They’ve come a long way since their debut single ‘Sun In My Pocket’ smashed records when the album was released in 2010. These days, they’ve got a hot new album titled The Odyssey, two 2014 SAMA nominations and they’re constantly touring the country rocking gig after gig. I sat with the boys last week for a little catch-up. Here’s what went down:
Your sound has changed a lot over the past few years, was this always the plan?
We can’t even say it was a plan! It sort of just happened. The music we listened to during the Sun In My Pocket stage is so different to the music we’ve been introduced to recently so we have a lot more influences now than we did back then. Unlike a lot of pop musicians who make about 50 songs before they boil it down to an album, we will only record 13 tracks and work hard on those.
Do you create music with the consumer in mind?
We think there needs to be a balance. What we will do is that we will only release a record that we think is cool. If we didn’t consider them, our music would be a lot more wack than it already is! On Running To Midnight we tried our best to “pop it up” as much as we could and that landed up being one of the albums that didn’t do that well. That’s when we decided that we need to make music we like but have the consumer in mind as well. We’re not kidding ourselves and know that we’re in the mainstream market and we definitely make music that is relevant to that.
After Running to Midnight you released the Faster Longer Mixtape. Was this because you wanted to test the waters with regard to your new sound?
Kind of. That became clearer as we went forward. People started to take us more seriously when we started experimenting with this sound. When we wrote Closer, we wrote it for someone else and played it to the head of our label to get his take and he suggested that this be our new single. We knew it was a bit different to our normal stuff but thought we should see what happens. The LCNVL wasn’t a name change, it was just a repositioning of the brand and it’s way easier for people to spell because no one can spell Locnville. Also, during the Sun In My Pocket days, people didn’t like admitting that they liked us and it used to drive us mad so the repositioning definitely helped us step out of that.
You’ve incorporated a few instrumentals into the record, why?
Most of the instrumentals are just made by Andrew and sometimes the music speaks louder than words do. MiBot and tracks like that are so over the place that vocals would detract from the chaos from the music.
Your new single $exx is quite raunchy. What was the inspiration behind that track?
The whole concept was a joke we had back in 2012 when we actually wrote that hook but it wasn’t in the same melody. We had about three different beats that we tried to put that chorus on to and eventually found the right melody. We wanted to work with Ross Jack for a while and we thought that track would be perfect. We weren’t going to call it ‘$exx’ in the beginning but after speaking to each other we thought we might as well just say it. No one seems too shocked which is great as well.
You’ve achieved so much at such a young age, what do you think set you apart from the rest?
We think it’s because we switch things up so regularly. You can never know what to expect next with us and we think it keeps things interesting. Every record will be different from the last and even though there may be influences but we are always trying new things and keeping new fresh. Also, we’re heavily involved in the industry itself and are very hands on. Also, we take our time which is important as well.
You’ve lost and gained fans over the past few years. Is this something you worry about?
As much as everybody else is growing up and liking new things, so are we. That’s a natural evolution. It’s never a conscious thing because no matter what, there are many others who think what we do is cool so it’s not too big of an issue. People have told us to go back to our old sound or that all our songs sound the same and that we’re monotone and it’s something you can’t focus on too much. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt.
What part of the entertainment industry do you dislike the most?
The whole preconceived notion of being a “celebrity”. We’re lucky that our fame is confined to Africa and a few European countries but the constant recognition and the fact that someone always has something to say, that gets highly irritations sometimes. Sometimes you wake up in a bad mood and all you want to do is go get something from the store and you can’t. Also, people expect you to be a dick. People have said to us “Oh, we thought you guys were such assholes but you’re actually lovely guys” and we guess that’s what happens when you are a celebrity.
What’s the next dream?
We would lobe to produce for a lot more artists. We’ve produced a few tracks for CARA and Sway in the UK and about three productions for Lakota’s new album so we definitely want to dab more behind-the-scenes but on an international interview.
Check out other questions in People Magazine South Africa next month.
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