The Steezies released their flavourful debut ep Snorting Lines of Tumeric in March this year. We caught up with, Hout Bay based Afro-Indie collective, about their unique sound and rock paper scissor champions.
South Africa is one of the most diverse countries with some of the most beautiful cultures living together side by side. Your sound is such a wonderful embodiment of this. What was the inspiration behind this?
Firstly, thank you for the compliment – it really means a lot that our attempts are being well received. The inspiration behind the music was growing up in, and loving, this country for all its eccentricities, complications and beauties. The music jumps from one expression into the next, kind of like how our cultures co-exist with such vast differences, but they still manage to form part of the same broader South African identity.
You guys just launch your debut ep ‘Snorting Lines of Turmeric’. Firstly what a name and secondly what flavourful past time that must be. How has the overall response been?
That past time is in no way to be encouraged! Turmeric is for your mouth, not your nose. The response has been amazing. We never dreamed that we would even play on stage, let alone record an EP. The most incredible thing has been getting videos of people singing along to it from places as far and wide as Vietnam and Nepal.
Chris Auret, in my personal opinion one of the greatest cover artist in SA right now, was the creative genius behind your EP’s art. How was it working with him?
Chris is indeed a creative genius. He also happens to be a close friend of ours. We all came up in the same group of people exploring themselves in various artistic and musical forms. Chris has an intricate knowledge of our personalities, and he channelled that so brilliantly into the EP Cover.
As South Africans, we love to eat. So if the Steezies were a traditional Saffa meal what would they be?
We would be a bunny chow, prepared with rural KwaZulu-Natal Tshisa Nyama, served on Lentil Bobotie. That mix of flavours may be confusing, but then again – so are we.
Music is a wonderful thing that transcends any human-made barricade. You can listen to a song and just feel how it hits through your soul. If you had to choose one thing that people take from your sound what would that be?
I think the overall message we are trying to deliver is that playfulness is one of the highest aspirations of the human condition. We are born knowing how to play, but society has a way of beating it out of us. Playfulness can be a response to hardship and anxiety. I feel that many of our country’s problems could be solved by the mere act of being playful together.
From Rocking The Daisies to Splashy Fen you guys have had some wonderful festival sets. If you had to pick the most memorable one what would it have to be?
Splashy Fen without a doubt. That KwaZulu-Natal audience are so giving and generous, they made us feel like international superstars.
Who is the Steezies rock paper scissor champion?
Lauren Davis (our percussionist), we have a record of her beating myself and Luke Neville (our Trombonist) in a life-size Rock, Paper, Scissors battle in our music video for Mina which you can view here.
If the good people wanna hear more from you and get the latest info where should they go?
Social Media is probably the easiest way:
Soundcloud
YouTube