Werner Bekker

2018 was a year of amazing success for singer-songwriter Werner Bekker.  The Johannesburg native has over five years of experience in the industry, and last year saw him go from strength to strength with shows at some of the country's top festivals, such as Oppikoppi, Mieliepop, Splashy Fen, White Mountain, Lush Festival and more.  He also released two singles, Alive Again and I'm With You, and the latter has reached almost 5,000 plays on Apple Music.  Werner grew up around music, with a touring musician father, so it's of no surprise that he became a musician in his own right.  Werner is set apart from other artists entering South Africa's music scene by offering his own unique style and take to his music, right down to the way he plays his guitar - face-up on his lap, and at the same time using it as a percussive instrument.  With the release of his next single fast approaching on 01 March, closely followed by the release of his second EP on 22 March, 2019 is shaping up to be another great year for Mr Bekker, and I caught up with him to discuss his future plans.

Hi Werner!  So, firstly, what was your favourite part, musically, of 2018?

Werner Bekker:  Ooo... I would say White Mountain festival was probably my favourite part of it all.  It was like a really cool, sit down sort of setting, which was, for my vibe, perfect.  What was cool was there was one stage, extreme, insane, cool lighting, and all the people who want to watch music are watching you at that point, so it gives you lots of people to work with.
Wax & Needle:  It sounds like a very cool environment for your style of music especially.
WB:  Solidly!  Also, so beautiful, the setting was amazing, the people were amazing.  After the shows ended at like twelve or eleven, people go sit around this bonfire, so the whole festival is at this massive bonfire and people just chill there for the rest of the night, which is something you don't regularly get at festivals.

How would you define your style of guitar playing?

WB:  Well, I would say "percussive acoustic guitar", very melodic, so ja I try to not just do rhythm but melody at the same time, and a bit of drums and a bit of bass, so it's like trying to fit a whole band into one guitar.  I detune the guitar quite a lot so the lower frequencies are very massive, and I like that, the warmth of it.
W&N:  And how did you start playing like that?
WB:  I watched a video by Ben Howard, Under the Same Sun is the song, and I learnt that song when I was in school.  We had this talent competition and I learnt that song, so I picked it up there, and then I tried to write some similar songs, and it kind of evolved into its own thing. 

How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it before? 

WB:  Uh... Alternative folk... pop?  I would say...  There's not really a lot of pop in it but there are catchy melodies which I think relate.  So, it's easy listening but still, if you wanna listen to deeper lyrics, you can find that in my music.  Bits of everything, I suppose.  I think you draw from everyone you've ever listened to.  I mean, you listen to the radio every now and then, you can't help but have those kinds of influences in your music. 

Who is your biggest musical influence? 

WB:  Damien Rice.  Yeah, and Ben Howard.  For me, like I'm very picky with music, well, not very picky, I listen to lots, but I always relate it to a good book.  For instance, Harry Potter for me, I've read four or five books in my life but Harry Potter I've read like eight times because I like it so much, I'll just fixate on it, which... I suppose can be a really bad thing haha, but I just love those two artists so much that I generally just listen to them!  *laughter* And then mix some other things in.  Also, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz - very big fan... A new one is Dan Mangan, I don't know if you know him, Canadian guy, and Matt Holubowski. 

Tell me about your upcoming EP.  What is it called, and where did you get your inspiration for the title from?

WB:  The EP is called Parts of a Broken Man, and it's a line in one of the songs, actually the last song on the EP.  The song is called Let it Go.  The song is basically about an argument between friends, family, a loved one, significant other, whoever you want to relate it to, and it's just basically asking them to stop it, let's just stop it and continue as if nothing happened.  In the song, the line goes, in the chorus, "and you'll see me for who I am, just parts of a broken man", and so I felt that all of these songs I've got together are just parts of me, broken little parts of me, all of these little musical parts that are in one thing.  Most of the songs are quite broken, quite sad, which I feel relates to the brokenness. 

What was the songwriting and recording process for the EP?

WB:  So some of these songs are very old, like five or six years old, for instance, the song Let it Go took so many years to write.  I got a cool riff for it but I never knew what to do over it, then one day the emotion just struck and I felt something and it just kind of blurted out.  Loads of the songs I'll start with a riff, some of them were written lyrically first, it's kind of like a mish-mash, I don't really know where I start, it just kind of happens.  The recording process was really cool.  I met this guy, Deon Dee, well, we actually met when we were six years old, and his father owns a venue in Bronkhorstspruit.  My parents were there watching a show, I went with and we met there.  His band went on to win Rock Spider two years later, he was like 10, so he's really been in the industry for long.  I asked to open a show for him and he said cool, and he heard my music and he said "okay, I've listened to your music online and I can hear it's home recorded, so let's do something that's a bit next level".  He took me in, under his wing, him and his friend Ruan Graaf.  They both play for Joe Black.  They helped me produce the album, which was surreal for me because all of a sudden you've got full band sound and stunning quality.  It's so awesome being there, it's what I've always imagined it to be. 

Do you have a release tour planned?

WB:  Yes, a small one.  I'll be doing an EP launch in Johannesburg and in Cape Town, then probably after that I'll do a couple of gigs in Durban.  Maybe, Eastern Cape, I love Eastern Cape.  I've gigged in East London, Cintsa, PE... 

What's your favourite venue you've played so far?

WB:  Yoh, there's a lot.  In Johannesburg, I feel like venues are kind of dying, which is sad for me, and like the venues that are left... the vibe doesn't really speak to me that much, but in Pretoria, I really love Railways Cafe.  When I was in Cape Town last year, Sgt Pepper [Bar/Restaurant, Cape Town Central] was really cool, and then I did Obviouzly Armchair [Backpackers, Observatory].  I think that's my favourite venue at the moment.  It's like a backpackers.  You walk in and there's a bar and on the left-hand side, there's a theatre and that's where the performance was.  If you go through, there are all these people who are sleeping over, all these like hippie folk, just chilling around.  It was really fun.  So, that place has got a special place in my heart.  All my Cape Town friends came through as well, and it's in this like, little dingy place but that's what gives it this awesome atmosphere.  So, ja, I would say that's my favourite venue at the moment.

What is your favourite part of performing live?

WB:  Hmm... I would say getting lost in the music.  I'm not someone who generally interacts with the audience a lot, I'm a bit shy on stage, which is weird 'cause I did drama in school and I was pretty good at it.  I'm used to performing, but when I sing my own music I kind of retreat into my own little world and I don't think loads of people like it *laughter*.  I think for most people they want someone who interacts and looks at them while they sing.  I'm more of the guy who closes his eyes and I just let myself feel everything.  I get lost in it.

Last but not least, if you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

WB:  Yoh...  Shit, that's quite hard, because currently I'm listening to some new music and I do feel like I could listen to it for the rest of my life.  I would say.... ja, Damien Rice O.  It's stunning.  What really inspires me about this album is that he recorded it himself.  He took a little eight-track recorder and some mics, and he travelled around Europe and recorded in his friend's places.  There's a story about him recording the one song's vocal out of a shoe, so he put the mic inside the shoe and recorded the vocals through that.  So it's very experimental, there's lots of distortion.  People don't like it because there's lots of natural distortion from the mics on his vocal and stuff like that... I don't know, to me, it just speaks to me, it's so raw.  The flow of the album is incredible, for instance, over some songs, the last word of the one song is in the first note of the next song, so it just flows from song to song and it's kind of climactic around the last song.  It just builds through the whole album.

Werner's latest single 'Open Spoken' is out 01 March

'Parts of a Broken Man' is out 22 March

Pre-order a copy by sending an email to wernerbekker.music@gmail.com for 10% discount at the launch (cell number must be included).

Hard copies available for collection at shows only.

Catch Werner Bekker at his EP release show at Rumours Lounge on 29 March

Click here to visit Werner Bekker's Facebook page

Check out Werner Bekker on Spotify

Wax & Needle and Werner Bekker

Werner Bekker EP Launch

Responses slightly edited for clarity.

High Violet

The Eastern Cape of South Africa is steadily becoming a melting pot of musical talent.  While the music scene in Port Elizabeth is well established, Jeffrey's Bay is beginning to follow suit, giving rise to a slew of local bands.  One of these bands, formed early this year, are indie fusion rockers High Violet.  The band have been playing shows up and down the Garden Route for the last few months and are one of the bands helping to put JBay on the musical map.  Their line-up consists of Kézia Gerber (vocals), Henry "Major GoodVibes" Dillon (guitar), Fudge “Fundge/Fudgesicles” Odendaal (bass) and Timon "Tinsel" Oosthuizen (drums).  I sat in on one of their practices before their show at JBay's @work Rocking Sports Bar on 28 September and had a chat with them about what their musical future holds.

Hello guys!  So firstly, how did you come up with the name "High Violet"?

Timon Oosthuizen [the newest member of the band]: Well, actually...
*everyone laughs*
Kézia Gerber [to Henry]:  You pretty much invited all of us to be a part of your band, so...
Henry Dillon:  It's kind of like, when I hear music I see picture and colour, I see like a feeling and it feels like "high violet".  When I say the words it sounds like what the band sounds like.
Wax & Needle:  It's a feeling more than a sound?
HD:  Yeah, like when you say "Nirvana", it sounds like Nirvana, "Pearl Jam" sounds like Pearl Jam, "Peppers" sounds like the Chili Peppers, "High Violet" sounds like High Violet.
KG:  And also we use colours in quite a lot of our songs as well.  It's quite visual.
Fudge Odendaal:  Like the one song "Violet Dream".
KG:  And we have a new song coming out that's got hues of orange in!
W&N:  So all the colours, just steadily working your way through the rainbow.
FO:  We're the rainbow nation band.
HD:  Nah, we're not BEE compliant.
KG:  We have a white female in the band, we are BEE.
TO:  Who's pregnant as well!
KG:  Yes! Hello!  Haha, if only it was a little girl...

And what inspired the nicknames?  I know Kézia doesn't have a nickname because her name is already original enough!
 
KG:  I was born with it *sings* maybe it's Maybelline.
FO:  Wasn't mine just a misspelling of my name somewhere?
HD:  What do you want though, "Fundge" or "Fudgesicles"?
FO:  I don't care haha.  "Fundge/Fudgesicles".
HD:  And Tinsel was a present to us because we'd been looking for a drummer for so long, he's like the tinsel that just makes you happy when you see him.
KG:  He's like Christmas, man.
TO:  I wish I made me happy when I saw me.
KG:  That's so sad!
TO:  I know, somebody hug me.
KG:  That's why you're in a band now that brings good vibes.
TO:  Sorry, this isn't a psychology session haha.
W&N:  It's an intervention...

You describe your music as "indie fusion".  Henry mentioned you struggle to fit yourselves into one particular genre.

KG:  We've recently decided that we are "psychedelic garage punk rock".
FO:  That sounds like us.
HD:  So what's the acronym for that? ...PRANG?
TO:  GARP?
*laughter*
KG:  Hey, we're GARP.
FO:  We have the African drum style as well.
TO:  No, no, that's just what happens when you do stuff in South Africa.

Okay, so who would you say are your musical influences?  I know you all come from different musical backgrounds.

TO:  Steve Jobs.  He's always the answer to everything.
KG:  I would say... Chili Peppers, No Doubt because Gwen Stefani is my shit -
TO:  The Cranberries
KG:  Yes, The Cranberries definitely, Skunk Anansie - just 'cause I wanna shout more.
TO:  I would say The Brothers.
HD:  The Brothers?  They influenced you?
TO:  They influenced you.
HD:  Oh definitely, for sure.  Ja, The Brothers, PE band.  I love their sound.
TO:  The ska influence in your music.
HD:  Yeah, 'cause I've always loved ska music, and ska's kind of died, there's not much of a ska thing anymore, so I don't think there's many bands that wanna bring it back.  It's kind of a risky thing to be the band that brings it back, but I think the way we're packaging ska is different in a way, 'cause there's elements of so much else in there.  There's ska, there's punk, there's some psychedelic "Floyd"-y moments, it's got some door stomping shit going on.  It's a very eclectic mix.
W&N:  And then Fudge you come from more of a metal background?
FO:  Yes, but I've always listened to like, both sides of music.
HD:  Yeah who's your favourite band?
FO:  The Beatles.  Muse, The Killers, and then a bunch of death metal bands.
W&N:  So like one extreme to the other.
FO:  And everything in between, as long as it's interesting, not just the same thing over and over again.  It's interesting, it's like what Tinsel said the other day, we experience the same thing in different genres but we like it for the same reasons.
TO:  I like deep house where he likes metal, but there's similar elements in both those two genres.
HD:  It's the solid kick bru.
TO:  Yeah the kick and the rhythms going on underneath.
W&N:  And Tinsel what are your influences?
TO:  Uh, deep house, South African house, Quito, jazz music because I was educated in it.  I'd say really a bit of everything.
HD:  And you can really hear that in his style 'cause he'll play four bars of like a punk groove then all of a sudden boom he'll spin it around and do some kind of African groove.
KG:  I think when you're musical, music can become boring as well especially when you know what's coming next.  At a stage, you can even tell what word is coming next.  Especially with the new pop music that's out there at the moment.  There's nothing surprising about it, there's nothing exciting about it.

How would you describe your song writing and rehearsal process?

KG:  Tinsel, take it away!
*laughter*
KG:  Well, most of the songs that we're doing at the moment were written by Henry, but we construct it together.  Like, we all bring something individual and kind of... special to it.
HD:  I had a bank of music that I'd been writing for years, so it was nice to kick start the band with that.  It's something very different to how I originally wanted it to sound, but it's different playing it by yourself.  Timon brings his thing, Fudge brings his thing, and Kézia too so it's very much a collective now.
TO:  Yeah, I'm even allowed to make a change every now and again, even as a drummer.  That's a huge thing.  Very open-minded band, the drummer speaks sometimes.
HD:  Timon's changed our sound quite a bit hey.
KG:  Yeah it's definitely like the Chemical X, we found it.
FO:  I think the cool thing is, all of us have very specific ways of singing and playing our instruments and we do it that way, we're completely free to do as we want. 
HD:  I'll basically present a song to the guys, then Fudge will do whatever the hell he wants on bass, Timon will do what he wants and Kézia will do what she does, so they all bring their own energy to it.

Is that why you rate each song out of five at the rehearsals?

TO:  That's just because we're insecure.
KG:  We rate out of five before a gig so we can tell which songs we're really shitty at.  It works for confidence.
W&N:  Is it a personal rating?
KG:  Yeah it's a self one.  So like, I feel I should work on this song more.
TO:  We can say yeah I suck at this song so we should do it again.
KG:  And then the band can help you out.  What's cool about that as well is sometimes you feel insecure about a song, but if you don't do it this way then you wouldn't know if someone else is also feeling the same about the same song.

You guys have played a whole bunch of shows since you formed.  Which one has been your favourite, and why?

HD:  I think it was Madison Square Garden...
*everyone laughs*
TO:  Yeah, we turned down Central Park for that one.
FO:  I'd have to say Fairy Knowe [Backpackers, Wilderness] personally.
KG:  I enjoyed Fairy Knowe as well but I think that was the crowd.  It was really intimate and there were all these weird people there.  I really enjoyed Bay Pasta [Jeffreys Bay] as well though.  But that was also really cool because Sonya makes you feel like a rockstar.  Like, there's this backstage area with all these couches and they ask you what you want to drink, what you want to eat, they have all this really good equipment... I wish it was a night show though.
HD:  We've never really been able to make the noise we want to make though, so I don't think anyone's really heard us the way they should.
KG:  I also enjoyed Fairy Knowe because Fudge and I... caged the mascot.
W&N:  Please elaborate?
KG:  We have an elephant mascot called Stompy...  We were in the kitchen making a sandwich with Nik Naks and melted cheese - best sandwich ever - and then we didn't know where to put Stompy because the bedroom was up these really big stairs and there were these cages because it's a backpackers and... we put Stompy in the cage, with his slurp [trunk] coming out like "help me".  The best part was coming back and trying to trick Henry into seeing it without telling him to look.  Just shenanigans, good old fashioned fun.  Stompy gets love from all the girls when we play gigs, they all wanna hold him and push their boobs up against him.  He's had more girls than anyone else in the band.
HD:  He's a groupie magnet bru.
TO:  Well, that's kind of unfair seeing as half the band is either married or getting married...
KG:  We're a different kind of rockstars.  We save all the girls for Stompy.

What are your future tour plans?  Do you plan on playing further afield?

HD:  We're gonna start recording an album now, then we're gonna do a couple of music videos and hopefully launch that album early next year.
KG:  Once we've given birth - 
Odene [Fudge's fiancée]:  And gotten married!
KG:  Yes, and gotten married, just need to get life out of the way quickly.  Plus I think we're going to get lots of artists to collaborate with us on the music videos and stuff like that, so lots of fun things coming.
HD:  We're going to try and get some festivals done next year too.
KG:  The baby's gonna be the new mascot.
HD:  Great time to break the news to Stompy, mid-interview, that he's being replaced.

Kézia, as we've mentioned, you and your fiancé/High Violet stage manager, André Ludik, are expecting your first child soon.  As you're both musicians, do you think he's going to be a musical baby?

KG:  With our luck, he's going to be a science wiz kid who thinks music is for hippies and hobos.
TO:  Which perfectly describes the two of you...
KG:  He's going to be the responsible one in the family who's like "ugh, these fucking parents of mine".  Or he's just gonna be like a little Beethoven and shame us both and we'll just stop making music.  Or maybe we'll just start a family band...  I think he's a bassist.
HD:  You'll have to train him from the ground up though, so first he'll be a roadie for like six years at least before he can even touch an instrument, hand out flyers, you know.
KG:  To be honest though, because of the lifestyle me and André live, the only lesson I want him to learn is that he can do whatever the fuck he wants, as long as he lives his life with passion.  It's hard to be creative, it's hard to be an artist, it's hard to be a musician, but at the end of the day it's better.  You enjoy your life more.

Are you looking forward to having him at your shows in the future?

KG:  We're thinking of soundproofing a camping cot and then just have it there so he can play in it and see everything but not have the music too loud on his ears.  We'll definitely have to change our lifestyles a bit but we'll find balance.  He's probably going to end up more famous than we do.

Lastly, if you could play a show with any band or musician, living or dead, who would it be?

André [from the other sofa]:  André Ludik!
KG:  Haha, yes, I do concur.  Hmm... well, Beethoven would write the soundtrack to my life story.  And I think if Beethoven lived now he'd be a crazy metal head, and I would enjoy hanging out with him.
HD:  Nick Cave, man, totally.
KG:  Oh actually, John Frusciante.  Fuck, I will make music with that man, and my husband won't even mind.  He'll just be like "go, go... can I come with?"
FO:  Either The Beatles or Paul McCartney.
TO:  I'd have to say, I'd love to do something in house music with Black Coffee, definitely, and when it comes to drumming it would be Jojo Mayer, this German Austrian dude.  Crazy man.  Although if I shared a stage with him, I'd probably never play drums again.

Click here to go to High Violet's Facebook page 

 

High Violet and Wax & Needle: L-R (back) Timon Oosthuizen, Fudge Odendaal, (front) Henry Dillon, Kézia Gerber and Stompy

High Violet unfortunately had to pull out of the show last minute.  Rather than introducing their new sound, they'll be introducing their "new mascot" very soon...
*UPDATE*:  Kézia and André welcomed their beautiful baby boy, Aren, on Friday 28 September.  Wax & Needle wish the three of them all the best.  CONGRATULATIONS!
 

Responses slightly edited for clarity.