aKING recently released their second album, titled ‘Against All Odds.’ It features a more laid back radio friendly vibe than their first album Dutch Courage, but still encapsulates the essence that saw them explode onto the scene and become South Africa’s frontrunners with the biggest international crossover potential. I found out more about the nature of their new record, what they do between gigs and getting onto the international stage.
NepTunes: How did the writing process work for your new album? Did you have a specific idea of what type of songs you wanted to write or did you approach it more organically?
Laudo Liebenberg: We knew that we wanted to do it in a quicker time period. We gave ourselves a deadline and tried to write, record and do everything around it in three months. So the plan from the beginning was to see if we can work under pressure and to see if we can be more creative, quicker and impulsive.
Hennie van Halen: Last time we had Johnny who helped us with the production and this time we wanted to give it to Theo (Crous). We didn’t want to do too much beforehand and arrive with a finished product and just start tracking. We wanted Theo to help us with the arrangements and stuff like that. That’s basically the biggest difference between this time and the previous time.
NepTunes: Do you have an X amount of songs that you write per album and then choose the best ten or eleven songs? When do you feel that it’s time to go and record?
Laudo: We went in with nine half songs and came out with eleven songs. I think from now on, we’re not going to stop writing. We took a massive gap between the first album and this album and it’s weird to break that momentum and then just play shows for so many months and then just to start writing again.
NepTunes: What role did your producer Theo Crous play in the shaping of your sound?
Laudo: He helped a lot in getting us closer to that actual sound that we wanted. Because we didn’t want to layer the stuff, we didn’t want to record a number of guitars over each other and then it sounds like a wall of guitars. We wanted to get nearer to what it would sound like when we would play it live and he helped us to get those fine guitar tones as well as to mic the drums for certain songs in a certain way.
Hennie: He has a pop sensibility that we don’t have. He has been in this jam way longer than us. He has been doing it for 15 years and knows what radios will play and what people listen to. He also gave us an exercise where he told Laudo to go and write a song with just three chords in.
Laudo: And then it turned out to be our single ‘Against all Odds.’
NepTunes: Why did you decide on ‘Against All Odds’ for your album title?
Laudo: We thought about it and seeing that that exercise he gave us came out on that song, and we thought it was one of the stronger songs on the album. So it was kind of against all odds that we wrote it in two days. And another thing was Theo’s harddrive crashed with all of the shit that we recorded.
Hennie: Then he got a blood clot in his colon.
Laudo: And then we lost a week and a half, so it was basically just against all odds that we finished the album on time.
NepTunes: The artwork of your projects as well as your music videos are visually striking. Do you feel that the visual medium is something that South African bands can use to its full potential more often?
Laudo: Definitely, but I think the impact is not as much as we would like it to be. I think nowadays it’s become somewhat of a craze to spend a lot of money on a music video. And the impact is then only MK and maybe a little bit on MNET. But it’s not as big as what you actually spend. I think it is something that people should pay attention to, but try to be more creative. We definitely want to sharpen our visual identity by tying the overall design and photo shoots and videos to the album’s vibe.
NepTunes: When you are on tour what do you do between gigs to kill time?
Laudo: Wank. No! (Laughs)
Hennie: We actually do what the women in Sex and the City do. We go and drink coffee, watch movies and talk about sex.
Jaco ‘Snake’ Venter: Buy shoes and shit like that. (Laughs)
Laudo: Try to not get too wasted.
NepTunes: What is the next goal for you guys? What do you want to achieve with ‘Against All Odds.’
Laudo: I am over this album. I want to write a new album. So I don’t worry about this album, I will play it and it’s got to work for itself now.
Hennie: The most important goal with this album is to have more songs. You can’t play overseas if you only play for a half an hour. So we wanted to enlarge the catalogue by having more songs which you can actually get on the radio.
NepTunes: So it is a goal for you guys to go to a bigger stage, international?
Snake: The big thing is it is fun to play around here, but it is a bit shit to play the same circuits the whole time.
NepTunes: Do you feel like you’ve hit a ceiling?
Snake: It’s not so much hitting a ceiling, because the people that come and watch are not always the same people, but it is boring to drive always drive the same roads again. The actual hour that you are on stage is the best part. But it will also be fun to play in other territories for six months.
NepTunes: How did the writing process work for your new album? Did you have a specific idea of what type of songs you wanted to write or did you approach it more organically?
Laudo Liebenberg: We knew that we wanted to do it in a quicker time period. We gave ourselves a deadline and tried to write, record and do everything around it in three months. So the plan from the beginning was to see if we can work under pressure and to see if we can be more creative, quicker and impulsive.
Hennie van Halen: Last time we had Johnny who helped us with the production and this time we wanted to give it to Theo (Crous). We didn’t want to do too much beforehand and arrive with a finished product and just start tracking. We wanted Theo to help us with the arrangements and stuff like that. That’s basically the biggest difference between this time and the previous time.
NepTunes: Do you have an X amount of songs that you write per album and then choose the best ten or eleven songs? When do you feel that it’s time to go and record?
Laudo: We went in with nine half songs and came out with eleven songs. I think from now on, we’re not going to stop writing. We took a massive gap between the first album and this album and it’s weird to break that momentum and then just play shows for so many months and then just to start writing again.
NepTunes: What role did your producer Theo Crous play in the shaping of your sound?
Laudo: He helped a lot in getting us closer to that actual sound that we wanted. Because we didn’t want to layer the stuff, we didn’t want to record a number of guitars over each other and then it sounds like a wall of guitars. We wanted to get nearer to what it would sound like when we would play it live and he helped us to get those fine guitar tones as well as to mic the drums for certain songs in a certain way.
Hennie: He has a pop sensibility that we don’t have. He has been in this jam way longer than us. He has been doing it for 15 years and knows what radios will play and what people listen to. He also gave us an exercise where he told Laudo to go and write a song with just three chords in.
Laudo: And then it turned out to be our single ‘Against all Odds.’
NepTunes: Why did you decide on ‘Against All Odds’ for your album title?
Laudo: We thought about it and seeing that that exercise he gave us came out on that song, and we thought it was one of the stronger songs on the album. So it was kind of against all odds that we wrote it in two days. And another thing was Theo’s harddrive crashed with all of the shit that we recorded.
Hennie: Then he got a blood clot in his colon.
Laudo: And then we lost a week and a half, so it was basically just against all odds that we finished the album on time.
NepTunes: The artwork of your projects as well as your music videos are visually striking. Do you feel that the visual medium is something that South African bands can use to its full potential more often?
Laudo: Definitely, but I think the impact is not as much as we would like it to be. I think nowadays it’s become somewhat of a craze to spend a lot of money on a music video. And the impact is then only MK and maybe a little bit on MNET. But it’s not as big as what you actually spend. I think it is something that people should pay attention to, but try to be more creative. We definitely want to sharpen our visual identity by tying the overall design and photo shoots and videos to the album’s vibe.
NepTunes: When you are on tour what do you do between gigs to kill time?
Laudo: Wank. No! (Laughs)
Hennie: We actually do what the women in Sex and the City do. We go and drink coffee, watch movies and talk about sex.
Jaco ‘Snake’ Venter: Buy shoes and shit like that. (Laughs)
Laudo: Try to not get too wasted.
NepTunes: What is the next goal for you guys? What do you want to achieve with ‘Against All Odds.’
Laudo: I am over this album. I want to write a new album. So I don’t worry about this album, I will play it and it’s got to work for itself now.
Hennie: The most important goal with this album is to have more songs. You can’t play overseas if you only play for a half an hour. So we wanted to enlarge the catalogue by having more songs which you can actually get on the radio.
NepTunes: So it is a goal for you guys to go to a bigger stage, international?
Snake: The big thing is it is fun to play around here, but it is a bit shit to play the same circuits the whole time.
NepTunes: Do you feel like you’ve hit a ceiling?
Snake: It’s not so much hitting a ceiling, because the people that come and watch are not always the same people, but it is boring to drive always drive the same roads again. The actual hour that you are on stage is the best part. But it will also be fun to play in other territories for six months.
NM - Andre Kluyts
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