INTERVIEW
Teaching Afrikaans as a Foreign Language
Cape Town Today chats to
The Buckfever Underground band members Toast, Jon, Stephen
and Gil about their new album "TAFL" and what it's like
being rock gods.
How did you come up with the
names Buckfever Underground and TAFL?
Toast: We wanted a name
with three parts, The Something Something. Like The Stone
Roses, which was already taken, apparently. 'Buckfever' is
a great word and an even greater experience. When you have
it, you realize how exciting killing can be, so you have
to force yourself to suppress that feeling and undo the
excitement. Because killing is bad. 'Buckfever' is a
curiously alarming thing. The 'Underground' bit was added
because it was better than 'Underpants'. 'The' is just
'The'.
TAFL, because a) it's funny
and b) that's exactly what all sorts of South African
travelers abroad are doing. they're teaching Afrikaans,
Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho etc. They're exporting who and what we
are to everywhere from Mexico to England to Japan. They
don't always paint a pretty picture of South Africa as
they travel, and many are sorry ambassadors for us, but
it's a start. South Africans live in the world now, and
it's time to stop feeling sorry about it. Oh ja, one more
thing, just make sure you come back and do something
useful with your life.
Jon: I didnt. whats
tafl?
Stephen: Tafl is
actually named after Tafel beer (nambian). If it wasn't
for the love of beer (and that one particularly - god
bless the free democracy of Nambia) our latest record
would never have been completed. Oh yah and we changed it
to "Tafl" cos we didn't want to get the pants sued off us,
so don't believe the hype about it standing for any
acronym, alright.
Gil: When we first
started out we weren't really much to look at so we
figured that the most important things was to have a cool
name (after all, you don't know what kind of band you're
in until you know what your name is). It was important to
have 'The' in our name because most of the great bands
have 'The' in their name: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones,
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Bob Dylan, The REM, The
Radiohead. Then Toast came up with Buckfever which is
simply an unbelievably brilliant word even though it's not
in the dictionary unless you're Afrikaans. Finally we put
'The' and 'Buckfever' next to each other on a piece of
paper and began searching for a third word. As you know,
two is a company, and we're not a company. Eventually
after some linguistic fiddling a voice called out from the
heavens and said "hey, do you guys need any help?" and we
were like, "no thanks, we'd rather talk to the guy who
stays underground".
TAFL is because Toast is off
in Korea spreading the western cultural hegemony.
Your music has a unique
sound to it – how did you guys arrive at it?
Toast: By casual
accident, general restrictions on resources and beer.
Jon: About 6 years of
experimentation later, we finally found a musical element
that was actually musical. it was a very strange thing. we
played a gig once where there was a piano on the stage and
we just decided that I was going to play it. It was one of
our best gigs ever and we decided that piano was going to
be the new instrument for the band. The rest is history.
Except for one bit which I won't mention.
Stephen: We all under
went massive breakdowns. I in fact have experienced
several such. You find this with a lot of creative-types.
That and we couldn't be bothered to mimic other bands.
Actually we suck at covers -- we tried for a while to
sound like a mix between Fred Astaire and Nirvana but it
didn't come off very well... You could say that's how I
got the job playing for the Bucks. I’m afraid it's quite
classified, but they killed the drummer. But don't mention
this point when you publish this or we'll break your
freaking nose OKAY! (Oops... Ed Note.)
Gil: We all drive to
Stephens house. Most of the time we find it in his lounge.
Listening to your “sound”
and the content of your lyrics, you just don’t seem like a
regular band. What is Buckfever Underground all about?
Toast: TBU is in the
first place about having a good time with some friends,
because this isn't a band, it's a group of friends who
happen to make music together. We started off with a motto
of 'Beer and Freedom' and it hasn't let us down yet. TBU
is about what you make of it.
Jon: Its about 3 guys
who really enjoying having a good time, improvising and
jamming no matter what musical direction we go in, and one
fu@king brilliant genius poet. I don't know what his
problem is though.
Stephen: We actually
always wanted to be a regular band like Bon Jovi, Creed or
Johannes Kerkorrel even (he's sort of like our hero) but
we sucked so badly. We couldn't even make up our minds on
who would play what instruments. I suppose u could say we
stopped caring. That's about where we're at. It's sort of
like a Buddhist mantra. The first song - "Who Cares" is
actually about a buddhist-type experience Toast goes
through every day of his life. Except that he's too cool
to be any kind of sage or mantra-meditating freak, if you
get my thang.
Gil: The Buckfever
Underground is about the total freedom of human emotion.
It is freedom more often found by drinking beer and having
a good time but we thought it would be fun to do that and
let people watch us and maybe inspire them to do the same.
We're not so much a band as a really good idea.
Who is your audience?T
Toast: We are really
big among high school girls in Pretoria at the moment. Our
audience is sporadic and unpredictable, they match no
target group. Old people have wept at our concerts, though
that might've been because of the smoke. Some people hate
us too, it's a common reaction to our music. We constantly
get emails from friends around the world saying 'hey, I
just bumped into someone in a backpackers in Indonesia
playing your CD'. Who goes to Indonesia? Who are these
people? Currently, here in Korea, about 10 Koreans are
fans of our music. The rest just haven't heard about it
yet.
Jon: That's what I love
about this band. The audience is us! This has been the
most fun band ever and no matter how hard we haven't
tried, its kept going strong. I think its finally in our
blood and we realise its going to be around for ever
whether anyone likes or not. And people do.
Stephen: After the
other drummer left or was fired or had a family crisis or
whatever..get my point, the band started taking on major
audiences (South African terms = 10 people + !). The band
was ecstatic. I mean there was a time when we had to sneak
out the back door, because we couldn't pay for the PA and
all, but today, today we get free bar tabs and mooi
vroumense.
Gil: Officially, we
have thirteen confirmed fans. Three of them are really
famous. Two own live music venues in Cape Town. Three live
in The States and one lives in the middle of nowhere. We
don't know who the others are.
You mention a heck of a lot
of product names in “Who cares”. Why did you do that?
Discovered a new way of making money out of music?
Toast: I can't say I
recall a heck of a lot of product names in 'Who Cares'. I
can't really ever remember the lyrics. We'd like free
product from Lifebuoy though, we really love their soap. I
wash all the time just to smell it. As to the second part
of your question, we have found NO way of making money out
of music yet.
Jon: Yes, we got R50
and they chipped in for a case of beer for every brand
that we mentioned. And that's for EVERY gig we play. I
think we really scored.
Stephen: Sh@t how did
you know? Don't tell anyone but that's how we funded the
album. (small audience = small door money see)
Gil: An interesting
question which can only be answered by saying: we mention
a lot of product names every day but do we discover a way
to make money out of being alive?
Your lyrics seem more a
kind of social commentary than the usual crap about
unrequited love. Where/how do you come up with them? Do
you look at certain issues and then decide to write about
it?
Toast: Like the news,
our songs just come. We don't know what's going to happen.
Sometimes it's a war, sometimes it's a biltong festival.
At the basic level, it's about stuff that happens to us or
our friends or in the world around us. Much of it is
inspired by the classic Colin Fluxman Police File quote
"Keep 'em peeled". There's some love in there too, but
it's not unrequited at all. Because we are handsome people
(except for Stephen), we just have love, no unrequitedness,
which is really just a crap excuse. We really, really,
LOVE love.
Jon: See Toast's
answer. It really is quite a weird thing, we don't listen
to Toast at all (usually the pa system is so bad we can't
hear him). He listens to the vibe that we are in and
chooses a poem that fits. For some reason it works. And
sometimes it doesn't. And when he decides to get hectic,
we go there with him. Eventually we seem to synergise. But
that's what's so cool. It's kind of like punk jazz.
Stephen: What u mean.
The whole sub-text is unrequited.. It's not just love,
it's everything. Unrequited is what we are in the world
today. Usually we look at the western-american-loving
white-ruling media and think "Sh@t - you could write 20
albums on the material there".. most bands have nothing to
say.. We just say what is already there.. Just
highlighting it, you could say.
Gil: I’ll leave that to
Toast. We never really get to hear Toast’s lyrics. That’s
why we record albums, so that we can actually find out
just what it is we’re doing. I remember once we practiced
and Toast had a mic. It was quite cool but I think that
was the only time we did it.
Describe the process you
use in compiling your music?
Toast: Gil, Stephen and
Jon come up with the music. I wouldn't know how to put it
together if it came like a Lego-leaflet. The musicians in
the band (ie, not me, them) are rare geniuses. I am but a
pawn.
Jon: Haha. We get
together. We play. Nothing is planned. After one gig
someone compared us to Nine Inch Nails. Another like
Coldplay. And another someone I'd never heard of. We get
drunk and decide on some chords and depending on how we
feel determines the direction. Except for Steve, he does
whatever we tell him to do.
Stephen: We just walk
in and then start f@cking around. About ten minutes into
all this (we're having fun and all) Toast struts in. He
doesn't often get mad, but this is about the time he
usually lets rip into his Commandant impersonation and
everyone falls in line. One time I remember, Gil tried to
be clever but Toast threw him on the side of the face with
a tambourine (Toast was playing it at the time cause he
doesn't know how to play anything else, but don't tell him
I said that).
Gil: Me, Jon and Steve
work out a couple idea's before each gig. We never used to
practice at all but last year we made a decision to
practice once before every time we played live because for
the first time we had two musical instruments in the band.
Actually, there is not much difference between when we
practice and when we play live (other than the fact that
we are sober when we practice and are usually falling over
drunk by the time we get on stage). We just work through
different idea's until we've exhausted them and that’s the
end of the song. Toast doesn't do much when we practice,
he usually just reads to himself but when we play live
he'll tell us what kind of song we are going to do and we
pull out something appropriate. Eventually some of the
tunes and words start to stick together, but it's not
essential.
What do the different band
members do by day?
Toast: I am currently
in Seoul, teaching by day and writing by night. I am
writing a book called 'Ek & Die Braai', which is about
fishing, brotherhood, love, world politics, Charelize
Theron, metamorphosis, celebrity, the end of the world and
braaiing. On weekends I 'meet new people', ride trains and
find exciting things to eat with my beer: pickled quail
eggs, raw baby octopus, rooster feet and silkworm larvae.
Jon: Something
somewhere in the arts or something.
Stephen: Count the
dollars and cents in a locked up room. They only let me
out when I'm done.
Gil: Walk the fine line
between freedom and destitution.
Who have been your musical
influences, if any?
Toast: Battery 9,
Portishead, The Notwist, Live Jimi Presley, Godessa,
Watkin Tudor Jones jr, The Originz, EL-P, The Beta Band,
Bran van 3000, Valiant Swart, REM, Dorp, Sugardrive, 12Hz,
Die Pienk Prinsessie, Plank, Brixton Moord & Roof orkes,
Felix Laband, Jim White, The Dolly Rockers, Vusi Mahlasela,
Joe Blu, Howlin Wolf, Massive Attack, Saul Williams,
vdWant & Letcher, Lesego Rampolokeng, Saamrou, Skwatta
Kamp, The Kalahari Surfers, Sigur Ros, Bill Evans,
Benguela, Oliver Mtukudzi, Radiohead, Wilco, Neil Young,
The White Stripes, Ivanhoe, Argo, Albert Frost, Ready D,
Prophets of da City, SNG, SOT, Amersham, Gurka, The
Blasting Scones, Lewis Parker, Arab Strap, Weezer,
Princess Superstar, Lightnin Hopkins, Kombuis, Kramer,
(James) Phillips, Kerkorrel and about 10 000 other bands
and musicians.
Jon: I'd actually love
to read Gil's answer on this one. I think he is more a
musical force in the band. He determines the direction
more than anyone else because he has such a unique taste
in music. I'm from like your cheesy rock g-d long haired
freak type musical background. Gil likes weird stuff and
that's cool.
Stephen: I listen to
tons of music. I get bored easily. I listen to traffic
noises, the sound of police sirens as they screech out
above all the quiet suburban wastelands. I hate rock
music. After a few drummers, Toast is a phenomenal
influence on me.
Gil: I totally feel
under pressure. You want a list? The big ones are are REM,
The Sex Pistols, The Stone Roses and Branvan 3000 closely
followed by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Supergrass,
Oasis, Amersham, The Chemical Brothers, Bob Dylan, The
Clash, Vd Want and Letcher, Sugardrive, Weezer, Ivy, DJ
Punk Roc, Neil Young...this is going to on forever.
They’re not really musical influences though, more like
life influences. Generally either bands with a strong
social conscience or those that have managed to break out
of a single pigeon hole. I think I'm more influenced my
movements then by individuals or bands. The Madchester
scene and punk being big ones. I guess some of the
musical influences around the time of making TAFL where
Jurassic 5, Primal Scream, Breakbeat Era, Talking Heads,
Jim White and Aim.
Where can people get your
album?
Toast: Gil, you answer
this one.
Jon: Speak to our
manager. 4 beers to the stage or money to the store.
Gil: At the moment it
is available from www.oneworld.co.za but will be in shops
nation wide in August. We also have two other releases
‘Jou Mede Mens is Dood’ which is in the shops and
‘Survival is Personal’ which is only available from the
band.
What are your plans for the
future?
Toast: We'd like to
keep doing what we're doing until it ceases to make sense.
We'd like to slowly get better at what we're doing with
every album. We'd like to make at least twenty albums.
We'd like to have 1000 fans, all in all.
Jon: Do an
unforgettable performance at Oppikoppi and then Wembley
Stadium. Like I said earlier, one thing we've learnt: You
cant kill this band. so Toast is away. We all know it
doesn't really matter. This band will be around for a
very, very, very long time. No apologies.
Stephen: To play a gig
at Parliament and shake hands with Frene Ginwala (in that
order).. Also to do a short tour of all the dorpies in
Karoo and Northern Cape - around De Aar and Matjiesfontein.
We're a lot more comfortable with small towns (small towns
= small audiences alright).
Gil: Because Toast is
away we might play a few gigs with Zubz from the hip hop
group The Originz. We also might do a couple instrumental
gigs for kicks. We've got a new guitarist so we have to
spend some time breaking him in. When Toast gets back in
the new year we'll go into studio again and we should have
another album out by this time next year.
|
