The Chiz : dirty skirts

Gig Picks for The Weekend

David — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:43:50 GMT

OK, so it has been one hell of a long hiatus, but i am back and not just with flyers and rubbish either!

I have decided to post gigs for the week earlier in the week too... so you guys can plan to actually get to shows! LOL!

Here is a selection

Civilised: BLK JKS and the Greenhouseffect
Date: 13 September 2007
Line Up: BLK JKS and the Greenhouseffect
Venue: The Bohemian, Park Rd, Richmond, JHB
Telephone: 011 482 7461
Cover: R20
Time: 20:00

The Slashdogs
Date: Friday 14th September 2007
Line-Up: The SlashDogs (Pta), The Mochines (CT), Rokkeloos (Jhb), End Of My Leave (Jhb)
Venue: Cafe Arc (Pretoria, Hazelwood, under Gaslight Video)
Telephone: 011 482 7461
Cover: R30
Time: 20h00

The Slashdogs
Date: Saturday 15th September 2007
Line-Up: The SlashDogs (Pta), The Mochines (CT), Rokkeloos (Jhb)
Venue: The Bohemian, Park Rd, Richmond, JHB
Time: 20h00
Cover: R30

The Dirty Skirts
Date: 16 September
Line-up: The Dirty Skirts
Venue: The 88 Lounge, William Rd Norwood, Jhb
Cover: T.B.A
Time: 21H00

KwaZulu Natal

The Hellphones and Japan & I
Date: 15 September
Line Up: Hellphones, Japan & I and Gonzo Republic
Venue: Burn, Walls Avenue Durban
Contact: 011 482 7461
Cover:R30
Time: 20:00

Ladies And Gentlemen: The Dirty Skirts!

David — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:54:52 GMT

Fresh back from SXSW in the USA and getting ready for their album launch in JHbon 30 March, the Dirty Skirtsd answered some of my questions and ducked one or two as well, check it out1

1) The Dirty Skirts: Zero to Indie hero almost over night. Or not? How has it really happened for you?

Hmmm. I doesn’t quite feel like an overnight ‘arrival’. Never mind the ‘indie hero’ tag! Maybe we’ve been lucky enough to move a lot faster than other South African bands from an exposure point of view. Looking back on the last two and a bit years of being on the SA circuit, I’d say that bare faced cheek would be one component that has allowed us access to gigs and media that we possibly didn’t deserve. We simply asked, and more frequently than not, received.

2) Your sound is really on the bleeding edge of what is hip and cool right now on the global scene. Did you get lucky or did you try and aim for a current international sound?

Quite a lot of it comes down to happenstance. Personally, my musical roots delve deep into the coffers of 70s/80s post punk sound, and I’d been into that a long, long time before it became hip again. That said, we are aware of what is happening internationally, and quite consciously carving out a space we can call our own. A few of us enjoyed the pill-popping times of the late 90s a little too much, so that may come to have a place in our sound too.

3) There have been accusations from various quarters that, no matter what the bands merits are in terms of live performance, work ethic and so on, that your sound is very derivative and not too original. What do you say to these naysayer’s?

I am amused, but each is entitled to their view. I think you could say the same of the Kaiser Chiefs, My Chemical Romance, Cold War Kids, whatever… the list goes on. The musical roots that each of these bands draw from is very clear, and the points of differentiation from their peers is fairly subtle. I think what marks a band out is the development of a ‘unique voice’ within that sound, an alchemical combination of the musical parts that make up their sound, the lyrics and their song writing in general. And success of course, it kind of validates what they’re doing, doesn’t it? We found that on tour in the UK and the States that we sounded very different to all the bands we saw. That said, we are constantly evolving, so from here, who knows where?

4) Jeremy and David you are both experienced campaigners on the live Cape Town band circuit, although neither of you seem to have been around for a bit. Please tell us your musical genealogy.

I doubt anyone will remember the bands, so I’ll pass on this one if you don’t mind, Dave? We were all hibernating, dreaming up an amusing new dream.

5) There is a lot of talk around SA right now about the indie sounds, and the indie way of doing things. Do you think this is credible? Are musicians just jumping on the band wagon or do you think it reflects a sea change in attitude for rock bands in this country?

I think there is a bit of a sea change, most likely driven by necessity more than a romantic indie ethos. Most of us have given up on being ‘rescued’ by a big label that performs the sugar daddy function. In the mean time, we get on and make the best of our situation, yes? The skirts turned down the option of signing to a local label in order to explore doing it ourselves. We’re getting on fine, as are many other indie bands in SA.

6) Do you find being based in Ct is a help or a hindrance to you progress in SA terms?

I don’t think it’s a hindrance at all.

7) OK, so SXSW… how the hell did that happen? Can you talk us through it and what it means to you guys?

Um, well we applied and we were among the few that got invited, as were three other SA artists. It was an amazing experience. We saw hundreds of bands and definitely came to the conclusion that all of the bands we know and love in SA would kick ass at that festival. There was a lot of derivative, dreary music on show. That said, we also saw some very, very inspiring stuff. We were awed by the theatrical majesty of The Polyphonic Spree. Bloc Party was amazing (David throws a CD on stage from 50m out in a 4000 strong audience and manages to hit Kele square on the head. Kele: “Thank you very much for that! This is one CD I won’t be listening to. Only joking mate”). Perry Farrell wasn’t amazing. In NYC, Matt and Kim, a 2 piece band from Brooklyn, were fantastic. Professor Murder were great too.

We came out with a lot of contacts, some offers in the US, UK and Japan, and more confidence. We got CDs to a number of magazines (incl. the editor of rolling stone) and great labels. In the end though, we had a priceless time.

8) How focused are you on the idea of achieving success outside of South Africa? For that matter, how focussed are you on achieving success INSIDE South Africa?

Very, on both counts.

9) OK, you’ve just released your debut full-length album. Yourselves, no producer, no manager, no record label. Why this way round?

Sings: “Nobody… does it better”. We’re independent spirits really. We like doing it ourselves. We’re suckers for burnout.

10) The album has distinctly less keyboard and electronic elements on it than the EP you released previously, why is that?

In short, we got a drummer. At first, we tried having Mark on electronic pads but found that we lost our audiences a bit. At the bottom of it all we’re just experimenting and having fun. The next album will differ from On a Stellar Bender” as much as the latter differs from our EP.

11) If there was any one thing that this band has done in the last 2 years that has resulted in your current reputation and status, what would say it was?

We’ve been unafraid of fucking up.

12) What are you hopes and intention for the album, “On A Stellar Bender”?

We’d like to tour the world with it. We’d like to develop an intimate relationship with a worldwide audience. We’d like to make some cashiola.

13) Lastly, where do the Dirty Skirts want to be by the end of this year? Is there a game plan?

We’d like to have around 200,000 – 500,000 page views on our myspace site. We’d like to have recorded our second album. We’d like to tour Europe and the US again, and visit Japan. We’d like to keep enjoying ourselves as much as we have for the last two and a half years.

SXSW: You're invited, but you can't come!

David — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 04:32:31 GMT

In the eighties there was always talk that politics and sport just shouldn’t mix, and that a sports boycott to match the various economic and political sanctions that South Africa was exposed to just should not be.

Being a teenager at the time, I don’t know that I had a very clear view either way on this one, but I do think, looking at Zimbabwe now, that there is no point in sanctions unless they are employed across the board to apply pressure to governments. How can you say that a certain government can’t sell its gold and iron ore to the worlds because of their human rights violations, but its OK for their poster boys, their sports teams, to tour the world at great expense?

What I have realised is that politics bleeds into every single aspect of our lives. Take the SXSW festival for example. SXSW is dedicated to discovering the new, the emerging, the independent. It takes place in Austin, Texas, every year in the USA. As an organisation, SXSW regularly invites bands from all over the world to come and show-case their talents over there. Right now The Dirty Skirts, Chris Letcher and Harris Tweed are there, strutting their stuff and representing South African pop music. The Wild Eyes should have been there as well, but their visa application was turned down.

The whole story is here: Lloyd Gedye’s Piece on The M&G

Basically, the visa requirements for a performing artist going into the USA, even when invited by an organisation as credible as SXSW beggar belief. Either SXSW has not done their homework and negotiated with the US equivalent of home affairs effectively, or the USA is hell bent on retreating tortoise like into their shell.

The Wild Eyes were initially required to submit a number of international press clippings as part of their visa application. I don’t know how the other three bands got round this (well except for Letcher) but they did. The wild eyes couldn’t. the article reveals that getting into the USA to do this fest cost Harris Tweeds Label about R60 000.00!

But you see the sting in the tail of all this is that all the other bands have nice WASP-like names. The singer of The Wild Eyes is a young man called Nikhil Sing…. Surely far too close to being Muslim for the USA government!

But who knows? The mere fact that one label had to fork out R60K to get their band in appals me! Surely the whole idea is to showcase acts that are independent and by definition don’t have money? What’s the point of being invited if the organisers don’t ensure you can get in to play? I can see SXSW’s credibility as an international showcase being eroded if this is allowed to continue. I mean, what kind of a showcase routinely invites artists that then are denied access to the country? And what kind of organisation stands by and lets this happen? Doesn’t address the situation to make some kind of plan?

What boggles my imagination in all of this is the arrogant US assumption that everyone wants to move there! Fuck that1 I’d rather stick hot needles in my left testicle than move to the states, and I know I am not alone in that sentiment.

So, sorry Wild Eyes, you would have blow them all away, I know. Let’s hope the artists that DID make it into Fortress USA can do it for us, and spark some kind of global interest in out music market. No pressure….