Party time is abbreviated VCK

I entered the strange world of a band that emerged from the Fokofpolisiekar musical vending machine in a can of whip ass, a world where the term ‘fokof’ isn’t a verb, but a noun and where punch drunk love is not a film, but a lifestyle. I spoke to the hard rock three piece Van Coke Kartel and found out more about their next goals, Francois Van Coke’s lyrics and the religion debacle.

NepTunes: The problem in South Africa is that successful bands sometimes hit a plato, so after two critically acclaimed albums as well as a SAMA award, what is the next step for Van Coke Kartel?

Wynand Myburg: Yeah, at the moment we are actually pretty excited, because we are working on new stuff. It has always been important to reinvent, it is a massive challenge for an artist. We never do the same thing twice, even with Fokof we didn’t do it. So we’re now busy with a bunch of exciting stuff for the new album, ideas for new live shows and this and that. But in terms of hitting a ceiling, I think that with every album you hit a ceiling and then it is up to you to know where you made mistakes and where you can improve.

Francois van Coke: With the stuff that we are working on now we feel like there is a new fire. So we are fucking excited. It is our first goal to complete the album and to create something unique and out of the ordinary.

NepTunes: Wynand, why did you decide to play most of the songs on Waaksaam & Wakker with a contrabass?

Wynand: That is part of the whole thing of trying something different, to change the standard rock songs a bit by bringing in a bit of rockabilly. With the first album it was a bit balls to the walls. You know Kartel has that straightforward three chord rock sound, maybe not the new one (Waaksaam en Wakker), but definitely the first one.

NepTunes: Will you use it again in the future?

Wynand: When we started writing now I used an old jazz bass and I love it. I like its sound, it fits in better with the songs. I will definitely play around with sounds on the new album. I am looking at a Tom Waits vibe, those types of sounds. So yes, it will definitely be around.

NepTunes: Francois, which elements and events inspires your lyrics for Van Coke Kartel?

Francois: Jeez dude, I am trying to make a point of it not to just write about drunken parties for the next one. The first album was written in that break we had with Fokofpolisiekar. During that time we had a steady income from Fokof, but didn’t gig much. So we fucking partied ourselves into the ground. So that comes through quite strongly on the first album’s lyrics and I think there are similar songs on the second one as well. And then the hangover, obviously, and the depression of it.

Wynand: We wanted to write a party album in a way. The idea was van coke kartel. Understand. You know lets write party songs, not as serious as Fokof. We’ll see whatever comes out.

NepTunes: Francois with your different experiences as front man for Van Coke Kartel and Fokofpolisiekar, do you maybe prefer one over the other?

Francois: No, I think it’s fucking awesome to do both. Fokof is obviously much easier and I like the crowd interaction which is obviously difficult to do with Van Coke Kartel. But I think with the new album we are going to get another guitarist for live shows. I think that will give me more of a chance to be a bit crazier. But I like the dynamic of both.

NepTunes: You guys have extensive live experience, what are some of the weirdest experiences you have had on stage?

Wynand: Francois and I once had a fight. (Asks Francois) Was it a Fokof gig or a Kartel gig?

Francois: Fokof. On stage. Mid song. (Laughs)

NepTunes: Why?

Wynand: I thought he was drunk again and was going to sing shit or something and then he skipped a song and I kicked him on the ass. Then he got mad at me and when we started playing the next song he hit me in the face with the mic. But I don’t think the people even realize that happened.

NepTunes: I read that the first band that you both (Francois and Wynand) played in was the Christian band 7th Breed. Can you tell us more about that?

Wynand: Francois and I began playing together in ’96. But then it was more high school bands and it had nothing to do with Christianity or Satanism or anything. But we were all involved at the same church. I played in a band 7th Breed. He (Francois) played in another band and he (Justin) also played in another band.

Francois: I really wanted to play in 7th Breed but they didn’t want me. (Laughs)

NepTunes: What happened after that?

Wynand: Personally - and I think Francois and most of the guys with whom we make music…you know we asked questions and that’s how we ended up doing what we’re doing today. Then we moved from that extreme to another extreme. Rather than saying okay this isn’t working for us, we went and embraced it – They’re wrong and there is another way. The charismatic church went bezerk. After a while we realized that that isn’t really the answer for us. Absolutely nothing is a better answer.

Francois: I preach the gospel of I don’t know. Like in that Bill Maher film Religulous.

NepTunes: Do you have any advice for young up and coming bands in South Africa?

Wynand: The most important thing is to work on something original. I know it’s difficult especially when you’re young. Because it doesn’t matter what you play, it is always a copy of something. Try and break away from everything that is standard. Experiment, you have better chance of coming up with something cool rather than just trying to follow someone. You should have clear goals of what you want to do. But the music is the most important, if you can’t put something good or original together then you’re just another one in the bunch.

Francois: I think it’s fucking important that you play good together as a unit. It is important to practice and to get along with the other guys.

NM - Andre Kluyts

aKING for a bigger stage

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.

NM - Andre Kluyts