Influences: Contrary to Popular Belief, Local is not Always Lekker

“We play mostly in clubs along Long Street and Lower Main Road in Obs[ervatory] and that is only the case because there are not many other places really,” says Nicolai. “We have to obviously play where people who like our kind of music will go…”

The Sleepers are a band from Cape Town. They play all around the city at many student hangouts and do their unique thing on stage. They gig fairly regularly and they draw a predominantly student crowd. The mature sounds that waft through the air when they start playing are heavy, yet laid-back. Their influential hypnotic approach is in itself quite strongly and diversely influenced. Their individual musical tastes combine into a flavourful delicacy of vintage, modern and experimental sounds. One of the key players in their assortment of style is guitarist Nicolai Roos: a passionate and knowledgeable 22-year old Cape Audio College student with a keen ear for classic rock and always amped to delve into an experimental guitar tone or trying a new electronic effect. When asked what his current influences are, he replied “…mainly progressive rock like Sigur Ros, trip hop, experimental stuff. Things like Zappa, the new Nine Inch Nails song, Mike Patton’s stuff, Meshugga….anything experimental and proggy.”

A fairly chilled-out sophisticatedly humourous and modest fellow, Nicolai seems quite excited at the prospects of the band from his point of view. He really likes where the music his band are churning out is going.
“I sort of want to keep the same pace that we are going now because we are really maturing and pumping out some great stuff,” says Nicolai. “I have some idea of what I would like the band to become but I don’t know exactly. I know it will be different but we will keep a similar approach in terms of song writing and stuff.”
Since guitarist Adam Hill and former bassist Carly Phillips started jamming together back in 2003, the band has developed promisingly. Nicolai claims he was “stolen” from his former band Mantra and so was drummer Steve Jacobs from his respective band. Nicolai says that they gelled really quickly because they are all very creative and have a similar work ethic in terms of their music. Unfortunately Carly developed lukemia and was replaced by Jordi Reddy.
“She started complaining about a sore back and stuff but it spread quickly and unfortunately she couldn’t play with us anymore. It was really sad because she was one of the founding members and a vital member of The Sleepers,” says Nicolai. But a replacement was needed and what a replacement. Nicolai describes Jordi as a “fucking good bassist”. Well versed in bass phrasing and a reputable sonic vocabulary, Jordi has added his own flair which has definitely enhanced the band’s sound in an interesting way.

The Sleepers are indeed very progressive yet they draw influences from bands and artists that are not only from years gone by, but that don’t really have any roots in South Africa or even Africa as such.
“It basically started with my Dad’s CD collection,” says Nicolai about his musical influences. “It was mostly The Doors…Floyd…Zeppelin…but the Doors I think were my main influence. I always liked that blues thing they had going, that sort of dark type of blues but the type that makes you want to party as well. Led Zeppelin was also another big influence. Jimmy Page’s combination of Gibson and Marshall definitely influenced my choice of equipment…”
Nicolai’s ventures to places like Canada and London scored him lots of good buys. His collection of rare Led Zeppelin T-shirts and his favourite black Gibson SG, can attribute themselves to elusive overseas bargains. His Jimmy Page style Les Paul says a lot about what his influences are, and especially when he is on stage, one can basically picture good old Slash of Guns ‘n Roses playing the riffs Nicolai plays during a live set. The style of playing and choice of instruments scream classic rock with a modern progressive edge.

But why are local bands so interested in foreign musical genres that they completely ignore any local influence? Rock band members in South Africa are generally uninterested in locally inspired genres such as kwaito, afro-house and local jazz. In the local scene, no rock band plays a local cover, or tries to look like Jimmy Dludlu on stage to pay tribute. However, a frontman wearing a Johnny Cash or Miles Davis T-shirt onstage is ubiquitous. Top selling South African bands like Freshlyground and Fokofpolisiekar are seen as musical anomalies because they have taken international genres and have used them to express exclusively South African feelings. This irony reflects that of which haunts the history of blues music still today. Many American blues artists in the early 60’s were popularized not by Americans, but by emerging blues British artists such as The Who, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac and Eric Clapton who actually bothered listening to them.

The Sleepers are not a band that actively ignores any local influence. It just so happens that what they want to do is internationally based and the response to a band that has standards on the international level is very feasible within itself.
“Once you work with certain people and you all have the certain standard you want to live up to then things begin to take shape quickly” says Nicolai. “Hard-working members like in the band Queen are all very precise in what they want from their music and insist on quality. That was why their resulting albums were all very professional. The same with Pink Floyd: they all had a common goal and discerning ears and being able to work together with people of the same determination for quality is rare.”
The level of professionalism is one thing that a local band has to live up to. No one wants their albums to match up to just local quality. Artists and bands want their work to be in the realm of giants such as Queen and Pink Floyd.
Nicolai says that The Sleepers do not want to sound anything like any one of their influences. The way the actual sound comes out is not the issue but it is rather the approach to songwriting that develops from their influences.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s a direct influence from certain bands like we don’t say ‘okay, we’re gonna write a Tool-type song now’; we just try something with a similar approach to avoid completely ripping bands off,” he says. Although the resulting sound is a predominantly European or American style of sound, the debate here is whether it is a South African sound. Is it the Sleepers’ own original Cape Town style or is it a foreign style? The genre of music played by the Sleepers does indeed originate from foreign influences but the important thing is that their style and highly integrated sound is placed in a South African context.

It is believed that Hendrix once stated that his Marshalls were the essence of his sound and that he was nothing without them. Nicolai shares a similar attitude and is a connoisseur of his sound. He is very particular about the quality his sound although the scratchy public address systems of the local venues tend to nullify The Sleepers’ very particular choice of equipment. Adam Hill plays an acclaimed Vox AC30 and Nicolai is used to playing his Marshall JCM2000 half stack. A major setback to this prestige set of equipment came when the head of Nicolai’s stack got stolen.
“It’s really affecting my sound because I’m now playing a shitty 80w Marshall Valvestate combo amp. God it’s horrible”. He is currently borrowing his friend’s Peavey valve combo amp and this has satisfied him while he saves up to redeem the quality he is used to.
“It’s a really awesome substitute to my Marshall stack because I get that creamy valve sound from it I’m used to. It’s a monster.”

The insistence of a particular sound from British amplifier manufacturers allows us again to ponder over whether our own Capetonian rock bands are representing our culture as itself or as something foreign. Our bands are playing foreign genres, using foreign equipment and draw on inspiration from overseas influences. The actual genre of The Sleepers is also a tough one to call, given the diverse international influences.
“[Our genre is] probably something like ummmm…fusion alternative?..” says Nicolai. “I really don’t know. It’s not that I don’t like labels I just don’t think that there is a certain label for what we do.”
Is Cape Town student rock a ‘cover genre’ or are we actually doing our own stuff? What else are local bands supposed to be influenced by when creating their own specific sounds and styles? Would a band in the future that happened to be highly influenced by The Sleepers consider the influence as Capetonian? Archbishop and South African political figure Desmond Tutu says that a person is a person because of other people. Perhaps our bands are bands because of overseas bands.

©2007

Mankind's Suicide

Darkness invades the plains,
Stains the earth and maims its slaves.
It pervades the barricades
And the hordes armed only with swords
Fail and bail.

Victims are impaled.
They wail at the scale of annihilation.
The stale stench evacuates even the brave.
Families mourn and scorn in caves
As they lay and pray for unlikely salvation.

For this day today is now away
And none will be saved regardless of their behaviour.
No matter what their name,
Be it of poverty or of fame,
They will all die in shame in flaming graves.

The day is scorched with grey.
Mankind: self-enslaved,
Will be obliterated to their dismay.
No corpse will remain.
None will exist again.

© 2007

The Moonlight

I wandered through the bushes at night towards her garden. My bare feet were wet over the moist dew on the grass. Soil covered my inner toes as I shivered through the cold of the night. The icy wind was against me, beating against my face. Leaves from the surrounding trees crowded my sight and when the tears stopped rolling down my cheeks, the moisture on my face was replaced by the droplets from the leaves as the greenery stroked my face. I ambled through the shrubbery. My only guide was the moonlight. I looked up and stared at the round moon but it did not smile down on me like the sun had. No. It seemed to give me a disappointed look, but a worried look. I turned away from it and continued on my quest towards her balcony.

For so long I’ve been longing to see her again. I had been taken away from her so many times, and so many times have I been denied the one true pleasure of being able to be with her. They say I’m no good. ‘You’ll get over it my boy, you’re better off without her.’ But they know nothing of the pain. The pain at every thought of her, like a dotted rhythm in my day, hammers agonisingly on my heart. ‘Its suicide what you’re doing,’ they say. But so be it, if it puts me out of my misery. The broken pieces of my heart have passed many a time through the eye of the needle…
My trembling hands pushed yet another leafy branch out of my path. Some branches were reluctant to move, acting as if they were barriers protecting me from an unbearable pain, but the branches gave in. All of them gave in as if they were allowing me my freewill. All of a sudden, it became more difficult for me to see so I looked up at the moon again. The clouds were starting to shade me from the moonlight as the clouds moved in front of it, but the moon still glowed, like a lamp under a thin blanket. As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I eventually saw the end of the forest, and the back of a big double storied house. Then I saw her form, silhouetted on the balcony against the feeble candlelight of her bedroom. But I could not see her face; her beautiful face which had a smile that had once warmed my blood was invisible in the black of the night. The stars were redundant behind the thick cloud cover. Her gown fluttered subtly in the wind as she stared at the hiding moon.
I had long since passed the point of no return, but I had now reached the point of reckoning. I hid behind a small bush and stared at her graceful form, bitter at not being able to see her eyes, which I had once compared to drowning pools. The sharp cold of the wind made me tense all my muscles as I stood behind the bush. I wanted to carry on towards her, but the absence of the moonlight made me consider otherwise. I waited.
She stood there, looking out on the moon. The brisk wind awakened me from my lingering. I, too, then looked at the moon. The clouds began to roll on.
I looked back onto her face blackened, by the night. The moon revealed its light slowly and at that moment, I had a sense of fulfillment which made me feel that my journey was all worthwhile…
The moonlight gradually lit up her face and my throbbing heart started to relax. The wind died down and I looked up at the balcony in awe. The moonlight had lit up her face in poetic fashion. The moonlight danced on her face and played on her features in celebration. I longed to make her lonely face smile again, for her happiness was mine. But her face remained still and expressionless. I felt at that moment that I hadn’t failed, for I had now witnessed true beauty. The music played within me.

A sound behind me broke this majestic moment, like the breaking of a string inside a piano. The crack behind me made me duck. I looked down and saw the faint light of torches illuminate the leaves on the bush. I was struck nearly unconscious with something hard on the back of my head as they pulled me by my forearm and dragged me indifferently through the twigs and stones in the soil. I continued to look through the dark at the balcony as I was forcefully dragged on by the soldiers. A graceful form stared in my direction and a second form, tall and masculine, appeared from her bedroom to stand beside her and look upon the commotion in the bushes. He led her inside under his arm. A dotted rhythm of pain singed inside my chest as the moon again disappeared behind the clouds.

© 2003