Posts Tagged ‘aKing’
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especially when the lyrics of that music are written by hunter kennedy…
on Saturday, May 29th 2010, my friend and i drove through to Cape Town to go watch two super awesome bands – Wrestlerish and aKING, who i’m very sure i’ve mentioned before on this blog.
wrestlerish is still a pretty new band although they’ve managed to make quite a name for themselves. they’ve only released one full-length CD – The Rude Mechanical. the lyrics were written by the frontman Werner Olckers, and they were mostly written after a bad break-up so they are very emotional and heart-felt, and yet somehow the music seems upbeat, almost with an air of hope in them. and because of that you can listen to the songs whether you are going through a crappy time, or if you are in happy mode and want a bit of “alone in your room dancing in your underwear” music. my friend had never heard them before but she was quite excited to hear them cos i had talked about them so much…anyway now she’s a fan (yay)…she says she likes them cos they sound like roadtrip music, the kind of songs you sing at the top of your lungs as you make your way down open roads…
oh and werner is such a huge guy…i feel so small standing next to him, but his voice is so beautiful and sweet that you just want to run up to him and cuddle him like a giant teddy bear…
then there’s aKING. ok, so hunter kennedy wasn’t there and i was a bit disappointed. but the music made up for it. i really dig aKING. as the only english band in the VanFokKingTasties group (of which hunter is in 3 of the 4 bands) they stole my heart first, cos i could actually understand the lyrics…and they seemed less angry. although, i’ve come to love the rest of the group as i actually listen to the lyrics and get google to translate them for me…hee hee…anyway, last week sometime i watched the Polisiekar documentary and learned more about who they were and why they were so angry and the birth of the band and stuff and i came to understand them a lot more and love them a lot more.
anyway, it was an awesome gig, only thing that could have made it better would have been if hunter kennedy hadn’t decided to go to the Heuwels gig which was 5 minutes drive away. i guess that’s what happens when you are in 3 different bands at the same time, hunter.
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Been super busy with having a life lately, so haven’t read anything. So instead of book excerpts you get my review of two live music shows I went to last week. And anyone who knows me knows I love me some live music! So without further adieu…
The first evening was at Klein Libertas Theater – 5 bands + R50 entrance fee = 100% awesome. The second night was part of the Maties (Stellenbosch University) JOOL (week of raucosness to welcome first years) – 5 bands + R20 entrance fee = even more awesome!
Having turned the Afrikaans music community on their heads, PolisieKar keeps rocking the South African music scene. Not only that, but they have managed to produce not 1, not 2, but 3 other bands who are just as rocking as the main Band.
The spin-off bands are Van Coke Kartel, Die Huewels Fantasties, and aKING. Together, the 4 bands have come to be known to their fans as VanFokKingTasties (due to the national tour they just went on by the same name)! And I had the priviledge to see all of them last week. I have seen Van Coke Kartel before, at My Coke Fest 2008…and I thought they were great. I wasn’t as impressed with them this time as I was the first, but I do absolutely love their song “Voor Ons Stof Word”. I have also heard aKING live before and still love them immensely. Safe as houses is pure beauty. aKING also happens to be the only English band out of the four, something those of us who are non-Afrikaaners appreciate. Die Huewels Fantasties were fantastic…hee hee…ok, more like awesome. I expected more from their live act, but I totally enjoy their music. And that leaves PolisieKar…or more correctly FokOfPolisieKar (F* off Police Car for the non South Africans). Their music, like their name, may be a little brash and controversial, but it is nontheless GOOD MUSIC. And it didn’t really matter that I didn’t understand most of the lyrics as they are all in Afrikaans, I still really enjoyed it. And they really know how to keep the crowd entertained.
And if you read my twitter stream (@tsholo_m) at all during the shows, you would know that I am such a huge fan of Jaco “Snakehead” Venter and Hunter Kennedy, who are members of both aKING and PolisieKar.
aKING and PolisieKar played on Friday and Van Coke Kartel and Die Huewels played on Saturday.
New Holland is another band I really like…they played on Friday. I’ve seen them twice now and both times really enjoyed their stuff. “Something to believe in” really speaks to me and I really dig “Freedom”…awesome song…and we also learned how to spell “t.h.i.s.i.s.h.o.m.e”. And the lead vocalist dude, TeeJay Tereblanche, has awesome hair – a plus for any rock band!
Another stand out (Afrikaans) band for me is Straatligkinders (street light children) – who played on the Saturday. (Yes this is a lot of Afrikaans bands, but I do live in Stellenbosch after all, it is very much to be expected.) I didn’t know who they were until I went to go see one of my favorite South African bands, Gravity Wins Again, open for them at a show last year. Wow, they rock. Really love their stuff. And the lead guitarist’s dreads are beyond aresome! Their bassist is the most energetic person I have ever seen – I wonder how many energy drinks that guy has before a show…keeps going from the first song till the last. So awesome stage presence to add to awesome music! Love them!!! Ha, they even took a nice Afrikaaner sokkie song and turned into an AWESOME Afrikaaner Rock song…Kaptein = WIN!
Other acts from the two nights included Jack Parrow, Ashtray Electric, Ef El and Taxi Violence.
Guilty as sin
Posted on: September 7, 2009
Went to an aKING/Just Jinjer/Flat Stanley (MacStanley) concert on Saturday night and it just totally reminded me of 1. my love of music, 2. the power of music and 3. the appeal of live vs recorded music. Anyway, TBV used to be a fan of aKING but after seeing their performance that night decided she didn’t like them anymore (apparently they were drunk on stage) and I ended up loving them more after their show (what does that say about me…especially since it seemed like I was the only person in the arena who loved the performance?). Anyway, I was going to put up the lyrics to their song “Against All Odds” which I love but I couldn’t find them online…instead I found these lyrics from one of their other songs…so here goes…
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Title: Guilty As Sin
Artist: aKING
Album: Dutch Courage
Year: 2008
Step into the night
Breathe into it life
Don’t want to be clean
But I’m keen to try
On an all night ride
A punched-ticket sunrise
Don’t want to be seen
I’m keen to survive
I’ve wasted opportunities and lost my grip
My overheating conscious lit my eyes on fire
A dawn chorus of silhouettes
The verdict is in
Guilty As Sin
Spread myself thin
I’ve always been
Guilty As Sin
Tell me, where do I begin?
We’re constantly repeating
I’m prone to forget
That all of this is merely feeding malignant regret
The ruthless pursuit
A symptom of our time
I’m happy paralised and dreaming
Treading on this thin line
Light my eyes on fire
I have fallen behind
My every step fuels my demise
A futile attempt to repent
I must’ve lost my mind
Seek and you shall find
A messiah to remind you
That deliverance is an open door
You can choose to go inside
A choice I’ve been postponing for the most of my young life
Ignorance is easy to ignore if you try
But it’s hard to come down from these visceral heights
Like a rolling tide I cannot be cleansed by
(lyrics from http://myhartfeltopinion.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/guilty-as-sin/)
