Exciting times await the six monks, hailing from Pretoria, as well as their fans – they have launched their very first EP! We had a sit down with the vibrant hexad to get the lowdown on their creative processes, possible tours and Strab festival do’s and don’ts.
Right guys, you have made some name for yourself here in our home town. After this launch, will you be planning on touring the rest of Mzanzi?
Definitely! We are looking to take the show on the road wherever it may take us. Durban and Cape Town, have yet to feel the Lectric Gruuv. However we have toured along the Wild Coast and other small towns across SA and plan to do so again, soon!.
So the handful of shows I have attended has had an amazing turn out! Which gig has been your most memorable one and why?
I think it’s unanimous when I say, Fete de la Musique at the Pretoria French Alliance last year in 2017! The buzz in the air, the amazing setting, the incredible crowd, the spirit of music; they all amounted into an amazing and memorable set. #lectriclove
Have there been gigs where it just felt like nothing went according to plan? If this is the case, could you expand on this experience?
Haha… Ofcourse! I think most people forget that there are a million and one things that could go wrong when on stage, by the artist/equipment/instruments/sound engineers and being a six piece band just opens the possibilities for more troubles. The trick is to just play your absolute best and from the heart, and trust the engineer in what they do! There is always something amiss, but mostly you will never know from the front line.
Briefly take us through the journey of putting an EP together. Could you expand on the highs and lows (if any) of this experience?
‘The Six’ has actually been in development for a year or two going back an fourth, being in and out of studio over the last year, we feel that the essence of the music need a bit of time to achieve the sound we had in our heads. Being a big band demands a lot of fine tuning, so we meticulously thought through all the pre-production work, after that, it took one week at Audio Culture, with an amazing engineer, Jaco Naudè. I don’t remember any lows during the process, other than being exhausted after a day in the studio, and the highs culminated into one big high, that is still lingering.
Strab festival is a round the corner and you are one of the headlining acts! Cynthia, as a Strab veteran, could you give our readers a short list of do’s and don’ts derived from personal experience?
Do:
Take a headlamp or torch-finding your campsite at night sometimes, there are some tricky obstacles, monster tree roots = monster bruises. Buy some fresh prawns from the local fishermen, prepare it on the braai. Also, the local restaurants are worth a visit. Oh, and the fresh pao at the shops!
Donts:
Get stuck in the sand with your vehicle. Just don’t… It’s a mission. Don’t Forget sunscreen, enough cash for all of the ice cold R&R’s and 2M’s, you can also bring some old clothes along for the locals. Also don’t miss out! Strab is a really amazing festival, incomparable to any other.
Gary and Francois, could you fill us in on how the band goes about songwriting? And do “creative clashes” occur every once in a while?
Song writing is always something special. There are some creative clashes every now and then but they always prove positive as everyone is always so passionate about the process that a squabble or two is inevitable. It is the same as making any physical art, sometimes it is you have to work hard to get it right, and other times it just comes naturally, but we have the same goal: GRUUV!
Could you tell us which international artists/performers have had the most influence on your approach to music and sound? Who do you find most inspirational?
James Brown, The Beatles, The Meters, The Rolling Stones all have played their part in our musical creation process. Inspiration through many genres. We love a wide variety of music and take inspiration from everyone that makes us want to boogie.
Thanks for the Interview guys!
In case you did not know, you can buy / stream “The Six” here on Apple Music. Go and do that NOW!