Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Two guys, one city, and a technicolor voyage






In a city where the trendies trend, the skankers skank and the posers pose, there are still a few individuals that are trying not to give a f**k and just do their own thing.

Two such kids are Shaun Gardener and Jason de Villiers, the visual vagabonds behind Fly School Design. Elusively extravagant and humble hearted, they’re keeping it real and keeping it local. Pushing each other, they share a mutual unwillingness to make money for other people.

Indeed, these two illustrators are injecting the city with technicolor concepts.

Fly School Design is an aesthetic initiative that delves, (unpretentiously) into the intricate avenues of design, illustration, topography and multi-media. No room for mediocrity or wasted energy, Shaun and Jason challenge conventional trends, veering recklessness away from all the frivolous bullshit.



They provoke. Smiling as they upset the fragile creative comfort zone around them. With paint dripping from the walls like a Pollock canvass, they’re on a prolific rendezvous to the moon. Whether they land there or not is irrelevant. In an industry that’s all “smoke and mirrors”, clarity is found in an unruly embrace of conceptual challenges.

Space Cowboys riding their glorious 20’s, they are not yet jaded by illusion of Cool, closing their eyes only to apathy and dispensable ideas.Check out their insane designs at www.flyschooldesign.net and get a very real idea of how Cape Town has turned local global.

Until next week.

Peace, love and sunny-vibes from Cape Town.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Coming from Cape Town....It Comes from the Jungle





Shredded breakbeats and heavy sub-bass lines dominate Thursdays in Cape Town, a day that promises a night of dirty physical, visual and audio disobedience. Indeed, it’s the night of It Came From The Jungle; an event of Liquid DnB and united abandon.


And just like the beats that bounce off the walls of Fiction, the place where it all goes down, It Came From the Jungle comes from humble beginnings back in 2006.


All dreads and teeethy-smiles, the driven, wonderfully bizarre guy behind this explosive initiative is Mark Stevens AKA Niskerone. Starting out in 2004, Niskerene has been obscuring our minds with his innovative approach to DnB, keeping The Underground alive from his elevated spot in Fiction.


The night is a frenzied mix of sounds. “From reggae to funk, to metal to electro, techno and house, to hip hop…there's pretty much a style of Drum & Bass to suit everyone’s taste”.


It’s more like an approach. An electric approach to audio experimentation.


High energy Jump-Up DnB resonates around the club, but, just like the genre itself as a mish mash of elements, the night transforms and gets heavier later on.


The junglists march in two-by-two...to the bar and the bathrooms…but the dance floor offers space where you can become yourself..no pretensions and no demands.


All in a noisy campaign to keep pushing the local dNb scene, these guys are some of the one’s we need to say thanks to… Niskerone www.myspace.com/niskerone, SFR & Hyphen www.africandope.co.za, Rude One, Counterstrike www.myspace.com/counterstrike, The MFU www.myspace.com/themfu, Danja and Ant-Alias



…Syncopating beats and letting the good times roll…It Came From The Jungle. Amen.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Punch-Drunk and Rude, a slice of Ska and the notorious Cape Town band, The Rudimentals.

Raw and rebellious, choppy and full of bounce. Balmy nights, rum interludes, luscious skunk and street fever, Ska is rooted in Jamaican culture. Shaped by Jamaican political history, Ska surpasses merely a Sound, and is more akin to a musical encyclopedia that tells a story. A tale of a carnivalesque lifestyle, of sunny days and turbulent times. It provided a musical realm of freedom, a rare escape from society’s hardships.

Guitar, banjo, the kalimba and bongos, Mento, which originated in Jamaica, blended the sounds of African and European. And Ska, like mento, is an intricate, yet crude, fusion of varied musical elements. Like its listeners, a sub culture in the 1960s who came to be known as The Rude Boys, Ska became a sound that cared not for societal approved definitions. The lyrics reflected societal realities, many of which were a concern.

The original Rude Boys, like Pete Tosh and Bunny Livingstone, were pulsating spectacles of Ska. From reggae influenced “rock steady” Ska moved to the damp streets of England in the birth of British Ska, or “blue beat”. And then again revived in 1979 with the Two Tone artists.

Dubbed after two toned suits sported by the original Ska legends, the Two Tone artists were true patrons to the origins of Ska, covering and honouring songs by the Ska founders. Edgier with increased tempos, this second wave spread the rhythm of Ska,and all it represented throughout Europe, revived it in Britain and even sent waves down south to Aus. The fresh sound recaptured the essence of Ska, and albeit an audio transformation, it still reflected the times, and brought the people together.

An original, raw sound had become globally infectious, and a third wave was born. Heavily influenced by punk, and fusing rock with early ska rhythms, the third wave showed a hunger for instrumental experimentation.

And Cape Town’s Rude Boys, The Rudimentals, share this hunger, as do we.

Easy skanking Jamaican style, this 8 piece band has infused Ska beats with a distinct African flavour. Musically acedemic and humbled by life experience, The Rudimentals are moulding a new sound for South Africa.

Hitting the highs and lows in funky Cape Town style is Teboho Bobo Maidza, whilst Ross MacDonald doubles as the backing vocals and the Trombone man. Simon Bates engages you with his skillful manipulation of the sax and flute, and Jodi Engelbrecht is a maven on the flugel and trumpet. Michael Levy rips it up on lead guitar amplified by Duane Heydenrych, Cape Town’s human drum machine. Antonio Cencherle takes over the keyboard, and Errol ‘Bong’ Strachan finger-licks his bass guitar.

All in all, you witness a potent collective energy that resonates with upbeat funk and pure delight. They’re laughter and sunny days personified, rude and punch-drunk through and through.


These insanely talented musicians have respected the roots of Ska, and their music explores very real, specifically African, issues that society faces today. Dressed like the characters in Reservoir Dogs, an aesthetic tribute to the original Rude Boys of the 60s, the Rudimentals have created a uniquely African, contemporary Ska sound; wonderfully terse and made to move to.

Underground renegades - The power to change

Energy is ALIVE. Like love and beauty, it is intangible, multi-dimensional and metaphysical. Energy has the ability to inflict change; it is, and has, vigour, force, potency and power. Energy is the spirit of every living soul. Energy is LIFE.

You and I are in a constant process of omitting, attracting, absorbing and altering our own, and others, energies. Like the wind, an invisible force, we feel, capture and create energy. Measurable only by its effects, when given direction energy can revolutionize.


Like culture, Energy is social.


Subsumed within the mainstream culture, a subculture is a potentially potent force of collective energy that resonates through mainstream social consciousness with an alternative, and often apposing force.

In a constant search for self-awareness, we seek reassurance – the need to belong seems to be ever prevalent. We define ourselves by what we are not, finding meaning from, in and amongst others. Self-awareness is ultimately about self-expression, finding ways to capture your own energy and share it with those around you.


Expression is the capturing of energy.

Whether it is through art, literature, music or fashion, we are in a constant state of expression. Through expression, we can disseminate information; creating a new perspective and a separate world of ideas that deviates from social control.

With a vocal delivery of unparalleled intensity, Zack de la Rocha’s energetic performances are fuelled by his passion for political activism. Whether it’s from a stage at Lollapalooza or leading a crowd in a city march, Zack uses the ferocity of words to revolutionize how we think. Zack lives his screaming stanzas every day, sharing the people’s passion for quality riffs, obscure bass lines and relentless rage.

Banksy, a London street graffiti artist, so elusive that has identity has been a well-kept mystery. Characterized by his trademark stencil-style 'guerrilla' art – Bansky chews issues of controversy using public space as his canvass. Albeit his anonymity, Banksy speaks for many - and through his art he captures the energy of a frustrated youth.


Idealistic and driven, the youth are a subculture of dreamers and believers. Not yet filled with cynicism, this is a subculture who demands to be heard; a collective energy exerting vigour and passion whilst on a restless voyage of expression. Dropping beats, not bombs. Banking ideas, not cheques. Persistently questioning and constantly being challenged.

Falling swiftly down the rabbit hole, we can see how politics and youth subculture are interlinked. Consider the 1960’s Hippy subculture, which was extensively involved in anti-Vietnam war efforts. With joint in hand and openness in mind, this group of long haired, bare-footed peace-loving flower children veered brightly, and without haste, away from the existing orthodox.

The Beatniks, a subculture emerging out of the political uncertainty of WW2, described a 1950s US youth subculture who were characterized by their shared distaste of social conventions and expectations. The energy of this Beat Generation was captured and expressed in underground literature by the Beat poets and writers – with Jack Kerouac’s renowned “On the road” becoming a cult classic.

Kerouac, along side writers such as Allen Gingsberg, managed to express, without mercy and without hesitation, the mindset of the 1950 and 1960 social revolutionists. The works’ meaning becomes ever more momentous as time rolls on, and like a photograph it is a rare capture of the energy of a generation.

And the beat goes on…

Echoes of the Beat Generation are witnessed in today’s subcultures, which dispel the same passion and constant questioning as did their predecessors. As Kerouac captured his nation’s voice, so too could Bansky and Zack de la Rocha be capturing ours.

Squeezed into lumo pink skinny’s and peeping out at you from behind a hanging black fringe, the Emo generation embraces, and pays tribute to, their youthful angst. What started as a musical movement, Emo is now, for many, a way of life. A melancholy subculture; emotionally charged, existing only through self-expression. Possibly the forming the genesis of punk rock, The Misfits epitomized Horror Punk – the dark image, iconic fashion and punk rock persona. For The Misfits, it was more than just the music. And this rippled throughout the decades that followed. Today’s Emo subculture has given people a reason to explore who they are; it’s given them an identity, and a somewhere to belong.

We live in a Google generation; part of a cyber culture where we can be whoever we want to be. Bloggers, Face Book, My Space, You Tube, and Twitter. Cyber subcultures are in essence a place for you and me to make our mark and prove our existence, for whatever it is worth. Whether what is said is true or not is of no relevance, you are making the world aware that at that very moment you existed and had something to say. Like all subcultures, the cyber ones are a platform for expression, to bypass conventional ways and express straight to the masses.

Aesthetic performers, parading spectacles and muses to the industry - the Harajuki Kids are a subculture of raw Japanese underground youth energy. Capturing cute and expressing it with vigour and spunk, Harajuku in Tokyo is the Mecca for the super-trendy. A delightful contradiction, their look is an eclectic blend of designer wear juxtaposed with local charity finds. This is a subculture that, albeit its bright and bizarre stylistic features, pertains true to Japanese culture, capturing the essence of beauty with colour, fabric and illusion.

From the social media-aholics, to late-night tech-gaming subcultures, to Hollywood Glam Girls, to those loyal trekkies. From graffiti artists, who see the world through a kaleidoscope of images and words, to local designers that use the streets as their catwalk, to the Underground Poets, who give dazed subway commuters a welcome interlude. Swingers, Skaters, Skinheads and Single Hedonists, the list continues to grow.

Void of any significant direction, many of us exist as wandering vagabonds. In this state of semi-detachment from oneself, the media influences, if not constructs, one’s social reality.

Globalisation, gross consumption and instant gratification - this is where we’re at people! And the need to accumulate power, profit, and external recognition has left much of us in a frantic panic.

What exists is a new culture of “Mass” – mass media, mass consumption, mass everything – driven by profit, fuelled by fear and highly speculative of change. Cultivating out of this global mass culture is very real threat of cultural imperialism; a global cultural dictatorship.

And it could be said that without the existence of our energized youth subcultures, then cultural imperialism could soon be realized. You see, society cannot grow if it is NOT challenged – a developing society relies on the diversity in thought of our underground subcultures.

We existing and emerging subcultures, as we recognize it is these collective energies, these underground renegades, who, by spreading new ideas that challenge the existing ideologies, are the individuals who actually enable society to grow.

The Wild Eyes

Cape Town’s musical vagabonds, The Wild Eyes, are back to captivate you with their raw, honest and electrifying sound. Colourful, crafty and energetic, they take you on an audio rampage of the unexpected. They’re not a “white boys who can dance” kind of band, so P L E A S E do not mention Indie-Electro-Rock.

A foray of the fingers, the voice and the instruments, you’ll find Len on drums, Nikhil on guitar, vocals and synths, and Gareth on bass, noises and effects. Fluid and unpredictable like their moods, their unique sound is born out of a lucid, experimental organic process. “Most of the songs come out of jam sessions….it’s kinda all three of us writing subconsciously at the same time”.

The sound is as unique as it is esoteric, absorbing as it is surprising. It resonates with that distinct ambient-rock-indie energy, a sound Cape Town is still fervently exploring. Transcendent and conceptual, The Wild Eyes engage and fondle with electronic toys, using technology to amplify their creativity and push audio- boundaries.

A two year gap and here we are. So, where is that? Well, aside from arming up with, err, spear guns, The Wild Eyes have the talent, the drive and the focus to build the world’s first bionic band. “Better, stronger, faster”. Hell yeah.

“Like an exposed plug lying on a stage drenched in your own sweat”, the boys create a hypnotic reverie of multi-tiered, electronically drenched tracks. Death metal, Sticky fingers in a plug socket and a 9th birthday casino rap man…they’re scholars of electronic music, still learning and still moving forward.

The “Blue Meanie”, the “Grey Meanie”, the ARP 2600. It’s is on their Christmas list, and has been for a long time. With a plethora of switches & sliders, this vintage beauty would surely satisfy these analog synth aficionados. Perhaps this year, The Wild Eyes will cut down the naughtiness and get their wish.

Disko beats, Nazi Uniforms, Venus and Volume Knobs….their influences are as unexpected and enthralling as the contours of their sounds; shaped and manipulated with tenacity and creative courage. It’s about stripping down and ripping apart any external pre-requisites and expectations, keeping it real and keeping it intimate.

Vigorous and highly infectious, the synth-driven and textured tracks send you on a reckless voyage of all things fresh. With The Wild Eyes, Vintage Synths should come in doubles, and preferably hand delivered by Isao Tomita.

No software, just hardware, and bass lines on a diet of groove and melody.


“Each song is a unique entity and there are no formulas”…The Wild Eyes, just like you, are constantly creating new sounds. And what’s to come? Aside from deafening mayhem, corruption, poltergeist activity and some uncanny memories....get ready for a brave repertoire of shreaky, supernatural dancey gems.

A real city, full of real artists.

Word limits suck.Anyway, here we are, hope u like it for a Monday read!


Modernism. Poster modernism. What does it all really mean? It’s a label that gives us security through categorization, a safe, definable understand of the world of art. But the artists in JHB and fervently destroying the Ism. And it’s an infectious destruction, indeed. It’s about liberation and aesthetic exploration.

Meet Wilhelm Saayman, a sprawler who is turned on by blank paper and associates the colour black with eyes. His candid drawings capture the beauty of honesty in imperfection, his intimate illustrations an aesthetic manifestation of artistic freedom. With an unruly and macabre approach to humour, his rough and unschooled drawings expose human fragility, and urge us to explore and challenge our position in life. And for all those curators out there, please stop calling his work Quirky. Thanks.

Performance, video and an installation artist. A button-pusher and social seam ripper, Johan Thom www.johanthom.com relentlessly challenges society’s perpetuated ideologies. “Merciless in taking things apart”, he discovers the ingenuity and complexity in ordinary objects. His life insight is so poignant it’s uncanny. Johan’s a realist that has got me day-dreaming. He should write a book, and you should buy it.

If one were to give positive and creative energy a name and face, Nicholas Nesbitt AKA Kidu www.kidu.co.za would be it. Born and bred on the wrong side of Sandton, he’s an artist that cannot be categorized. An illustrator, designer, flash animator and a music man, he’s also the guy who gave the name to Team Uncool www.teamuncool.co.za. For Kidi, art cannot be categorized. He reminds us to embrace life with vigour and a smile. A collaborator who hopes to one day make comic books, he’s partners in crime with M18 www.m18j92t.blogspot.com, Johdel www.johdel.blogspot.com, Cling www.clington.blogspot.com, Chris Saunders www.imagination.co.za and Miss Chinxxx. Whilst Kidu is inspired by brave people, gansta movies and Damen Oben, he’s the guy who’ll inspire you.

We’re witnessing profound creative courage, our elusive city-vagabonds composing a plethora of colours, textures, forms and styles for the world to witness. Fuck the Ism, and all its artistic pre-requisites. Throw away that image of the tragic artist; these Jozi boys ambitiously challenge all that was, constantly exploring all that can be.

No Bright Lights, and No Bullshit

Juan Pierre Coleman is a rambunctious music man, master of all things creative and perhaps one of the hardest, most focused individuals you will come across. He has scourged the Cape Town music scene with joyous abandon, composing musical banter and bristling, electronic dialogues. Employing relentless fervor, he resonates high-octane energy from his studio, a space where day tends to flow unnoticed in to night.

Juan is also an academic of the arts. He has mastered the tools of design, demonstrating, for nearly 10 years, an uncanny grasp of a kaleidoscope of design skills. But, this is about the music, so let’s stick to that. For now.

Known as DJ Quake, Juan is a musical maven who has been in the cut-throat industry for 15 years. Originally from the Free State, he’s been in the Cape Town scene since the late 90’s, adapting, evolving and, somehow, managing to remain humble. He’s played alongside Scratch from The Roots, Luke Vibert from Ninja Tunes, Cut La Roc, General Midi, Krafty Kuts and Cypress Hill. Amongst, and one of, the big players, he stays true to himself and his passion for music. He is highly respected, and rightly so.

Quakes a sucker for slutty synths, playful scratching, turntablism and experimental mixing. And we’re a sucker for his beats. Musically malleable and versatile, Quake’s sets incorporate Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, Breakbeat and Funk. They’re as esoteric as they are intense, and as surprising as they are lucid.

Ten minutes with this guy and you’ll be restless with creative desire, impassioned and rat-a-tat-tatting with taut, suspense-ridden drive.

Juan is also co-coordinating the world DMC Championships in SA, pushing the growth of turntablism in SA and giving DJs a platform to show their skills. An entrepreneur that has his hands in many projects, he is also part of the Sound Squad crew - an events company based in Cape Town that bring us the New Years Revolutions festivals. It’s all about promoting electronic music and bringing people together; primary coloured spectacles moving to crazy beats in nature’s beautiful setting.

DJ Quake slashes any misconception of South Africa’s electronic music scene lagging behind our overseas partners-in-beats. With blazing passion and unparalleled enthusiasm, Juan Coleman will continue to inspire and push the industry; in Cape Town, in South Africa and without a doubt, internationally.

Interview with Ross Fink - Mix n Blend

So Ross….Who are you?

Ross Fink Aka Dank, 1/3 Mix n Blend, Sedge Warbler (Dank and disco izreal—coming soon), Spit Shine (Dank and The Bakaman) and DankLiver


What are you all about?

Glitchy crunk style Beats Wobble bass and weird rappers at tempo’s between 75 and 110 bpm which tends to make heads bob sometimes.


Where in SA is home for you?

Cape Town CBD

What inspires you?

San Francisco bay side area style glitch or a nice sunset or maybe even the look on a rappers face when I give him a beat he digs.


Who do you aspire to?

No one in particular mostly my friends who make beats cooler than mine, it makes me either real lazy of mad motivated to do better...

What’s the first album &/ record you ever bought?

The First Record I ever bought was Danny Breaks Dimension 3d and I still play stuff from that album to this day, he’s awesome and is still a mad influence to me and my music. I can’t remember the first cd I bought but it was probably nix heavy petting zoo, I was mad into punk back in my junior school days.

What the latest album &/ record you’ve bought?

The last album I actually paid for was Sibot in with the old.

Do you even bother buying albums/records?

I don’t really anymore unless I can get it for free I know its bad and I feel guilty but I often give my music away for free so maybe that makes it sort of ok I don’t know you decide.

What’s your ALL time fav. track?

I will give you three coz one is too hard.
Edit—The Game is not over (but there are so many others)
Eprom—Bubble
Danny Breaks---Windscreen Wiper

SA Radio. How do we go about getting more local DJs broadcast?? It’s like a catch 22, there is this perception there will not be enough public support for it, yet without exposing the public to different genres, there will never be interest generated……

I think it’s more up to the station but if you push your stuff hard enough u might get lucky. The problem is that the music we make isn’t for the every day person so it’s difficult. If there were radio stations which catered to our styles of music it would be perfect.

The ideal crowd for you?

I think probably one with an open mind and they aren’t scared to get on the dancing floor but you know how it is, people lurk just off the floor and wait until you play something they know and then only get down. But that’s ok I suppose.


Is it all about taking the crowd on a journey?

I guess so, mainly because my music is very diverse in genre but still has a distinct sound. So the basic plan is to see how they react to certain tracks then work off that track or completely throw them off. I don’t know it depends how I feel or how much I’ve had to drink.

SA crowd VS Overseas - ? I mean each crowd must be different wherever you go – even in the same city – any particular difference though?

I defiantly think the majority of local crowds have been brainwashed by radio and TV and think that the music they hear on radio and TV is the only ‘kiff’ stuff out there. But overseas they actually have radio stations that play similar stuff to what local producers are making so minds have been opened over there, it’s awesome. There are still rad crowds here but more like a minority.

What is the biggest challenge you face as a DJ in SA?

Cash, money and requests for Lady Gaga and ‘house tunes bru’.


Any favourite partner-in-beats?

I have lots of little beat making crews and projects on the move most of the time. The biggest one at the moment is Mix n Blend. The crew members include me, Kevin Ribbons and Jon Arnold. They were originally mix n blend but dragged me on board about 2 years ago in an attempt to produce an album, its been pressed and is on the verge of being launched so look out for it its called ‘Look Mom no Hands’ and I think its kiff . Those 2 doods make some of the best stuff ever.


Do you have a weakness for buying electronic toys? What’s your latest purchase?

I’m a complete junkie for old analogue synths. I’ve got the bug which in turn makes me a broke guy most the time. My latest purchase was an ARP odyssey from the seventies they used it for r2d2’s voice. I have about 8 others I love to bits.

If you could get any vintage synth hand delivered by Isao Tomita, what would it be?

A Moog modular.

What does “pushing the boundaries” mean to you?

Making beats which make people’s faces ugly. Finding the hardest squelch to bring on the ‘bass face’ as I like to call it, I've got one have you?


Favourite festival?

My favourite local festival would either be earth dance or rocking the daisies. But I would still love to go to sonar.

Is improvisation important to you?

Yip if your tech on stage flips out you have to improvise and its happened loads of times. Once you’ve made it through the panic you have to just keep going. With the new Mix n Blend live set up its super easy to improvise, for instance we can throw one of our hip-hopish beats into drum n bass for a few bars or dub step into breaks. It’s amazing what ableton live can do. I still love hardware samplers and effect units but it’s more limited than the ableton setup.

How do you go about tearing up the dance floor?

You just have to have fun and play the beats you love and hopefully they love it to. Often if the DJ or producer looks like he or she is having fun the people will follow and if not who cares you’re still playing music you want to hear.

What turns you on?

Jon Arnold in a gimp suite

What turns you off?

Kevin Ribbons in a gimp suite and a ball gag

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

The Glitch Mob. Flippin' kiff beats, check them out!

What does music mean to you?

I live music! Almost everything I do involves music

Where is the CT Music industry headed?

Global. There are so many doods making the hot shit here and they have already hit the international scene with nice success.

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

I threw a cactus at a girls face when I was about seven, but we are still friends and I wasn’t aiming for her face I was aiming for the tree house ladder.

What is local? Is local not actually global?

Local is local to us but global to every one else. Just give it time.


Colour – what does it mean to you?

The brown note. The note that makes you poo


Any particular DJs or artists you want to mention in CT? Why?

All my homies from African dope …Mix n Blend, Fletcher, Roach, Sfr, Hyphen, Phfat, Liver, Baka, Flo, Specta, 661, Honeybee.

Other homies include …Sibot, Markus, Mr Wilson, Niskerone, Adam Strange, Klinikal, Boogie man, Richard the third, Wilson fury, funafuji,

If I’ve forgotten anyone I’m super sorry, all these guys are the ill.



Where and when do you play?

Fiction, Waiting Room, Assembly, Julep, The mystic Boer, and some of the festivals like Oppikopi, Earth Dance, Rocking the Daisies, and other out door parties, Gin in Joburg as well as Tokyo Star when we tour or are in the cities. Times and dates are random.

Any travel plans coming up?

Hopefully overseas tours next year 2010 and other local tours up to Durban or Joburg and most probably G-town. But I really want to do some over seas tours with Mix n Blend to promote Cape Town producers; we are looking into maybe Scotland and Europe. As dank I really want to go to LA and San Fran.

Can we find you on the dance floor after playing?

Sometimes but I’m normally away from the sound in order to give my ears a rest because I’m going deaf from this job. I love supporting my DJ friends though, so if one of my friends is playing I will be there in support. With my ear plugs lame I know.


What’s your biggest vice?

Smoking, synths and Disco Izreal

What hangs on your walls?

Framed posters from past album launches. My favourite picture is a kid koala poster drawn by him and signed; I got it at his album launch in London from his ‘Your mom’s favourite DJ’ album.


Why do you love CT (if you do...?)

It’s the closest you can get to Europe without leaving the country and the producers generally friendly guys. (Most of them)

What’s lacking in CT? Aside from funds…

Good weather in winter and groupies ha.

Where would we find you on a Friday evening and Sunday morning?

Probably playing at some place in town on Friday and fishing on Sunday (weird I love fishing)

Are you messy?

My room is messy but clean if you know what I mean just clothes on the floor type thing.
My studio is super clean most of the time (Sticky Foot Studios above fiction) it’s my baby.

What’s one thing you would like to tell all those ambitious young artists and mussos out there?

There isn’t any money in this game unless you get into commercial ad work. So do it purely for the love and enjoy your life doing it. And watch your liver and lungs.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Fishing in Zambia ha ha... No, I don’t know hopefully making some money and touring the world and maybe with a girlfriend in the mix. If anyone’s interested my number is 083695460-- ha ha ha..

What’s your dream project?

To get remixes done by all my favourite artists for a remix album of dank.

What’s next for Ross?

Sedge Warbler it’s a secret. Keep a look out...


Contacts. ross@stickyfoot.co.za (only in a month or two)
www.stickyfoot.co.za


rossfinck@gmail.com
www.myspace.com/dankcpt

Graham Richards & SHEMANLION

Meet Graham Richards, lead singer of local band SHEMANLION, and as elusive as his lyrics. He’s a rocker by night, and accountant by day. But not to worry, he’ll be rocking and rolling the good times through the day any time soon. He engages with Cape Town’s underground scenesters in a rare, humble, kind-hearted way. He’s the kind of guy who makes you want to be a better person. Whatever that means. Originally a Jozi boy, Grey’s now a prolific musical force in Cape Town.

It’s become almost shameful to label bands, like SHEMANLION, as Indie Electro. A lazy, thoughtless categorization – meant for music store shelves and pseudo-conversations. SHEMANLION encompasses a sound that Cape Town, and South Africa, is actually only beginning to really tear apart and explore.

What is this sound? “It’s a very dirty underground synth driven sound, amplified with heavy base and fast paced drums, a wild lead guitar and very emotional vocals”. Think Morrisy and Ian Curtis’ soul piercing, precious and melancholy lyrics. Think John Frusciante wearing a Germs Tee sending out sick guitar riffs, and She Wants Revenges’ undeniably poignant stage presence. Think Daft Punk and Pendulum’s reckless exploration into electronic, synth-driven rock.

Actually, don’t think at all. Rather feel. ‘Cause that’s what real music is all about, or at least it used to be. Instruments, gear and vocals – a collaborative catalyst to igniting energy that we’ve all felt before. A feeling that I’m hesitant to try describe in words. But, fuck it, I’ll try.

It’s something like childhood nostalgia, de je vu on a sunny day. It has a human element to it, it’s real. Familiar. A feeling that makes you smile without knowing why. Like a triple tequila or your first e. But it’s pure. A natural high carrying no shame.

First performing in 2008, the band consists of Ross on lead synth, Ryan on lead guitar, Trever on drums, Topher on Base and Grey on vocals.

Fresh, surprising and dynamic, Grey’s vocals are written by feeding on the energy around him. “[this] causes an outburst, a pure release of energy. And playing live I often add new unique parts”.

Far detached from fame’s frivolities, Greys’s ideal night would be playing to a 100 people, in an underground night club, say around 3am, in some Industrial European or Scandinavian country. And, wow, I hope to be one of the 100.

He’s a hardcore Rocky fan, listens to Crystal Castles whilst working out and one of the few guys that still buys albums. His dream project is to spend six months in a basement in Berlin recording music. And, if anyone could do it, it’d be him.

And what’s the one thing he’d like to tell all you ambitious young artists and mussos? “Never stop believing”.

The SA music industry may be ruthless and unforgiving, but with g

Beats, Sweets & Freaks in Heat….Hello Summer, Hello Trance Season!

Slop tans, fresh beginnings and “noses painted peppered sunlight”, Summertime is here, and so are the Trance Parties.

Psytrance parties are time for Sunny shenanigans and messy celebrations; electronic rendezvous in the hills. Sublime, spliffy and the window rolled down so you arm can ride the current and your skin can feel alive.

There exists an uncanny camaraderie at the trance parties. A family feeling shared between a subculture that carries on their 9-5 existence in elusive anonymity, only to rekindle a few months later in a hellish storm of electric joy.

They’re an intrepid group, unrelentless in their carnivalesque voyage. Time dissolves in to colourful speckles, which you end up taking in two. But it’s not even about the drugs, or the booze. Hooking up, or going large. Although, that’s swell and it’s all part of it.

It’s about the music. Period. There is no room for pretensions or coherency. Fuck expectations and your second-guessing.

As dawn breaks and sunnies come on, the energy changes, refueling and transforming the crowd. You wash the dust off your face with a bottle of water, and then down the rest. You say hello to the mountains, the DJ and your new friends; all strangely familiar now in the natural light. Nostalgia comes in glitchy waves, amplified by the DJ and the theatrical crowd.

Frequencies of breaks, electro, psytrance, dub step and all that jazz carry you through the hours from Friday to Sunday. Earthdance, Alien Safari, Origin, The Village….they’re all a short, explosive whirlwind of smiles, sounds and good times.

You leave feeling slightly bewildered and hesitant to drive back to normality. Not sure where or what that is, and if you even have the petrol to get there.

It reminds me of the last scene in The Beach, where Di Caprio discovers the unexpected electronic-present in his mailbox. You have Mail. The photo that captured it all. They all knew words couldn’t do it justice.

When you experience the same, you look around the room of strangers, smiling like you have a little secret. Knowing you were a part of something they were not.

Or maybe they were, you can’t really remember? The details are never important.

Dark Encounters...

Fairies and Gargoyles, red velvet, donkey-eared Anne Rice novels and jewellery boxes of symbolic treasures.

The enigmatic & elusive “people of the night”, a subculture that has outlived most others. …what is Goth? Is it a Lifestyle? An escape? A common ground? An identity? And are they, er, alive in Cape Town?

Is our city a refuge for the alternative and uninvited? Does it’s plethora of narrow streets resonate with forbidden passion and breathe crushed velvet?

Our underground world is a composition of wandering vagabonds, who destroy to create, challenge to learn. Aesthetic transformations from day to night. And we all have a place of refuge, where, together, we disseminate information through creative expression. We free up information to break down existing thought patterns in mainstream culture. It’s about being experimental and explosive, tapping into a collective energy, which has force, passion and an ability to revolutionize.

So, if they’re out there. The Goths that is. Where are they hiding? Turns out, they’re not really hiding. Not in Obs, at least. In fact, they pretty much own Lower Main Road. Gandalfs is the refuge for the Emos, Gotham….well, more for the Goths.

The Emo generation embraces, and pays tribute to, their youthful angst. What started as a musical movement, Emo is now, for many, a way of life. A melancholy subculture; emotionally charged, passionately existing through self-expression. A bit of an Emo myself, although not quite sure what that means, I venture to Gandalfs first. Somehow, having a group to compare the Goths with made me feel more comfortable. God, me and my insecurities. I’m definitely Emo.

It’s good to have a plan. Straight to the bar. Avoid the gloomy stares piercing me from behind dyed-black fringes.

“How much is a jack and lime”
“R11”
My habitual hesitation to hand over R20-something was overcome, and resisting the urge to do my renowned “little happy dance”, I ordered a double and left a R5 tip. Gandalfs had potential. At least for lurkers like me.

Well, as I expected, and like me, skinny jeans and dirty converses decorate the sticky floor. Grungey and melancholy. Bitter-sweet symphonies. It didn’t seem like much of a party here, but it was still early. Perhaps being fashionably late is an Emo thing too?

Flashbacks of those painful school PE lessons, I felt both marginalised, and in need for another jack. It seems as much a trend, this Emo Thing, as Crocs. Much hotter though, I must admit.

Luring a young frightened looking Emo boy to an empty table, I was hoping to get to the nitty gritty of this, wondering if this Emo thing was more than just another trend. I was about to delve into the world, that is apparently my own.

“Well, you have to be HOT and play in a band” giggle Emo Boy’s Emily-lovin’ entourage. He exuded an air of grandiose. Emo Boy seems to pick on my irritation and suddenly and vigorously leads me hastily to the bathroom corridor. Expecting some kind of drug-fuelled interlude, he instead lifts up his sleeve bearing white, veiny, scarred arms.

“So, it’s about pain, this Emo thing?”
“No, it’s about self-exploration and self-awareness”
“Why did you cut your arms?”
“It made me realize my fragility”

I learn that this Emo Boy is not yet 18, but reads Nietzsche and feels that life is ultimately meaningless. He’s a nihilist that wants, one day, to be a conservationist and human rights activist…hmmm. Exuding an infectious youthful angst, Emo Boy is determined to make the most of the life, which he finds so meaningless.

He’s on a reckless voyage of self-realisation. But, as with many, he is part of a subculture of contradictions…Nelly Furtado comes on, and I can’t help but laugh at the thought of Emo Boy listening to candy pop whilst reading Dostoyevsky’s “Notes from the Underground”.

Tequila time.

Gotham. How did I not know about this place? I’m brought back to my days in North London; a surreal myriad of punks, Goths, emos and psych-trancers that surprise you with their exchanges of kind words and child-like smiles.

A structured world of black, white and red. Hazy textures and 80s bass lines. No strange smells, but I do have The Swine. I think. I gaze at painted faces resembling vengeful felines, their delicate lines creating silhouettes of ethereal beings. These women are beautiful, femme fatales of the night.

With my Granny’s vintage checked dress, with red lollypop buttons, tucked into my grey skinny’s, I felt like an aesthetic intruder.

I discover shadowy echoes of 18th Century Victorian Era mystery. Gotham is a place of first loves and sweet revenge. It is a place that begs to tell a story.

A musical movement emerging from the Punk Scene in the late 70s, the Goth culture seemed to be rooted much further back. In literature, cold stone walls, capes and supernatural night invaders. And then rediscovered in music. Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus….melodies that are audacious, crude, honest and fuelled with passion. An introspective movement, music and literature became daily conversation. A poignant self-awareness, Goth became a script for life. Or at least a blue print.

“White on white, translucent black capes.
Bats have left the tower, the victims have bled.
Red velvet lines the black box.
Bela Lugosidead. Undead. Undead. Undead.”
- Bauhaus

Goth was reborn. Narcissistic and academic, introspective and passionate. Doc Marins, drawn in eyebrows, garters and crushed velvet. These were a complex bunch, dressing up just to go and hide in the corner.

“Here’s your beer”. Buying drinks before asking questions seemed the polite thing to do. I don’t want to assume that Goths are NOT polite.

“So what is Goth?”
“Well, I’m very feminine. Not gay at all. In fact, I think I am a lesbian”. Okay. Was that an answer?

My confusion is interrupted by a monotone moving spectacle, I looked around the room and was absorbed into a wraithlike realm. The sound of The Damned flowing through the crowd. Each person embracing the lyrics with raw passion, creating a surreal atmosphere where time & space never once seemed to matter.

“We’re not a depressed crowd”. I’m brought back. I sensed he had seen the unexpected, but welcomed, intrigue I had felt. I have also always wanted to move to my own tune.

“Okay, so if you are not depressed, what are you?”
“It’s about being sad. Western Culture places so much emphasis on the constant pursuit of happiness – if you are always trying to pursue this you never get it. You’ll be pursuing your whole fucking life and never get it, so you just end up more pissed off than you think we are. It is not reality. Happiness is not all that life is about.”

Instead of a subculture that prays on pessimism, it seems to be more about reaching a state of purity, achieved only by searching all avenues of one’s mind.

It’s about using sadness as a self-empowering tool, to reach a state of clarity so to say.

It’s not about the drugs, or the sex. Although sex is an exploration and can be as dark as it can be light. “Yeah, I have no problem with sex at all”

Suspension, self-mutilation, bondage and black leather. Pain and Pleasure. Passion and Revenge. None are considered mutually exclusive.

“I mean when you see blood, you see yourself. Blood is what keeps you alive”. “And that is truly beautiful”.

Once again I see the value placed on Life, being alive. Not death.

To truly understand yourself, to see the colours of life, and find the beauty in tragedy, you need to embrace each sphere of your psyche, with an unrelentless raging passion.

“So, why do you wear black”
“Not to sound lame, but black absorbs all colours, so we are actually embracing all colours”. I’m taken back to high school science class, and have a vivid image of the rainbow of colours filtering through the glass prism. I feel uplifted and we end off on a smile.

Putting on some bright red lipstick, I immerse into this other-worldly group of visual contrasts. I am filled with energy, and I even request a song. Jane’s Addiction, Summertime Roll’s. “Cut me a piece with some fine wine, bringing peace back to my mind, in the summertime”. It’s my wedding song.

Oh, and whilst trying to compose myself over a Halaal hot dog outside, I chat to a friendly Goth. Tragically, poetically dressed in black ruffles and wearing a quirky but kind face, he hands me a sharpened knife as a relic of my time at Gotham, and then gives me a lift home. And, no, he didn’t come inside.

So, the difference between Emo and Goth? Well, and I quote “I think the best way of answering this question would be to cage an Emo and see how it reacts to not having hair styling products for a week”.

I still don’t know what Goth really is. But I do know it’s about a group of people who find comfort amongst one another, in this confusing world we are all a part of. And the scene will be kept alive in Cape Town, perhaps underground, but that’s what it’s about, after all.

Anyway, who really gives a fuck what Goth means? It means whatever you want it to. Dress it up in silver jewellery and black capes, skinny jeans or painted skin, it’s just another group of fun-lovin criminals. Go say hi.

A Happy Place for all things creative!

Longer days, sun-kissed skin and cold beers, Summer is a feeling. And like the Calling all Creative’s exhibitions, it’s a feeling that keeps building momentum.

September saw the arrival of the 4th Calling All Creative’s exhibition, a concept given life back in June this year. CAC’s is for the people, by the people. Serena Julia Boon, the happy creative who founded the exhibitions, is also the Creative Director of A Happy Place Creation http://www.ahappyplacecreation.co.za The CAC’s initiative was formed on the basis that she felt a need to express her own creative flair and push those who needed a little leverage.

An art director, graphic designer and illustrator at heart, Miss Boon is not only showcasing local art, but really showcasing Cape Town – for all its beauty and magic, its talent and potential.

She is a muse that inspires, drives and brings out the best in creativity from those around her.

A Happy Place Creation is a creative hub, so as a part of the CAC shows, Serena is hard at work bringing new elements into the studio. From new concept shoots, to carbon footprint free shows, the aim is to bring together creative people from near and far.

“I want to push this upwards, to grow and hopefully get A Happy Place Creation a spot on the creative global map.” I think it’s already there.

In the last three months, Serena has transformed her studio into a visual realm of contrasts and a kaleidoscope of ingenious expression. From captivating photographic prints, graphic art, fashion & jewellery, to hand drawn vintage Tees, illustrations, sculptures and paintings…the walls are a composition of artistic fervour.

In between exhibitions, Serena is keeping her bright eyes on unique individuals that are seriously pushing boundaries with their work, and this is a space where these driven artists can get some extra exposure. One such individual is Ben Skye AKA Mr Chocolate Cake. Who is he? Well, he’s an ambitious creative deviant on a constant voyage of innovation. He’s also the director of Chocolate Cake Productions http://chocolatecakeproductions.com a cutting edge creative agency specializing in new media. Film, fashion photography, design, and motion graphics, you can’t help but transform into an aesthetic voyeur. Check what he’s up to - http://www.myspace.com/chocolatecakeproductions.

Calling all Creative’s resonates with positive enthusiasm at the endless possibilities of creative endeavours. It provides a platform for artists who need that much-needed exposure, and a catalyst to being able to turn a passion into a profession.
Ultimately it’s about allowing for aesthetic liberation to continue to flourish in Cape Town, not letting our artistic vagabonds be swallowed by The Dude. It’s a cut-throat industry, we know this.

She says it best herself. “It is amazing how much talent we have in this city, let alone this country. So to be able to track down just a bit of it and show it off for these amazing people is a most wondrous feeling.”

Stay Happy. Stay Inspired.

Our Streets Are Alive With...

…a raging repertoire of skinny jeaned indie kids, corps. moguls, boho hippies, the young, the old, the camera-happy, the ignorant and the wise. Alive, indeed. The Street Scene in ....Cape Town.... is as eclectic as it is charming, its labyrinth-like composition decorated with the macabre and the bizarre.

Long Street needs no introduction. Where time and space have no meaning, it’s a myriad of colours and cultures, of energy and life. Bonjour, Adiós, Xie Xie Ni. Human exchanges become the music of the streets, playing a new tune every day.

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Memories are captured beneath the towering art deco buildings, and hidden along the stone-cobbled alley-ways. Here you’ll find the old and the new, something borrowed and something blue. Retro-funk meets quirky-cool at Royale Eatery…the city’s ....Mecca.... of gourmet burgers and stellar milkshakes. The Pulp Fiction café scene says it all guys. Clean lines and earthy tones take on a Funky African flavour at U & Me café, a humble gem of all things lovely. Afternoon delights and dark, roasted coffee…the food is fresh, healthy & always served with that delightful ....teethy.. ..Cape.... Town smile.

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Stories re-read, and once much-loved, find refuge in the charming Clarke’s Bookstore – a intriguing medley of donkey-eared treasures. Margin doodles, Dragons & Gargoyles, first loves and forgotten notes…each book carries a story of its own. Part of the gracious Georgian-style Grand Daddy Hotel, The Daddy Cool Bar is all about decadence, indulgence and classy bling. Add a few mojitos and moody lighting, and let the good times roll.

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Day merges into night seamlessly on Long Street, the scene an aesthetic and audio transformation. Paying tribute to the ingenious, classic works of past Fiction, night club Fiction is an innovative, intimate and intriguing space of colours, sounds and sights. Fat basslines and ass-shaking, arm-waving crowd, it’s all about recognizing and celebrating Cape Town’s elusive underground culture.

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It’s about feeling alive, right now, all of the time. A whirlwind of music, fashion, food and art, Long Street captures the unique character of ....Cape Town...., sweeping you away in its glorious wonder.....

Shiny Happy People. The Beautiful People. Look At All The People.

Modernism. Poste modernism. What does it all really mean? It’s a label that gives us security through categorization, a safe, definable understand of the world of art. But the artists in JHB and fervently destroying the Ism. And it’s an infectious destruction, indeed. It’s about liberation and aesthetic exploration.

Meet Wilhelm Saayman, a sprawler who is turned on by blank paper and associates the colour black with eyes. His candid drawings capture the beauty of honesty in imperfection, his intimate illustrations an aesthetic manifestation of artistic freedom. With an unruly and macabre approach to humour, his rough and unschooled drawings expose human fragility, and urge us to explore and challenge our position in life. And for all those curators out there, please stop calling his work Quirky. Thanks.

Performance, video and an installation artist. A button-pusher and social seam ripper, Johan Thom www.johanthom.com relentlessly challenges society’s perpetuated ideologies. “Merciless in taking things apart”, he discovers the ingenuity and complexity in ordinary objects. His life insight is so poignant it’s uncanny. Johan’s a realist that has got me day-dreaming. He should write a book, and you should buy it.

If one were to give positive and creative energy a name and face, Nicholas Nesbitt AKA Kidu www.kidu.co.za would be it. Born and bred on the wrong side of Sandton, he’s an artist that cannot be categorized. An illustrator, designer, flash animator and a music man, he’s also the guy who gave the name to Team Uncool www.teamuncool.co.za. For Kidi, art cannot be categorized. He reminds us to embrace life with vigour and a smile. A collaborator who hopes to one day make comic books, he’s partners in crime with M18 www.m18j92t.blogspot.com, Johdel www.johdel.blogspot.com, Cling www.clington.blogspot.com, Chris Saunders www.imagination.co.za and Miss Chinxxx. Whilst Kidu is inspired by brave people, gansta movies and Damen Oben, he’s the guy who’ll inspire you.

We’re witnessing profound creative courage, our elusive city-vagabonds composing a plethora of colours, textures, forms and styles for the world to witness. Fuck the Ism, and all its artistic pre-requisites. Throw away that image of the tragic artist; these Jozi boys ambitiously challenge all that was, constantly exploring all that can be.

Like lime is to tequila, Art is to Cape Town.

Cape Town..... Home to a conceptual culture resonating with creative energy. An urban underground of over 5 million aspiring vagabonds. A kaleidoscope of colour, a dynamic space. ....

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A force of artistic talent. ....

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Nikhil Singh. Buffy. Giuseppe Russo. Colwyn Thomas. Wessel Snyman. Zhané Warren. Alistair Palmer. Mustafa Maluka. Michael Taylor. These renegades are seriously pushing the creative boundaries in ....Cape Town..... ....

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But, like a beat, the list goes on and on. So here’s a peak at some insanely cool Captonian creative’s.....

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First up is Dylan Culhane - Editor of both off-the-wall ....Cape Town.... publication, Vice, and stylish pop culture publication, onesmallseed. Amongst all the instant gratification and digital manipulation, Dylan is a deviant, striding ahead in a gloriously reckless voyage of film photography. www.dylanculhane.com. ....

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Eran Eyal is an endearing, espresso-fuelled entrepreneur, and co-founder of Spingleap.com - a project that empowers and rewards local artists. A crowd sourcing maestro, Bangua Zhang extraordinaire and player of the Japanese Shakuhachie; Eran is going places, and taking you with him. www.springleap.com ....

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Meet Serena Julia Boon; a day dreamer, picture finder and ambassador for local artists. This ambitious, young visual creature is laughter and sunny days personified. She's also the force behind the Calling All Creative’s initiative - hosting monthly art exhibitions that expose ....Cape Town....’s raw, uncultivated talent. www.ahappyplacecreation.co.za ....

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Word-Of-Art – Another amazing collaboration by visionaries Shani Judes and Ricky Lee Gordon. Operating as a management agency for cutting-edge artists, Word-of-Art transforms the ferocity of words and the magnitude of imagination into a potent dialect, stimulating and cultivates social awareness in CT. www.word-of-art.co.za ....

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Faith47. Meet her on a wall, a caravan, a billboard. The environment; her canvass and a catalyst to finding liberation through art. Far from vandalism, her captivating, colourful murals and words are a poignant reminder to recognize and use one's voice to inspire and challenge the masses. www.faith47.co.za ....

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Clem Jansen. Who is he, and what's he all about? Clem is a self-confessed modernist, and a renowned photographer, designer and architect. He has an acute sense for capturing the beauty of creative simplicity. Clem’s all for sustainable architecture, funky sunnies and multifunctional spaces. www.studioarchitects.co.za ....

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Pollock says “[Art] all a big game of construction, some with a brush, some with a shovel, some choose a pen:” Groove Armada’s “Whatever, Whenever” track comes to mind. This is Art my friends. Art is LIFE. Any way, any time. ....

It’s all happening…here in Wonderland.

It’s a Sunday-after-Fiction-Saturday morning, and I’ve equipped myself with my infamous sidekick, a chewed pen and a box of Marlboro’s. I’m lost in a plethora of stairs and wide spaces, closed doors and silent echoes. The Woodstock Industrial Centre, where all things creative are happening, is the kind of place that you want to get lost in. I haven’t had my coffee, but I’ve taken my Ritalin. Like the Shins say “it’s a luscious mix of words and tricks”. ....



Say Hi guys. Say Hello and How Are You to Mister Sean Smith. Who is he? Well, Sean Donald Wilson Smith is the Creative Director of Idoidea Creative Boutique, and a prolific force of inspiration. He’s also the guy behind TYRED FURNITURE, an initiative still in early stages that represents everything Sean is about: practical innovation and creative solutions of revolutionary potential. ....


Originally from the ruthless city JHB, he’s now living his work and “doing” his ideas in ....Cape Town...., our underground Wonderland of all this strange and beautiful. Sibling rivalry over childhood Lego constructions, nowadays Sean is challenging Trend Prescriptions, constructing relentlessly without compromise and without the frivolities. It’s refreshing and it’s infectious. Like the blue box sitting on a pile of tyres in the corner, Sean converses, fondles and understands the tools of creativity, he’s a humble academic of the Arts. ....



With nine years in the industry as an Art Director, what has he learnt? “I learnt that leaving it was the best thing I could have done”. Time chewing and traffic jams, he was tied down by the ego-tipsy, in a world of gross consumption and wall-hanged success. Part of the crude Perversion of Mass. But Sean got the fuck out, wearing a smile and armed with determination. ....



Like you, he is an every-day voyeur of the discarded and the thrown away, but his vision has not been jaded. Like the lonely chair in Juno, it all started with an abandoned family of tyres. In a beautiful green park. A problem? Yes. It started with trash, and it’s become functional innovation. A solution? Indeed.....



“It’s not about cool stuff; it’s not even about selling stuff. I have started a project that not only gives me satisfaction, but puts food on the tables of families who need it”. This is a concept that has the potential to continue to build momentum, a selfless endeavour from a guy with a very clear vision. ....



“When normal people, not just artists, open their hearts and minds to the world outside, to the other people living on this planet together, the most extraordinary things happen. Being in the right place at the right time allowed me to see beyond tyres and “junk” (like Heath Nash) and take them and change the perception of what “junk” actually is.”....


What’s next for TYRED? Well, Sean has received an application from the DTI, inviting TYRED to showcase at the Artigiano in Fiera, ....Milan.... in early December. “All things come to those who create”. And I couldn’t agree more. What else? You’ll have to wait and see.....



All for winter hibernation and summer lovin’, coffee interludes and nicotined reflections, Sean’s hands on and eyes wide open. His studio is his home, and a space where creative solutions have the power to uplift, not just sell burgers. “Art is life. Period. It is the connection of an inside yearning to create”.....


This is only the start for TYRED. No goodbyes, only Hellos. Throw away your television, turn on some beats and get comfy.....