Howzit going guys? So, firstly, on a scale from one to holy-fuck-balls, how excited are you about releasing the new album?
*Unanimously*: Holy-fuck-balls!
Joshua Pearlson: Times a million.
The album is set to be released at the end of November. What is the name of the album, and how did you come up with it?
JP: The name of the album is Serious Fairytales and Dreams. Basically, we've been putting it together for the last sort of two years and we've been bringing our musical ideas together. Cliff's been writing his vocal styles around what we've all been going through in our lives, as brothers together and apart, and just kind of formulated it into a fictional story. It's kind of like a musical journey from beginning to end which makes up one story, but each song on it's own could be used as a single as well.
What was the song writing process for the album?
JP: Um, which process? Like how long is a piece of string?
*laughter*
JP: Basically the process was just us throwing our ideas together and we kept throwing them at each other until they sounded good.
Wayne Swart: We'd start with a riff or a tab or something and throw it all together. We'd have forty or fifty minute jam sessions and sort of pull out pieces from there and start finding what we feel the direction of the song was. That's kind of how our process works.
JP: There's a couple of the tunes that like, for instance, I had ideas on how I wanted to approach it. Like in the chorus of Uncle Sam, you know, usually when a band goes into a chorus, they come in really fucking ballsy and heavy, and I thought rather than coming in really ballsy and heavy, why don't you start on the high note, and then jump to the ballsy and heavy. So if you hear, it starts an octave higher in the chorus, which also throws people off a bit, which is what we aim to do quite often.
WS: It makes you think a little.
What inspired or influenced the album the most?
JP: Just, everything that was going on in our lives. Where we were musically, where we were in our personal space... What do you think, Jacques?
Jacques Jacobs: Ja, I think definitely... A couple of the songs, like Uncle Sam, for example, was brought from a couple of years ago when we were supposed to do the America trip, that really burnt a little hole. So, ja, there's a lot of life experiences brought into this one.
WS: And I think we also wanted this album to be a little bit of a story, not just an eleven or thirteen track album, but there's a little bit of storytelling in it. Like Josh says, each part is a story being told, a little bit of our story in the album's story.
Is there a release tour in the pipeline?
JP/WS: Yes!
WS: We are on the road from the 14th of December with The Sinners and LA Cobra, we're spending four days in Durban then making our way over to Slaapstad, ah excuse me, I mean Cape Town *laughter*, then we've got three shows... all of the details will be on our Facebook page soon, but we are on tour over December.
JJ: That's going to be like, can you almost say the "wet leg" of the tour, and then from next year we're going to kick full tilt.
JP: Ja we've got a couple of booking agents who are very very excited for the release, as excited as we are for the release of the new album, and who are ready to jump on board and start helping us book the next leg of the album launch tour. We're looking at pretty much starting it New Year's Eve. That'll be the official giant album launch, probably, wherever we end up, whether it's Jeffrey's Bay or Johannesburg.
You guys are pretty well seasoned when it comes to touring, and you've earned the reputation of being one of SA's hardest working bands for good reason. What was it like to play at Saarang in India at the beginning of the year?
WS: Pretty fucking awesome hey!
*everyone laughs*
JP: Life changing. Down to a molecular, spiritual level it was life changing. Beautiful, amazing... We got a very good reception, we played to around two and a half thousand people who, at the end of the show, went very crazy. During the show, I don't think they knew what to do or what hit them.
JJ: This is after the fact that, it looks like it's the same everywhere in the world, our set got delayed three times. Like, "are you ready?" "yes" "oh no, wait, wait another hour". So, ja, that was interesting.
WS: It was really good fun. But I think, for me personally, music is music. It has the same effect in Johannesburg as it does in India as it does in California.
JP: Ja, if you have the same drive and passion, anywhere in the world, people can feel that without even having to have spoken the same language.
Which has been your favourite venue to play at so far, and which venue do you dream of playing?
JP: Probably main stage Oppikoppi for me, but Innibos was also very cool. Strab is my favourite festival to play. It's a bit of a tough one because they all have their own magic about them that make them special. You know, when you get onto a stage and there's people there, they're there to get their minds blown by some cool music. It's about the magic you create with the space you have, so whether it's sticking to the floor at Shivas or running fifty meters across the biggest stage in the country, it's always magical and a special experience for us.
JJ: I would love to play Download Festival [Donington, England]. That would be amazing. Future goals. Or like the O2 Arena [London, England].
JP: It's coming!
Do you have any pre-show rituals or traditions?
JP: Uh, ja, Wayne sucks my dick.
*laughter*
WS: I do?! Gotta find it first.
JP: Well, it's usually found between your bum cheeks mate.
WS: That's what she said. I think anywhere from about an hour to forty minutes before the show, well for me personally but I can see it in the other guys as well, we start getting into the zone a little bit, sort of focusing on the show, you know, gearing up and making sure everything's working. And then we've started a tradition where literally just before the show when we're about to go on, we do a little group huddle, little pow-wow then off we go.
What is the one thing you have to have with you when you go on tour?
JJ: Instruments.
*everyone laughs*
WS: A blow-up mattress.
JP: A pillow. Oh, and a towel.
JJ: A toothbrush.
WS: A sense of humour and a high drinking tolerance.
JJ: And patience.
JP: Petrol!
*laughter*
WS: Moneeeey! Yeah, tour is a different animal.
JP: You know what, you learn through the years what you need. When we first went on tour we were highly unprepared, we forgot everything. I think Cliff forgot socks, which doesn't sound big until you have to put on a pair of fresh socks. So ja, it's kind of trial and error, but there's various things you need to have with you and it's generally the basics to survive. Toothbrush, towel, underpants... and a gigging shirt.
JJ: And a belt!
WS: Hair gel!
What do you miss the most about home while touring?
JP: We have a home? Haha, there's a very good saying that a friend of mine wrote on the wall and it's always stuck with me, and that is "on the road, I have no home, but at home, I have no road".
WS: I think it goes both ways, being on the road playing music outside of where you stay is incredible, so you kind of miss home a little bit but you don't really because you're on the road playing rock music which is pretty cool.
JP: The hardest thing is actually getting back from tour. There's a thing called "post tour blues" and that's a real thing. You're on the road for sometimes up to a month and you develop your own lingo, your own language, your own way and means of doing things, that only the guys in the band will really get, and you're exposed to it for so long that you pretty much adjust your entire mindset to that. When you get back and realise the rest of society's actually normal and you have to start acting normal to fit in again... that transition back into your daily life can be quite difficult, and can take anywhere from like a day to a month.
Wax & Needle: Just in time to go back on tour again.
JJ: Yes.
WS: Depending on how hungover you are.
JP: And broke...
If you can narrow it down to one thing, what is your favourite part of being a touring musician?
JJ: Being able to play music, I would say, for everyone that we can, everyone that allows us to receive them.
JP: Ja, not allowing yourself to go stagnant, because there's so few venues left in your hometown, and this is every hometown around the entire country, that the only way to stay fresh and to understand the dream and why you're doing it is to travel from town to town and have people wanting you to come through there, not like "oh, they're playing again", you know, it's like "finally, they're coming back to our town, we've got to go and see them", and that's always an important thing for us.
WS: The stage. That's all I want, that's all I crave, the stage. And like Josh says, experiencing new cultures and new venues, every town we've played in is different so it's just nice to experience that. But if I personally had to break it down to one thing, it's getting on stage. It's well worth the long hours travelling, the shitty places we have to sleep sometimes, just for that hour where the four of can just net sommer stump, and doing it in a different town is always fun.
Last but not least, if you were stuck on a desert island, what is the one album you would want to have with you?
JJ: Easy... I'll take Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath.
WS: Uhhh, I'm going to go with Grand Funk Railroad E Pluribus Funk.
JJ: Yeaah, nice.
JP: Sjoe, I don't know... I'd rather just take a guitar, then I can play all my favourite songs. And strings! Lots of extra packs of strings.
JJ: Well you can't take two things brah!
WS: We'll keep his Fender and send him with Howzit Pal.
*laughter*
W&N: Ja I think that's cheating Josh...
JP: No I can't choose a favourite album, sjoe, that would be like asking a spinster to choose her favourite cat.
JJ: But she might just give you an answer.
WS: Mr Fluffy!
JJ: The brown one... uh, fuck...
Check out Howzit Pal on Spotify
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| After Robot and Wax & Needle L-R: Joshua Pearlson, Wayne Swart and Jacques Jacobs |
Responses slightly edited for clarity.
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