Little Things

By Marley

Blue Bird Theory is a force to be reckoned with. Old school Blue Moon’ers will remember the band Induo which Desmond Tilly (or “Des” as I got to know him) was a member of.

After the loss of their fellow band mate, Dave Bennett in a car crash in 2006, Induo stepped off the scene. Des left Nelspruit where he and fellow Nelspartan Steven Bosman formed Blue Bird Theory in 2006. In 2012 band members Stephan Bester (bass) and Etienne Olivier (lead guitar) officially joined this hard-rock jewel of a band. As I sit here on the Blue Moon couch on Sunday morning after their show, busy typing up this post, their set list of the previous night is still keeping its own beat in my head.

Blue Bird Theory -
Blue Moon 2011

I had a quick chat with Des and Etienne before their show on Saturday night at STRAB weekend. Their new album “Ways To Soften” will be released some time in 2013 “We hope February and then do a tour with it” said Des. Their new music video “Little Things” is a mixture of a psych flick and a rock show “We shot the video in an old abandoned hospital in Pretoria” Etienne tells me when I asked about the video. “We were kind of freaked out because there are a lot of ghost stories tied to the place.” In the video you see the band playing patients while in some scenes the band gig inside this ghost story. You can see the video on their YouTube channel here

Des Tilly -
Blue Moon Nelspruit

I asked how the band is doing since the last time they were here was in 2006 “We doing good, looking forward to playing at Blue Moon again!” I asked Des where it began for him to which he says the following, “I was 14 when I saw Valiant Swart live and I knew that this is what I wanted to do. The G-Spot was the birth place for me as well and playing at Blue Moon is just amazing.”
The G-Spot used to be a small pub on the Kaapchehoop road close to the Nelspruit airport where a lot of local and a few national musicians used to gig at. Unfortunately the pub was demolished, never to be reborn again, after which Blue Moon opened it’s doors – all this now 12 years ago!

A venue like Blue Moon needs the support of the locals otherwise we will not only lose the treasure that is Blue Moon but great bands like Blue Bird Theory won’t have a venue to gig at. Speaking of crowds - what is the biggest show or crowd they played for? “A thousand people and it was actually here” Des answers “It was with Cutting Jade I think”. The band are being named “the new Narrow”, to me their sound is a mixture between The Narrow and Chevelle  – hard rock. “Wow what a compliment” Des said when I told him who they remind me of. “We look up to The Narrow, they are great guys and their music  is awesome. Chevelle also plays a role in our music”

Blue Bird Theory in action
Blue Moon 2012

The conversation moves to marketing , Blue Bird Theory works hard not only on themselves but their marketing as well, Des acts as their manager. We live in a technological world where our phones and iPads are always with us “We are on Facebook and Sound Cloud along with a few other web pages. In Pretoria we’ve seen that flyers still work the best and by doing it ourselves”
Their gigs are explosive, if you love hard rock; this is your next favourite live band. “We polish our live performances” and what a great product they produce. You will head bang, jump and down, get the blood pumping to the beat of Stephan bass and sing along with Des. As they were the band to open for The Narrow at this event, I was in heaven. Des also performed a song with The Narrow which was amazing to see and hear.

Steven Bosman

Etienne Olivier

Stephan Bester

Blue Bird Theory has a winning recipe when it comes to live performances much like The Narrow only harder with a touch of Chevelle. If you are in Pretoria keep an eye out for this band, go see them live!
I have to thank Des and Etienne for the chat and also to the STRAB team for bringing them out here again.


A note for thanks to the following who made this happen:
Des Tilly and his incredible band (thanks for the dedication)
Conrad Jamneck of STRAB
Pete of Blue Moon
Rudi Olivier for his awesome photos
ALL the fans that supported this gig