EXCLUSIVE - After Robot Part Ways with Clifford Bryan

Last night, Johannesburg groove rockers, After Robot, announced the departure of vocalist and founding member, Clifford Bryan, in an official statement posted to their Facebook page.  While this may have come as a shock to many of their fans across the country, Clifford's departure was announced by the man himself after the band's show at Railways Cafe [Pretoria] on 18 May, due to him having lost a sizeable portion of his hearing.  Although Clifford was expected to join the band for their set at STRAB [Festival, Ponta Malongane, Mozambique] this past weekend, After Robot performed as a three-piece with guest vocals from other artists also performing at the festival, including Jeandré Swanepoel [De Wallen], Warwick Rautenbach [Hellcats] and the infamous engineer/muso Kobus van Rooyen.

With an album freshly released at the beginning of this year and now no official vocalist to perform with, the future of After Robot may seem uncertain.  However, after speaking with Jacques Jacobs (bass) and Wayne Swart (drums), it appears this is not the case.

After Robot at Hard Rock Cafe, Pretoria.  Used with permission from After Robot.  Photo Credit: Sheena Muirden @waxandneedleblog

Speaking of their future plans, Jacques says: "We will still continue to do what we love, as a band and as brothers.  In the words of Freddie Mercury, the show must go on.  Following our performance at STRAB, we all have new visions and new ideas for the future of After Robot.  We're starting work on this immediately as we're excited to bring everyone a new pair of shoes to boogie in."

Wayne agreed with this statement, saying: "A change is as good as a holiday.  I think our passion is still the same and our After Robot-ness is still the same.  So, going forward, we want to come out bigger, badder, louder, and nastier."

After Robot released their second full-length album, The Land of Sirius Fairy Tales and Dreams, back in January.  The album may be the final page in this chapter of After Robot's journey, but if the history of this band is anything to go by, we at Wax & Needle are certainly excited for the start of the next one. 

At the time of writing, Clifford has made no official comment on his reasoning behind leaving the band.


See below for exclusive footage of After Robot performing The Galaxy at STRAB (Video Credit: Tegan Bilse)

Visit After Robot's Facebook Page Here
Check out After Robot on Spotify