I do enjoy when people on different continents recommend quality music to me. That way, I can generate my normal half-assed commentary but with a greater sense of accomplishment for branching out of my normal range and delivering something fresh to my dear listener. So, indulge me, and dip your heels into content from another culture for a change. I should mention firstly that this band and track were recommended to me by unicornsglitterandcandyfloss, whose home is South Africa, and she’s been my mutual for an internet eternity on Tumblr. She’s a very talented illustrator and she’s expressed a few times that her and I have a similar but not all-the-same taste in music. I recently asked her to send me some of her favorite music from SA… and she responded in droves, listing off band names that were completely alien to me (Black Math, Fokofpolisiekar, Plush, etc.). The single act that most easily rose to the top of her list, to me, was Shadowclub. This is Good Morning Killer from 2011’s Guns and Money. If there’s one style of music that is criminally underrepresented on my blog, it’s blues music. I do prefer classic blues artists (B.B. King, Etta James, Robert Johnson, etc.) but in my advancing years I am getting used to hearing it mixed in with modern rock, and I can’t say I hate it when used effectively. That said, this trio executes bluesy punk-rock very well, and I found a good portion of their catalog to be downright raw and ballsy compared to your average corporately subsumed and tame American acts. I couldn’t find much of a history on this group surprisingly, I suppose because they’re relatively young and Africa is a 16-to-20-hour flight away. But according to some direct interviews with the band, the group were immature punks when they first started making music. They got drunk a lot; they were often physically fighting with other bands before or after live-shows and their professional attitude and discipline was practically non-existent! Around 2009 or so, they had a chance to retool some of their demo material into a serviceable product and get more mature about their place in the SA music industry. This resulted in a moody, intense, fun, brash and bluesy-punk noise which I can sum up in one word… REFRESHING! Smash play and enjoy, and thanks for the recommendation from thousands of miles away lady, much appreciated!
The trio circa a decade or so ago, no doubt taken shortly before a drunken, bloody brawl with another band. Image credit: https://www.barnyardtheatre.co.za/show.aspx?sid=471
