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| www.blackmartketriots.com |
This being STM and yes Nelsparta scene is slow so I've decided to start giving great muso’s like BMR the benefit of the doubt. The band consist of Danie de Villiers on vocals and rhythm guitar, Pierre Joubert on lead guitar, Tim Holiday on Drums/percussion and new member Rudolph Heinen on bass. They started out back in 2008, winning a battle of the bands they released their EP "Box of Dreams" in 2009 following with their single "When We Collide" and in 2012 the single "Minority" which set new dynamic to their sound.
The band is based in Somerset West in the Western Cape, a long way from the Lowveld but thank goodness for modern technology. BMR is truly a laid back bunch of guys. As I prepared myself with the questions you can never really label to where the conversation will lead especially with musicians. A lot of laughter and drink in hand the boys easily talk about their music. Their bassist was not part of this fun as he was out early for his birthday which made "band practice" more of a giggle session via speaker phone.
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| Bands Room - photo courtesy of Pierre Joubert |
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| Danie on the phone with Marley for STM Blog - photo courtesy of Pierre Joubert |
Danie seems to have a strong steer on the direction that they are going in but I start with the quietest member of the whole band, the drummer Tim. When I asked Tim about inspiration about their new music he says "I'm inspired by watching them (Pierre and Danie) watching them play. If it weren't for them I would have been playing something different. And by them doing something different I'm inspired to tick my drums differently" where Danie quickly jumps in adding "And we by him, he plays his drums differently and we get inspired to do something different"
"Yea" its back to Tim "so it’s a vicious circle of inspiration" and that is better than Pierre awesome beard. "I think it’s because we all listen to different music styles that helps" says Danie. "We tend to think serious about each song we write and record. Songs which is heavy kif that will make the crowd lose their heads. You know freak out!" answers Pierre
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| Band Fuel - photo courtesy of Pierre Joubert |
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| Guitar Hero anyone - photo courtesy of Pierre Joubert |
In between the Black Label quarts, Guitar Hero, a plate of Lemmingtons, one bottle of water that got spilled during the phone conversation while I'm sitting sipping a mix between Bacardi and fruit juice (bloggers are just as poor as musicians) I feel as if I could be there sitting with them in their band practice room. Which apparently closely situated to Adultworld shop "Midnight fetishes" Pierre says when I asked if they are regular shoppers there.
Of course knowing how the Good Hope people think I had to ask Danie if he knows where Nelspruit is and in between the giggles he answered that Nelspruit has got something do to with a row boat to a place called Nel that had a spruit...he is almost right actually. More with cattle winter feeding and a spruit with 3 brothers named Nel. They have heard via the grape vine of Blue Moon and commented that "We would really love to play there" said Danie, after I ran the technical aspects for them of the sound quality there he also included that "We would like to do a tour up North and let people see our shows"
With the recently launch of their new video "The Sounds We Feel" in which the title makes perfect sense when you see the brilliant produced video. I asked about the sound effects on the back ground "We wanted it to be powerful, not make it BMR just be different. The idea was to be original backing. We recorded Danie sweeping the floor, the rain falling outside one evening in winter even playing piano on my guitar" Pierre answers. Edited by the way on the timing of the music which were especially written for the video. “It’s not a music video for one of our songs, it’s a song for our video” Pierre adds on. "We started in 2008 and we haven't stopped with our music as the band" Danie says between the sips of beer "we will never stop" which is good news. I don't think South Africa have had a real taste yet of this alternative rock band. "We haven't heard bad feedback about the new video but we haven't heard enough"
Of course marketing and media comes up as well and with today endless ways of self-promotion it gets hard to do so. "Facebook is a bit worn down" Pierre answers "I mean we saw it when we posted up ‘The Sounds We Feel’ we can see how much views it had but the result doesn't lie on our YouTube channel. There is just so many websites that we are on, Sound Cloud, MySpace, Twitter and the list goes on. I mean MK is properly the best way to get your music video promoted but they seem to play other crap" I tend to agree with Pierre on MK the last few times they have played more Tailor Swift and Rihanna than actual SA tunes and with so many video submissions I'm sure they can find something. "It’s a catch 22 really" Pierre continues "people need to know about the band in order to watch their YouTube videos and follow them online"
"It’s why we re-launched the website, did it over to give people more information about us" Danie says on a serious note "it’s why the press kit is there for everyone to read about our history, our past gig line ups and who we have shared the stage with" Media seems will never be mastered with our new technology and I see/hear it more and more from musicians. "We added a blog as well to keep in touch with our fans out there. Show people what we are passionate about. The guys we look up to are doing blogs and this seems to give people an idea about what is going on behind the scenes" much like “The Sounds We Feel” video which shows some behind the scenes studio footage and band practice sessions.
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| Pierre and Tim hard at practice - photo courtesy of Facebook |
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| Pierre Joubert stringin' up - photo courtesy of Facebook |
Touring, live events and festivals this seems the most powerful way about 'getting it out there'. The furthest gig they have ever played was Oppikoppi and they list Assembly in Cape Town as their favourite venue to play at even if it was once. But they are more than willing to play festivals like Up The Creek (Danie and I kept missing each other at this year UTC), RAMFest, Splashy Fen even go as far as Namibia festivals. "We believe our music will work at festivals. We are an alternative rock band" yes I agree. Speaking of UTC Danie was speaking to me about some band slots "Remember after YOAV last song there was a crazy guy going in front of the stage getting the people to stand up and get alive, that was me!" Yes I remember the man thinking why I didn't think of that - well done Danie! Nice looking hat too!
I asked them what BMR Top 5 survival things that you need for a festival and after a few minutes I had my answer:
• Wet wipes
• 2 cases of Black Label beer
• Niknaks (this is apparent good babelas food for Danie)
• Blow up swimming pool to put the beer in
• And their music!
I also have to mention about Danie wired questions to me during all of this from if I wear contact lenses to him supporting the Blue Bulls, yes this shows how truly open and relaxed they are. Also that Danie, Tim and Rudolph are off the market, leaving Pierre the only single guy. Apparently the girls can throw their under garments on stage so ladies there you go show them some loving.
One thing Danie clearly states when I asked about a message for the readers "Don't just pay your R30 or R50 and just stand and watch the band or just sit there and drink. Support them! Don't look at us like we aliens because we are not. Let loose because that is what rock 'n roll is about"
"We really don't give a shit on stage" says Tim between it all "we want people to enjoy it. To go crazy with us, that's what it is all about"
"More and more the younger people like to follow trends instead of be different and actually do the opposite" Pierre says after mentioning he too was in the trend thing years ago but we all agree it’s a problem. Music isn't about following the trends; it’s about following the music. It’s about the band interpretation of their own life experiences and let's face it we all have our favourite song lyrics memorized.
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| Danie and Ruloph on stage - photo courtesy of Belia Oh Photography |
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| Danie in action - photo courtesy of Belia Oh Photography |
BMR has also the potential of becoming a house hold name much like one their favourite bands, Taxi Violence. They open to get a manager and anyone who is up for the job is more than welcome to email the band. And knowing the live events like I do, I knew they had a story of some kind of a wired fan, Pierre was the one to answer me;
"I had to teach classes at the varsity in Stellenbosch and the old toppie who was supervising me became like our silent stalker. It was super wired! He was like this old grey hair guy buying me beer all the time at gigs and then just stand at the back of Aandklas just staring at us. We had some stalker girls but this dude was taking it a step further" I had to laugh at how the emphases was brought out about this story and at the end Pierre says “My mom is my biggest fan at least”
On 27 March they will be playing with Goodnight Wembley and The Dolphins at Aandklas in Stellenbosch. More info can be found on ALL of their web pages. I suggest you go watch them and see for yourselves. And if you don't have a date then give me a shout, all I ask is a sponsored plane ticket from KMIA to Cape Town.
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| BMR - photo courtesy of Lupa |
In between what I know of these guys I know they are not your typical copy and paste band (much like this blog). They are not your trying to be like their role model bands. They are not back tracks nor lip sinkers. They are who they are because they stay true to themselves and their music. They follow through with that what they do. They give their 100% to the world and they will go the extra mile. They are a band of brothers that is doing what they love, music.
One last thing I know why Noddy got a bell on his hat Danie then again I'm going to let the readers tell you the answer to that
**Special Thank You to Pierre for the 'behind the scenes interview" photos as well the BMR band. Also to Lupa Photography and Belia Oh Photography for doing such awesome work
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