping honky-tonk spirit is still alive and resurging subtly but significantly in our very own Cape Town. Be it via the routes of reviving &#8217;50s rockabilly, creating modern neo-rockabilly or being a part of the more aggressive subgenre psychobilly, more and more bands are surfacing and kicking it to increasing audiences of tattooed pin-up girl look-alikes and rebellious-looking greaser culture imitators.</p>
<p>While witnessing this nostalgic celebration breed with passion and enthusiasm, some questions arose. Why is it happening now? Has it existed in SA before? And most importantly, what is it about this special time and place — America of the 1950s – that has created such an impact on youth subcultures and fuelled such a worldwide dedicated cult following throughout the years? One way to find out was to consult the makers of the music that surrounds the mythical neo-&#8217;50s magic. Three Cape Town bands, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedamnedcrows?ref=ts&#038;fref=ts">Th&#8217; Damned Crows</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheVodunHaunts?fref=ts">The Vodun Haunts</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats?fref=ts">The Ratrod Cats</a>, shared their insights on Cape Town as inspiring &#8216;psycho territory&#8217;, the cultural &#8216;uniform&#8217; and simply creating quality music.</p>
<div id="attachment_26051" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hauntsresized8.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26051" title="The Vodun Haunts - Image by Stephan Bester" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hauntsresized8.jpg" alt="The Vodun Haunts - Image by Stephan Bester" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Vodun Haunts &#8211; Image by Stephan Bester</p></div>
<p>To get things straight up front, here&#8217;s an admittedly brief background. Rockabilly&#8217;s mainstream popularity culminated in the &#8217;50s, with guys like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Cochran">Eddie Cochran</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Vincent">Gene Vincent</a>. If those names don&#8217;t ring a bell the following lyrics will, &#8216;there ain&#8217;t no cure for the summertime blues&#8217; or &#8216;be-bop-a-lula she&#8217;s my baby&#8217;. Jiving greasers in leather jackets, swaying girls with spotted dresses, hot rods, muscle cars&#8230; you get the gist. This early rebellious rock genre never really died and lived on outside the mainstream up until today. Not only did the music survive, the culture had such a strong legacy that people still gather with likeminded and &#8216;like-dressed&#8217; people at events such as the <a href="http://www.summerjamboree.com/">Summer Jamboree</a> in Italy or <a href="http://www.vivalasvegas.net/">Viva Las Vegas</a> in the US to listen to revived rockabilly or neo-rockabilly. During the &#8217;80s some guys in Europe thought they&#8217;d be inventive while keeping the jivey be-bop-a-lula sound and born was &#8216;psychobilly&#8217; — a more aggressive punk-infused genre that often incorporates dark science fiction themes. Similar to its predecessor, it wants nothing to do with politics. It&#8217;s a holiday for the super ego and an opportunity for the subconscious to get out of control and go &#8216;psycho&#8217;, if you will.</p>
<div id="attachment_26065" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Eddie-Cochran-Gene-Vincent-forweb.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26065" title="Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent - Image by fanpop.com" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Eddie-Cochran-Gene-Vincent-forweb.jpg" alt="Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent - Image by fanpop.com" width="600" height="473" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent &#8211; Image by fanpop.com</p></div>
<p><iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MeWC59FJqGc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<div id="attachment_26053" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/TheMeteors-Hell-ChainsawFresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26053" title="The Meteors - Image by mumblerbeaner.blogspot.com" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/TheMeteors-Hell-ChainsawFresized.jpg" alt="The Meteors - Image by mumblerbeaner.blogspot.com" width="600" height="600" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Meteors &#8211; Image by mumblerbeaner.blogspot.com</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F65391777"></iframe></p>
<p>Making use of many influences, Th&#8217; Damned Crows are an energetic four piece that fall into the broad &#8216;-billy&#8217; genre, yet have more appropriately been described as &#8216;whatever-fuck-a-billy&#8217; due to the versatile musical backgrounds (blues, industrial metal, punk and garage/psychobilly) each member contributes to the sound. Although they&#8217;re determined not to be a clichéd psychobilly band, they still manage to bring a devilish dark edge to the fore through lyrical content and lead singer Liam McDevitt&#8217;s steadfast vocals. Only having moved down to the scenically inspiring African southlands from Manchester about one and a half years ago, he agrees that there&#8217;s an increasing interest and potential for expansion within the psychobilly/rockabilly and broader Cape Town rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll scene. Already firmly integrated into the network through being one of the organisers and DJs of the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/shakesumaction?fref=ts">Shake Some Action</a> events as well as hosting the sister show on <a href="http://theassembly.co.za/radio/">The Assembly radio</a>, he believes that a lot of hard work needs to be done in order to have a sustainable scene. &#8216;Without the bands there&#8217;s no scene, it&#8217;s just a whole lot of geeks on the internet,&#8217; he explains when I inquire about possible improvement.</p>
<p>South Africa&#8217;s horrendous history included having to battle with ordeals such as political and geographical isolation and thus scanty record distribution. As a result many music fans&#8217; access to psychobilly records when the genre reached one of its peaks in the &#8217;80s was often only through purchasing them overseas — and that was only if you knew the genre existed. Consequently, although local bands like Joburg&#8217;s <a href="http://www.facebook.com/PsychoReptiles">Psycho Reptiles</a> existed, they were scarce. Today, the rise of the digital age has provided a new playground for music buffs and therefore created the seeds for a new scene. Teddy boy hairdos, leather jackets and &#8216;psychooo&#8217; here we come. There&#8217;s more to it though, behind the scenes strategies need to be in place for the flower to blossom. Liam puts it angrily, &#8216;venues and promoters need to smarten their ideas up&#8217;.</p>
<div id="attachment_26057" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized4.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26057" title="Th' Damned Crows by Leon Visser" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized4.jpg" alt="Th' Damned Crows by Leon Visser" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Th&#8217; Damned Crows &#8211; Image by Leon Visser</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F74481196"></iframe></p>
<div id="attachment_26058" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized6.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26058" title="Th' Damned Crows - Image by Leon Visser" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized6.jpg" alt="Th' Damned Crows - Image by Leon Visser" width="600" height="899" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Th&#8217; Damned Crows &#8211; Image by Leon Visser</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F57391089"></iframe></p>
<p>A band needs an audience, an audience needs a venue and a venue wants to make money. These entities need to pull their weight and be coordinated so that things run smoothly. Although, according to Liam, some places are doing it right, gigs often fail to be successful because so called &#8216;live music venues&#8217; don&#8217;t have the appropriate in-house gear or promoters aren&#8217;t &#8216;promoting&#8217; properly. Creating a Facebook event often isn&#8217;t enough to ensure coverage of a band&#8217;s expenses or — dare one say it — provide a bit of profit. Especially if there&#8217;s a door split. &#8220;Anywhere else in the world when you book a band, you don&#8217;t go, &#8216;Oh I will give you 40 percent at the door and if nobody comes in, then unlucky but I&#8217;m not losing anything,'&#8221; he explains while imitating the fictional voice of an exemplary ineffective promoter.</p>
<p>Although Cape Town has to battle with such financial fiascos, the fool&#8217;s paradise seems to offer the right environment for &#8216;horror&#8217; and &#8216;psycho&#8217; muses to provide inspiration. To stand out from the global mainstream, Th&#8217; Damned Crows pay close attention to combining spooky tales with being proudly South African. The lyrics to &#8216;The Devil in Me&#8217; are about the legend of Antjie Somers. According to the myth, s/he was a male serial killer back in the 1800s in Cape Town&#8217;s city centre, luring her/his victims in through making them believe s/he was a well-meaning prostitute.</p>
<p>Similarly, the six-headed psycho constellation often in zombie disguise, The Vodun Haunts (also not a straightforward psychobilly band because of classically influenced compositions, for example) are bringing SA&#8217;s hair-raising horror news stories often found in tabloids, such as &#8216;muti&#8217; killings, to the fore. &#8216;We have a lot of dark shit and weird stuff going on in Africa. And we&#8217;re trying to tell stories about that,&#8217; lead singer Le Riche Meyer explains. Cami Scoundrel (on the &#8216;bag of tricks&#8217;) adds, &#8216;psychobilly is supposed to be a non-political movement — more about fun and horror — so we&#8217;re taking that and making it our own South African B-grade creepy.&#8217;</p>
<div id="attachment_26060" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/haunts1resized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26060" title="The Vodun Haunts - Image by Stephan Bester" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/haunts1resized.jpg" alt="The Vodun Haunts - Image by Stephan Bester" width="600" height="900" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Vodun Haunts &#8211; Image by Stephan Bester</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F65376655"></iframe></p>
<div id="attachment_26061" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/haunts4resized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26061" title="The Vodun Haunts by Stephan Bester" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/haunts4resized.jpg" alt="The Vodun Haunts by Stephan Bester" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Vodun Haunts by Stephan Bester</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F73998011"></iframe></p>
<p>The Ratrod Cats, a three piece bowling shirt-sporting neo-rockabilly band made up of K.C. Royale, Rickabilly and Double Dave, are less bothered about South African heritage than about rocking a party &#8216;like it&#8217;s 1955&#8242;. &#8216;I know it&#8217;s a bit of a cock-up, but it&#8217;s about women, it&#8217;s about cars, it&#8217;s about booze and it&#8217;s about the party. If you put those together you&#8217;ve got 1955,&#8217; K.C. admits, while a sheepish smirk spreads across his cheeks. That spot on the timeline is, according to the band members, surrounded by such distinct mysticism and beauty because of cult figures such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Buddy Holly that — although they all died at an early age — the impact of their legacy allows one to speak of an art form that goes beyond music. To them it&#8217;s about the smell, feel and ideology of rebellious &#8217;50s culture. Rickabilly points out, &#8216;you don&#8217;t get the same appreciation out of modern vehicles for example — they all bloody look the same.&#8217;</p>
<p>This is why they take no offence if someone calls them wannabes. &#8220;If someone says &#8216;you sound like <a href="http://www.elvis.com/">Elvis</a>&#8216; then we say &#8216;thank you, thank you very much, that&#8217;s fantastic,'&#8221; K.C. explains. In fact, they believe that it&#8217;s important to stay true to the roots, especially in South Africa where a lot of people are still new to the genre. Falsely labelled experiments could cause confusion. &#8216;If we claim to be rockabilly, then we want to present what people want to hear,&#8217; is a principle the &#8217;50s admirers stick to firmly.</p>
<div id="attachment_26068" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratrodcatsresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26068" title="The Ratrod Cats - Image by Diane Styger" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratrodcatsresized.jpg" alt="The Ratrod Cats - Image by Diane Styger" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Ratrod Cats &#8211; Image by Diane Styger</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F47006488"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F47006489"></iframe></p>
<p>Another threat to the thriving scene could be what Liam describes as &#8216;off-the-hanger-psychobilly&#8217; (or rockabilly). All three bands would agree that fashion can be a statement, contribute to entertainment value and thus be a firm component of the budding neo-&#8217;50s cultural &#8216;art form&#8217;. Yet awareness of the ever so dangerous manipulative force of the fad is encouraged by all. &#8216;Appreciation of the MUSIC is central,&#8217; seems to be a collective thought and ambition that all interviewed musicians share. Yet K.C. is not worried that the shallow fashion followers will get in the way of true music devotees and cause the scene to crumble. &#8216;What&#8217;s going to happen is — and what we&#8217;re seeing already — rockabilly and psychobilly are reaching a peak now but they&#8217;re going to start fading. But the thing is, the people who will be left will <em>really</em> love it.&#8217;</p>
<p>So things seem to be looking good for Capetonian rockabilly and psychobilly lovers. This year, for example, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DustyRebelsAndTheBombshells?fref=ts">Dusty Rebels and the Bombshells</a> is planned for April 6th. Greased-back music fans and the like will be able to gather at the &#8217;50s culture revival festival and tap their feet to musical nostalgia while showing off their most swell &#8217;50s attire. The spirit is alive and will live on — for as long as humanity knows how to dance. K.C. muses with insight, &#8216;it&#8217;s almost built into people&#8217;s genes. This is the music you have to move to.&#8217;</p>
<p><iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P2_ubkIZ0lI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>IMPORTANT LINKS<br />
</strong></p>
<p>While you wait for April to come, click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thedamnedcrows/blue-eyed-devil-single">here</a> to download Th&#8217; Damned Crows&#8217; first single &#8216;Blue Eyed Devil&#8217; for free via SoundCloud! They&#8217;re also collecting funds to record their debut album. Click <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/debut-album">here</a> to help &#8216;em out.</p>
<p>The Vodun Haunts&#8217; self-titled EP is for sale at <a href="http://mabuvinyl.co.za/">Mabu Vinyl and Digital</a>, <a href="http://africanmusicstore.co.za/">The African Music Store</a> and Revolution Records for R65. Follow their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheVodunHaunts?fref=ts">Facebook page</a> for upcoming gigs!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats?fref=ts">The Ratrod Cats</a> are currently in the studio and are working on getting their debut out by March. Check their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats?fref=ts">Facebook page</a> for updates.</p>
<p>We also sat down with each band for a face to face chit chat about band philosophies, future plans and favourite bands. Click <strong><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-th-damned-crows-no-ego-all-billy/">here</a></strong> for Th&#8217; Damned Crows&#8217; interview, <strong><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/qa-with-the-vodun-haunts/">here</a></strong> for The Vodun Haunts interview and <strong><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-keeping-it-upbeat-with-the-ratrod-cats/">here</a></strong> for The Ratrod Cats interview.</p>
<p>Words by Christine Hogg<br />
Images by <a href="http://www.leonvisser.co.za/">Leon Visser</a>, <a href="http://stephanbphotography.wix.com/main">Stephan Bester</a>, Diane Styger, MUMBLERBEANER.BLOGSPOT.COM, Christine Hogg</p>
<p><iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qn4lJqbv7So" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>&#124; Interview &#124; Keeping it Upbeat WITH THE RATROD CATS</title>
		<link>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-keeping-it-upbeat-with-the-ratrod-cats/</link>
		<comments>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-keeping-it-upbeat-with-the-ratrod-cats/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:07:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[christine hogg]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Categories]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Them Tornados]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[K.C. Royal (guitar, vocals), Rickabilly (drums, vocals) and Double Dave (double bass) are The Ratrod Cats. They&#8217;ll catapult you back 60 years in a coupl&#8217;a strums and, before you know it, your feet tap ADD style. Their EP is in the making, but they play gigs frequently for rhythm addicts. Check their Facebook page for updates. Before you do that, hear what they have to say about the infectious beat of the &#8217;50s, of which the receptors can be found deep down in any homo sapiens.  How did it all start? K.C.: In short, I wanted to start a rockabilly band because I love the music and I posted an ad online and Rickabilly replied saying let&#8217;s give it a try. So we started fiddling and initially we got a bassist, which didn&#8217;t quite work out, so we put another ad online and Double Dave replied. We&#8217;ve been going with this line-up for about three years now. Do you have a band philosophy? K.C.: Don&#8217;t fuck up. (laughs) Double Dave: Yeah pretty much. Rickabilly: It&#8217;s really just about having a good time really. If we enjoy it, I think people who are listening to it will enjoy it. Double Dave: We try [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>K.C. Royal (guitar, vocals), Rickabilly (drums, vocals) and Double Dave (double bass) are <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats/info">The Ratrod Cats</a>. They&#8217;ll catapult you back 60 years in a coupl&#8217;a strums and, before you know it, your feet tap ADD style. Their EP is in the making, but they play gigs frequently for rhythm addicts. Check their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats/info">Facebook page</a> for updates. Before you do that, hear what they have to say about the infectious beat of the &#8217;50s, of which the receptors can be found deep down in any homo sapiens. </strong><span id="more-26135"></span></p>
<div id="attachment_26231" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratsresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26231" title="Image by Diane Styger" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratsresized.jpg" alt="Image by Diane Styger" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Diane Styger</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F2011465"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>How did it all start?</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>K.C.:</strong> In short, I wanted to start a rockabilly band because I love the music and I posted an ad online and Rickabilly replied saying let&#8217;s give it a try. So we started fiddling and initially we got a bassist, which didn&#8217;t quite work out, so we put another ad online and Double Dave replied. We&#8217;ve been going with this line-up for about three years now.</p>
<p><strong>Do you have a band philosophy?</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>K.C.:</strong> Don&#8217;t fuck up. (laughs)<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> Yeah pretty much.<br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> It&#8217;s really just about having a good time really. If we enjoy it, I think people who are listening to it will enjoy it.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> We try to stay out of politics and the deep spiritual meanings of life. Rockabilly music is about having fun.<br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> We&#8217;re not one of those bands who stand up there and ramble on for about five minutes about what the song means, because it means fuck-all. Get up and dance and enjoy it and that&#8217;s it.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> Yeah, </p>
<blockquote><p>you&#8217;re not going to hear sloppy love songs, it&#8217;s all upbeat and fun.
</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>When did you start listening to rockabilly?</strong></p>
<p><strong>K.C.:</strong> Rick? Don&#8217;t say exact dates here you might give your age away&#8230;<br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> I started listening to rockabilly when I was about four years old. My dad was spinning records on the turntable — Elvis, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent — all those guys. Right from a very early age I just loved the music. I grew up with it with my dad and just got interested in it. I&#8217;ve always loved it.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> I started in my late teens with psychobilly. I kind of got into it after that. I then found out that I prefer rockabilly more to psychobilly.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> My parents used to listen to a wide variety of music so I would listen to a huge variety of music.</p>
<div id="attachment_26232" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratrodresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26232" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ratrodresized.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="900" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Did you always know that you&#8217;d play in a rockabilly band one day?<br />
</strong><br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> I was sort of looking for a band when I saw the ad online so I thought I&#8217;d give it a try.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> You didn&#8217;t really set out to be an upright rockabilly bassist did you?<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> No, I played blues, I played punk&#8230;but it all fits in musically.</p>
<p><strong>You&#8217;ve obviously been listening to it for a while. Do you know when the first South African rockabilly band surfaced and did you listen to South African rockabilly bands?<br />
</strong><br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> Until I met K.C., I didn&#8217;t know there were any South African rockabilly bands. The rockabilly bands that are around now have only been around for maybe 10 years at best. It&#8217;s not something that South Africa has had a history with. The roots of it were started in the &#8217;50s and there weren&#8217;t <em>really</em> any South African rockabilly bands back then. I think everyone is just catching on to that hype decades after.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> At the same time though, the reason why I wanted to start this band was because the South African psychobilly and rockabilly guys got me into it. Acts like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Tornados.Home">Them Tornados</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Martin-Rocka-And-The-Sick-Shop/17047129086?fref=ts">Martin Rocka and The Sickshop</a> were the inspiration for me to get into it. I&#8217;ve been doing music for many years and I&#8217;ve always loved rockabilly and psychobilly but I never really wanted to pursue it. And then I thought, you know what, I&#8217;ve been doing the rock thing for a while let me look at this. So I gave it a try and it sure as hell worked out. </p>
<blockquote><p>It was the local guys more than the overseas guys that made me look for this band.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Rickabilly:</strong> It&#8217;s always been a goal of mine to eventually have a rockabilly band. I&#8217;ve been growing up with the music since I was a young child, and somewhere along the line I started writing my own songs. Then I started thinking it would be nice to start something like this because it&#8217;s not being done anywhere around here. So when I saw K.C.&#8217;s ad I jumped on it because I didn&#8217;t even hear anybody mention the word rockabilly around here before. I thought, ‘That&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;m after and if he&#8217;s on the same page then this could work.’ The right thing came along at the right time.</p>
<p><strong>Would you say the scene is growing at the moment?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Rickabilly:</strong> This scene is definitely growing. And we like to believe that we&#8217;ve got some small part in helping it grow as well, because there are bands out there that are getting some sort of inspiration from us by being out there and advertising the music and saying &#8216;well this is what it&#8217;s about&#8217;. And more and more you see the term being used and the whole throw-back to the &#8217;50s resurfacing around here.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> Even psychobilly. The psychobilly is doing well now. Psychobilly, especially looking at the scene now, wouldn&#8217;t happen without rockabilly. Psychobilly is the darker side. And don&#8217;t get me wrong, it&#8217;s awesome, we love it. Seeing the little resurgence now, with all the cool bands. It wouldn&#8217;t have happened without the rockabilly element, you know, the guys like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Tornados.Home?fref=ts">Them Tornados</a>. So there definitely is a revival happening now and it&#8217;s awesome to see, but it&#8217;s kind of a nice in-between thing — rockabilly and psychobilly mixed together. And there&#8217;s a bluesy side to it. Rockabilly is fast blues. You see a lot of the blues guys now, like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CrimsonHouse">Crimson House Blues</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/BallisticBlues?fref=ts">Ballistic Blues</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sixgun.gospel">Sixgun Gospel</a>… it&#8217;s slow rockabilly, it&#8217;s blues but essentially blues <em>is</em> slow rockabilly. So it&#8217;s all tying in nicely.</p>
<div id="attachment_26233" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/k.cresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26233" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/k.cresized.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="1028" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
<p><strong>Is there a rockabilly sound that&#8217;s unique to South Africa?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Rickabilly:</strong> Not really. I think our accents would be the only thing.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything from the dress to the tattoos to the actual music to the actual lyrics. I don&#8217;t think anything really differs to overseas. It&#8217;s all pretty much similar. Yeah, the only thing that I can think of is our accents. Everything else can be traced to overseas.<br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> Even that&#8217;s hard to tell when you&#8217;re singing.</p>
<p><strong>So would you call yourselves a rockabilly revival band?</strong></p>
<p><strong>K.C.:</strong> What we&#8217;re doing essentially is called neo-rockabilly. Neo-rockabilly was started with <a href="http://www.straycats.com/">The Stray Cats</a> in the late &#8217;70s. And it was a bit of a harder version of normal rockabilly. It wasn&#8217;t psychobilly, but it was kind of in-between. That&#8217;s called neo-rockabilly. So I think what we&#8217;re doing is neo-rockabilly. It&#8217;s a modern day slightly edgy throw-back to rockabilly. That&#8217;s what we would be classified as if we really had to dig deep.</p>
<p><strong>Would you want the scene here to reach the stage that it is at overseas?</strong></p>
<p><strong>K.C.:</strong> We would love that. As we said before, we live the scene! In the sense that it&#8217;s Rickabilly and old motorbikes&#8230; and I have an old muscle car — we live this thing! So, the scene isn&#8217;t only about the music, it&#8217;s about the lifestyle. If we could see more classic cars on the road and hot rods, we would be very happy. If we could see more people getting their hair done and grease back that would be cool too. It&#8217;s about living, it&#8217;s not only about the music. And if we get five people that look rockabilly and the rest don&#8217;t, we don&#8217;t care. It&#8217;s cool to see those five people who are living and feeling it. We would love to see it grow like it did overseas, but it probably won&#8217;t happen because we don&#8217;t have that many muscle cars in South Africa. And we don&#8217;t have that many clubs to play in, but we can definitely see how far we can take it. And there need to be more bands, which is happening now so it&#8217;s becoming more accessible. More people from the punk genre are looking at psychobilly because they&#8217;re very close. And more traditional rock and blues bands are coming to rockabilly shows.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> There are also other guys working on building the hot rod and muscle car community in Cape Town.</p>
<div id="attachment_26235" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/rickabillyresized1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26235" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/rickabillyresized1.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="794" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
<p><strong>So the spirit will live on?</strong></p>
<p><strong>K.C.:</strong> I think it&#8217;s going to live on, it&#8217;s going to be — not necessarily niche — but it&#8217;s going to be <em>true</em>. The people who are going to come through will really enjoy it. And that&#8217;s going to grow, but you&#8217;ve got to read out the people who are just there to be seen because it&#8217;s the thing at the time. We&#8217;re finding a lot of people like that.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> We wouldn&#8217;t mind it becoming more mainstream but at the same time we don&#8217;t want it to become just a fad.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> And don&#8217;t get us a wrong, we&#8217;re not saying we want to be niche. We want to be mainstream because that&#8217;s where people come in the door, that&#8217;s where we essentially make money as musicians. We want to expose ourselves to as many people as possible. We want to expose ourselves to people who appreciate it and get a kick out of it.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> But we don&#8217;t want to compromise our sound to fit in.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> Yeah. </p>
<blockquote><p>If music changes in six months time, and in another six months time, and in another six months time, we&#8217;re still going to be making rockabilly.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Is rockabilly going to live on in the form that it is in now?</strong><br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> ‘Rockabilly’ in inverted commas, the style, the music, the genre is going to live on. It&#8217;s not going anywhere. You&#8217;ve got people restoring and trying to maintain. If it&#8217;s lasted from the &#8217;50s until now, then it&#8217;s not going anywhere. That&#8217;s what I say. Rockabilly was the first rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll ever and if it&#8217;s still around, then it&#8217;s not going anywhere.<br />
<strong>Double Dave:</strong> If you go to a club and they start playing &#8217;50s music, people get on the dance floor and dance. If they start playing <a href="http://www.elvis.com/">Elvis</a>, people will be dancing.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> If you play Elvis to any person in the universe — be it the biggest hip-hop fan or the biggest house DJ — if you play Elvis to them they know the song. Everyone knows rockabilly.<br />
<strong>Rickabilly:</strong> Even if they don&#8217;t know the specific song, they connect with the rhythm, the beat, the swing… those are primal things that you relate to regardless of whose singing it or when.<br />
<strong>K.C.:</strong> And that&#8217;s something that&#8217;ll never go away because it&#8217;s fun.</p>
<p><strong>So it&#8217;s kind of like an eternal genre that&#8217;ll always live on in its subculture.</strong></p>
<p><strong>K.C.:</strong> It is. It may never ever again be a mainstream thing but it will always exist. If you look at the United States where rockabilly was the only music in the &#8217;50s and was kind of dead in the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s and then kind of resurged again… but whatever happened, it never went away completely. But if you look at music scenes like disco, that died after how long? Or psychedelic rock in the &#8217;60s? So much has died and never really resurfaced. Rockabilly has always been there and influenced so many other people. If you look at what <a href="http://www.thebeatles.com/">The Beatles</a> were doing in the &#8217;60s, they got their influence from the guys from the &#8217;50s. It&#8217;s not going anywhere. It&#8217;s going to stick around. Like you said, as a subculture or just under the radar, but it&#8217;ll always stick around.</p>
<p>IMPORTANT LINKS</p>
<p>For the main article ‘Let’s Rock This Party Like It’s 1955′, click <strong><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/lets-rock-this-party-like-its-1955/">here</a></strong>. For the interview with Th’ Damned Crows, click <strong><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-th-damned-crows-no-ego-all-billy/">here</a></strong>. For the interview with The Vodun Haunts, click <a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/qa-with-the-vodun-haunts/"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>
<p>Interview by Christine Hogg<br />
Images by Diane Styger, Christine Hogg</p>
<p><iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fa-vNkWY-5s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
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		<title>&#124; INTERVIEW &#124; TH&#8217; DAMNED CROWS: No Ego, All Billy</title>
		<link>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-th-damned-crows-no-ego-all-billy/</link>
		<comments>https://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-th-damned-crows-no-ego-all-billy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:22:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[christine hogg]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[Th' Legendary Shack Shakers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.onesmallseed.com/?p=26145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Th&#8217; Damned Crows are made up of Liam McDevitt (vocals, double bass), Sven Duncker (guitar), Ronnie Belcher (drums) and Zoltan Tibor Szabo-Taylor (harmonica). Being devilish as well as dexterous by nature, they manage to combine buoyant blues with riotous rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. They released their first single &#8216;Blue Eyed Devil&#8217; on Friday 11th, 2013. Click here to download it via SoundCloud. Wanna get to know them a lil&#8217; better first? We did&#8230;. So you formed at the foot of Devil’s Peak, was that a romantic moment? Liam McDevitt: Every moment in Th’ Damned Crows is a romantic moment. I live in Vredehoek and Ronnie lives in Gardens so we thought that it sets the tone a little bit. There are lots of myths based around Devil&#8217;s Peak which makes it interesting. Ronnie Belcher: We were standing on that balcony (of their practice room) and you can see Devil’s Peak from there and we were thinking of band names and Devil’s Peak was sort of a landmark to us when we started. Zoltan Tibor Szabo-Taylor: It’s also very South African. So it gives us a sort of local South African tint. Liam: We were having a smoking competition with the devil [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedamnedcrows">Th&#8217; Damned Crows</a> are made up of Liam McDevitt (vocals, double bass), Sven Duncker (guitar), Ronnie Belcher (drums) and Zoltan Tibor Szabo-Taylor (harmonica). Being devilish as well as dexterous by nature, they manage to combine buoyant blues with riotous rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. They released their first single &#8216;Blue Eyed Devil&#8217; on Friday 11th, 2013. Click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thedamnedcrows/blue-eyed-devil-single">here</a> to download it via SoundCloud. Wanna get to know them a lil&#8217; better first? We did&#8230;.</strong><span id="more-26145"></span></p>
<div id="attachment_26212" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsrezised7.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26212" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsrezised7.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F74481196"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F2562858"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>So you formed at the foot of Devil’s Peak, was that a romantic moment?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Liam McDevitt:</strong> Every moment in Th’ Damned Crows is a romantic moment. I live in Vredehoek and Ronnie lives in Gardens so we thought that it sets the tone a little bit. There are lots of myths based around Devil&#8217;s Peak which makes it interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie Belcher:</strong> We were standing on that balcony (of their practice room) and you can see Devil’s Peak from there and we were thinking of band names and Devil’s Peak was sort of a landmark to us when we started.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan Tibor Szabo-Taylor:</strong> It’s also very South African. So it gives us a sort of local South African tint.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> We were having a smoking competition with the devil on the balcony.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> It’s South African and Capetonian and as Liam said it’s got a lot of myths.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> And we’ve got songs like ‘Blue Eyed Devil’ and ‘The Devil in Me’. So it’s very devil-ish.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> </p>
<blockquote><p>We nearly called ourselves The Devil Peak’s Somethings, but we couldn’t find anything that alliterated with devil that didn’t sound cheesy.
</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>So how did it come about that you became a psychobilly-ish band?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> Well, with psychobilly there’s a lot of blues, rockabilly and old school rock ‘n’ roll. Me and Zoltan chatted about bringing Zoltan out of retirement about a year and a half ago. I wanted to start a project again and we just talked about it and it never went anywhere because we couldn’t find the right people and then a friend of ours — K.C. Royal from <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ratrodcats?fref=ts">The Ratrod Cats</a> (click <a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2012/01/interview-keeping-it-upbeat-with-the-ratrod-cats/"><strong>here</strong></a> for our interview with them) — said he’s got a mate — Liam — who has moved down from Manchester and who wants to start a band similar to what we want to start. We wanted to do something rockabilly-ish. And then Liam and I connected on Facebook and met. Zoltan, Liam and I in a practice room just worked. Liam had a bunch of songs that he wrote and we went through auditioning guitarists and eventually Sven showed interest. I knew Sven previously, so then it all just came together. Zoltan’s been my friend forever, Sven was my friend and Liam is a new friend so it all worked out perfectly. We didn’t have to think too hard to make it happen.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> We kinda&#8217; hit the ground with the wheels going.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> We actually wanted to get a girl on the guitar. But then we saw Sven and he was good looking…(laughs) And he could play so we ditched that idea.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> You do like &#8216;em tall and skinny.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> Oh definitely.</p>
<div id="attachment_26213" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized3.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26213" title="Image by Leon Visser" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized3.jpg" alt="Image by Leon Visser" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Leon Visser</p></div>
<p><iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RIFJ23r8lbY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Do you get people &#8216;wrecking&#8217; at gigs?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> You don’t get people wrecking over here to be fair. I’ve been disappointed about that. Gigs in the UK are so fucking violent. I’ve chipped a tooth and I’ve known people who’ve broken their hands, ribs and lost teeth. You don’t really get that violence at gigs over here.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> Not anymore at least.</p>
<p><strong>Sven Duncker:</strong> What I found in Europe — just from going to shows there — is that the psychobilly scene is part of the club. Nobody’s included if you don’t dress like the uniform with the fucking mohawk. You have to look psychobilly just to be accepted at the shows.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> I think in central Europe that’s very true.</p>
<p><strong>Sven:</strong> I’m speaking more about in Berlin mostly.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> Yeah. Berlin’s notorious for that bullshit.</p>
<p><strong>Sven:</strong> So if you’re not specifically a psychobilly band and you broaden it a bit, you’re welcoming a whole lot more fans.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> Don’t label us a psychobilly band, we’re not <em>really</em> a psychobilly band.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>You’re not going to spit chicken blood on stage?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> No… no!</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> I think when you limit yourself to being one genre you put yourself in a box and on a pedestal &#8212; and you can’t break out of that. With my old bands I could never have done a song like ‘End of Days’ for example. It’s got that swampy blues sound. When you start breaking out of those strict guidelines of genre people go: ‘oh well ya not <em>really</em> psychobilly are ya?’ There are such strict genre rules. Whereas we step up deliberately to not limit ourselves by that.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> Especially in this country and especially in this town.</p>
<div id="attachment_26214" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowszoltresized.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26214" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowszoltresized.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="900" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>So you do fit into the broader sort of rockabilly scene?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> Absolutely yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> Slightly alternative as well.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> There’s a lot of billy.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> In terms of song writing, my influences are very much bands that straddle that genre, like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Th-Legendary-Shack-Shakers/108243429200132?fref=ts">Th&#8217; Legendary Shackshakers</a>, <a href="http://www.hot-boogie-chillun.com/">Hot Boogie Chillun</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/MOJOKINGS/126561850737">The Mojo Kings</a> &#8212; those are bands that don’t limit themselves. They’ve very much got an influence on the style of writing I do.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> You can up with a name for a genre for us.</p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F57391089"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Are you positive about Th’ Damned Crows’ future?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> Absolutely. I mean we only started in May this year.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> I’m saving for my pension.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> We’re all pulling in the same direction. Obviously we have the same quarrels that other bands have in terms of creative output but we all know where we want to be. We all know that this is the main purpose of what we’re doing. Sven, Ronnie and I play in other bands but this is the main focus.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> Also we’ve all been around the block so many times. We know how to make it work. We went in consciously saying we’re not going to box ourselves but it will have these influences and this is probably what it’s going to sound like. And we have a great marketing campaign. We’ve got all of it covered because we’ve got the right people working with us that are helping us &#8212; from photographers, to graphic designers, to recording studios, to filmmakers. There are a lot of people helping us achieve what we want to.</p>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> Which we’re very fucking grateful for. We’re lucky to have a good circle of people around us that are willing to put their necks out and help us for free. They will put their creative inputs in.</p>
<p><strong>Sven:</strong> Because they believe in what we’re doing and they see potential in it.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> And we’re good friends, we get on really well. That’s probably the most important thing &#8212; no jealousy.</p>
<p><strong>Ronnie:</strong> No ego.</p>
<p><strong>Zoltan:</strong> We hang out together, we enjoy each other. It’s actually one of the reasons I vowed never to play again is because being in a band can be like a marriage. But I’m thoroughly enjoying myself — </p>
<blockquote><p>I’ll get married to Th’ Damned Crows.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Liam:</strong> It’s important that you’re in a band in which you’re all singing from the same page. Although conflict can be very creative it can ultimately also be very destructive. It’s like being married to three people but we all know what we’re supposed to be doing. Everyone knows their place in the band. Although I’m the singer I’d never think of myself as the front man because it’s not my band &#8212; it’s our fucking band. Everyone puts a 110 percent in and fucking bleeds and sweats into it. It’s important because across any genre in Cape Town, you see a lot of people who are in a band just because they want to be in a band. And I think a lot of that&#8217;s because musicians are pretty thin on the ground here. I’ve been in that situation myself where I’ve sessioned for a band &#8212; and they were a great band and great people but not my sort of music. And you see a lot of that. A lot of people <em>are</em> just in it for the music, but it’s not necessarily what they want to be doing — but <em>we</em> all want to be doing this.</p>
<p><strong>IMPORTANT LINKS:</strong></p>
<p>For the main article ‘Let’s Rock This Party Like It’s 1955′, click <a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2012/01/lets-rock-this-party-like-its-1955/"><strong>here</strong></a>. For the interview with The Vodun Haunts, click <a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/qa-with-the-vodun-haunts/"><strong>here</strong></a>. For the interview with The Ratrod Cats, click <a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/2013/01/interview-keeping-it-upbeat-with-the-ratrod-cats/"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>
<p>To help Th&#8217; Damned Crows fund their debut album click <strong><a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/debut-album">here</a></strong>.</p>
<p>Interview by Christine Hogg<br />
Images by <a href="http://www.leonvisser.co.za/">Leon Visser</a>, Christine Hogg</p>
<div id="attachment_26216" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26216" title="Image by Christine Hogg" src="http://www.onesmallseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/crowsresized2.jpg" alt="Image by Christine Hogg" width="600" height="900" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image by Christine Hogg</p></div>
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