What's up guys? Looking forward to getting the new album out there tonight?
Adriaan Louw: Definitely!
Pieter Bekker: Perhaps.
*laughter*
Jeandré Swanepoel: Definitely maybe...
PB: There's a lot of money to go into it, that's not a positive factor ever.
JS: Alright so, if I can give you a breakdown of where we're at, at the moment, I think it's been two and a half years since our last release and basically we got together and decided like, fuck man, when's the last time that we actually did something? And we were like, cool, well we're gonna do a new album, but not just that, we're gonna do a tour, but we're gonna do it abroad. Hence we're here now, two and a half years later, still kicking, still recording, still trying to find funds, but we're touring and we've got the whole entire album recorded -
PB: Twice!
JS: Twice, ja. We weren't happy with the first cut so, ja. Pretty much, that brings us to where we are today. Pieter?
PB: Ja, pretty much it's our third baby so we wanted to make it something special. With the previous albums we were always pretty strapped for cash, as we are still now, but it was more a thing of we needed to get something out, but at the moment we don't feel that need to put out something new, we feel the want to put out something new. If we want it and we don't need it, we feel like, cool, let's rather make it something special, let's be one hundred percent satisfied with what we put on the record, instead of being like, it sounds great, it gets released and feeling like uh I'd really like to change this if there was another grand to go into the studio for another day.
AL: In other words, we have a big, fat, raging boner that needs to be shared with everyone and not kept to ourselves.
PB: Ja, but we wanna make it a great boner, not an average boner, a big one, like a Nigerian one.
*everyone laughs*
JS: 'Cause nothing says good times like a big, old, fat, twelve inch, Nigerian boner.
PB: In our own opinion... We're not stating that as a fact.
Adriaan Jordaan: Ja, keeping that to yourself is a sin, so ja, you need to put it out there.
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| Used with permission from De Wallen. Copyright Dirk Odendaal - @dirkodie |
What was the writing and recording process for the album?
PB: Well... to state that there was a process would be very forgiving. We decided to do something different to what we usually do, as opposed to writing an album and going into studio and recording said written album, we had about three of the tracks written, one of them was slightly produced, the rest we just had small ideas for.
AJ: Most of them were finished a few minutes before we started recording.
PB: Ja like the one song was actually just like, hey, well we have some more time in the studio, do you guys wanna add an extra track? Ja, like, give us a few minutes and a Black Label, and we'll whip something up. It actually turned out to be one of our favourite tracks on the album.
JS: We've never done this process before. Usually, 'cause I'm quite anal when it comes to the writing process, like I do most of the writing myself, then I'll bring it to the rest of the band and we'll workshop around that, so it's been quite -
PB: Liberal.
JS: Ja, it's been quite a process for me, handing that over to the rest of the guys, handing that responsibility over, but I'm very glad to report they have exceeded expectations, and then some.
Tell me about the title of the album. How did you come up with it?
PB: I think the best way to explain the album name is to say the original album name. We played STRAB [Festival, Ponta Malongane, Mozambique] last year and we were backstage probably half an hour before our set. We were chatting with the guys from The Black Cat Bones, who we've known through touring Joburg, we've stayed with them off and on, and they told us "yeah your next album should just be called 'Drink, Fuck, Fight', 'cause that's all you guys ever do", and we were like yeah that's a pretty good album title. We took that idea to heart when writing the new album, and it's actually a backup vocal piece in one of the new songs. We were like, this is great but we've already got some explicit vocal tracks on the album that you'd be like "hey, Gran, I think you'd love this", so we decided to play around with the name and just take that idea and state it some other way.
AJ: Same idea, just more refined.
JS: Also, myself and Pieter come from a classical background, and I remember me and him having a chat one day about how our music teacher in high school would turn in their grave if they ever heard what we were churning out thus far. I was like, what if we just change the schematic completely so we fuck with them, and we bring something to the fold that they're not used to. A sonata is a three piece movement and this is our third album, so I thought how much more applicable this would be if we made this a sonata. 'Cause our first one was an absolute fucking cacophony, if you can call it that, a grand fuck up of sounds together. Our second one was totally refined, we knew what we were doing, and our third movement is the one where we show off, where we take into consideration the last seven years that we've been through, and bring it all together, meaning that it's the third movement, making it a sonata, and what more applicable than a street fight sonata?
AJ: It all comes back to balance. I think the name Street Fight Sonata instead of Drink, Fuck, Fight, it all comes into the balance. It's just as rugged as it is beautiful.
You say your sound is inspired by a large number of genres. Who would you state as your biggest musical influence?
PB: Yoh, that would completely be different for everyone. We have small general influences that we all listen to, but I know like, myself, I'm very into my old-school hip hop and rap, and then going from that into like battle metal, so that's my jump. It's a very diverse mix, like none of us have a favourite band or influence that is similar.
AL: It works for the recipe.
PB: Ja like, on the new album, you hear it in the tracks. One will be straight up rock 'n' roll, another one's got a bit of a psych feel, another one's like metal and then another's like "hey, I love you". You can kind of feel that clash of personalities coming together to make like a big hug of rock 'n' roll.
JS: I think I've got too much to state now.
AL: I would say your influence is mostly Rolling Stones.
JS: Ja, something between Stones and The Darkness, but then there's also modern day, like a lot of post-punk movement in the sense of like, Eagles of Death Metal, especially the way they approach the limitations toward the band, and that is something that I'm very wary of and write towards. So it's got a bit of that influence but then of course, it's basically, how can I make whoever is listening to this change their current mood? I draw influence from any of the previous artists I've listened to who've made me feel that way.
AJ: For me, I enjoy patterns, so any genre or any band where I find something interesting, I like to explore it. For a long time I took for granted how complex 4/4 can be, so I listened to more straight rock 'n' roll music, and I actually listen to dynamics, like feel and groove. A big thing for me was Royal Blood, for me writing my piece on the album that was a big influence. And then something that I want to try embody on drums is like, if you think about Rise Against, that whole punching vibe, like it stands for something and I want to try and communicate that, not even with vocals, just through how I play it, the dynamics, through power and through slow downs and weird patterns, through straight... Ja, I want to try and fuse like, 'cause I love lyrics and I want to try and fuse that with drums, just playing, so ja, that's where I'm at, at the moment.
AL: I think, I was always the guy joking about the bassist, but then I told Jeandré the one day, on New Year's, just check me with a bass, let me just do the songs and we try to play them. So that aspect, I think, like Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, that fake it 'til you make it... I don't consider myself an excellent bassist but I play the songs, and I think that way it's a very punk aspect. And you'll see that if you see my bass as well, it's a very punk bass.
What is the main thing you're looking forward to about the European tour?
JS: Not fucking burning out in the African sun.
AJ: Pieter wants to see snow!
PB: I'm stoked to see snow, I'm stoked to go back to The Netherlands. I've been there once before and I was only there for twenty-five hours, but I completely fell in love with the country and the people there, so I'm really stoked to go back. None of them have been there before so I'm stoked to go back and show them the cool spots I found within that day. The biggest thing for me was after getting off the plane, it's like cool, another airport. As soon as you walk outside it's just this jumble of different people, like half the time you can't understand seventy percent of the languages being spoken, but no one makes you feel weird, it's such a loving country, such a loving group of people, and I think it's a big thing coming from Cape Town. In Cape Town, there's a big clique-y vibe, you're either part of these kids or you're part of those kids and I came into The Netherlands as no one, didn't know anyone, and I was walking down the street and a guy was like "hey, how you doing dude? What's your plans today?" and I was like.... that's kinda weird, brother, asking me that, then a second guy did it, the third guy asking me I'm gonna ask to just go for a beer. It's such an inviting country and I've heard good things about the music scene, so also exploring that vibe in a musical sense, I can't wait to see how people react, see if they're that friendly as people.
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| Used with permission from De Wallen. Copyright Dirk Odendaal - @dirkodie |
For anyone who's yet to see a De Wallen show, how would you describe what happens when you hit the stage?
AJ: Organised chaos.
*laughter*
JS: Ja, organised chaos, I think, is the most diplomatic way that we can state it.
AL: Like our Facebook profile says dirty and sexy in the same breath. You'll be thinking "what the fuck?" and "wow" at the same time.
JS: And if you don't then we didn't do a good job.
PB: But it's a very specific understanding for dirty sexy, it's not as simple as people make it out to be but when you see it you'll know what it is. It's not really something you can explain.
AJ: You have to be there.
What's the strangest thing you've experienced on tour?
*everyone laughs*
PB: Yoh, other than my own actions?
AJ: Well, last time we played at Aandklas, Pieter called the cops on himself...
JS: Ja, that's pretty much the weirdest thing that I've ever experienced.
PB: All I want to say is that I was framed, and I know why, but I won't discuss it.
Wax & Needle: You were framed by yourself?
PB: Ja. I was definitely framed but for my own protection I'm not gonna say about what.
JS: And real talk right now, if I have to ever state the weirdest thing that happened to me on tour, if you would have told me about what we are going through and what we have been going through the last seven years the first time I entered the music scene, I would have told you to fuck right off. That's actually the weirdest thing that's happened on tour, is that we actually now get to be house friends and share stages with people that have inspired me, inspired us and will continue to do so for many years. From legends in the scene to the next biggest thing in this country, I've had the privilege of sharing a stage with them and I think if there's one lasting legacy that I am alive in, I can say proudly that I lived in a time when that happened.
PB: Ja, we've slept in many of their living rooms.
*laughter*
Lastly, if you could only listen to one artist for the rest of your life, who would you pick?
JS: *screams* MOTORHEAD!
AJ: Tool, definitely Tool, ja.
AL: Jis, I would have said Fokofpolisiekar but these last two albums, fuck it, Francois, I hope you hear this, you disappointed me. Um... Nirvana.
PB: I have so many options in my head...
AL: Hopsin, dude.
PB: Ja, I'd probably say Hopsin. Ah, my brother from a different mother.
Check out De Wallen on Spotify
Click here to visit photographer Dirk Odendaal's Facebook page
Responses slightly edited for clarity.
Click here to visit photographer Dirk Odendaal's Facebook page
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| De Wallen L-R: Adriaan Jordaan, Adriaan Louw, Jeandré Swanepoel and Pieter Bekker |
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| De Wallen official tour dates |
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| Used with permission from De Wallen. Copyright Dirk Odendaal - @dirkodie |
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