1. LIFESTYLELIFESTYLE
City itizenSaturdaySaturday
23 July 2016
18
FOKOFPOLISIEKAR: NEW VINYL TO CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF SWANESANG
ʂʂ The kings of al-
ternative rock will
headline OppiKoppi
this year.
Adriaan Roets
I
t’s been ten years since
Fokofpolisiekar released
Swanesang, their last full-
length album. It’s bizarre to
think that a decade after its
release the band hasn’t lost their
relevance or the power to shake
South Africans out of their com-
fort zone.
The band is celebrating their
stake in music history with a spe-
cial Swanesang tour until August.
The tour also celebrates the re-
lease of the Swanesang vinyl and
culminates in a special set at the
Main Stage of OppiKoppi.
Over the years Fokofpolisiekar
have emerged as OppiKoppi stal-
warts, so it’s no surprise that
they’re ending the first leg of the
tour in the holy grail of music.
We asked band members Hunter
Kennedy (HK), Francois van Coke
(FVC), Wynand Myburgh, (WM),
Johnny de Ridder (JDR) and Jaco
Venter (JV) 10 questions in cele-
bration of 10 years of Swanesang.
Fokofpolisiekar is closing the
Main Stage at OppiKoppi this
year. What was the first Op-
piKoppi you played like in com-
parison?
WM: I think our biggest mistake
was arriving at the festival on the
Thursday and we only played at
1am on the Sunday morning. We
were OppiKoppi virgins and it was
a rough few days. This will be our
eighth Koppi. We had the privilege
to headline seven of them.
Have you felt any pressure or
even guilt about not producing
new music under the Fokof-
polisiekar banner?
HK: Pressure, definitely. I have
come to expect a lot from our
group. The last thing I want to do
is to put something out that we
are not happy with. Guilt? Not at
all. I’m proud of the songs we’ve
released since Antibiotika.
Your best survival tip for Op-
piKoppi?
FVC: Pace yourself. I have made
the mistake to go hard on the first
night of Koppi many times.
Why celebrate the release of
the Swanesang vinyl with a
tour?
WM: Swanesang was our last full
length release to date and I think a
great compilation of tracks. It was
an intense three years (2003 to
2006) and everything happened
so fast. We released two EPs and
one full-length before Swanesang
came out. The musical progres-
sion was quick and the pace we
were operating at was intense. I
think Swanesang captured all of
that.
How long did it take to produce
Swanesang?
FVC: I can’t remember how long it
took to write the album, but it was
done in two parts. The album was
recorded in two sessions, about
a month at a time. The lowest
low was just before the first stu-
dio session of Swanesang. Snake
(Jaco Venter) jumped out of the
moving bus and broke his arm.
Justin Kruger stepped in and re-
corded the drums for the first ses-
sion. The media outburst around
the “wallet incident” (where My-
burgh wrote Fok God (F**k God)
on Bobby van Jaarsveld’s wallet)
was around the same time. It was
a scary time with death threats
and cancelled shows.
Are you still able to take the
stage with minimal rehearsal
like the old days?
TEN YEARS ON. Jaco
Venter, Francois van Coke,
Johnny de Ridder, Hunter
Kennedy and Wynand
Myburgh.
Picture: Jaco S Venter
Then and
now
JV: Fortunately/unfortunately
Fokof isn’t known as a band that
rehearses a lot. Once in a while
Wynand changes up the setlist
and lets us know if there is an
oldie that we haven’t played in a
while.
The band has released its name-
sake beer, who manages that?
HK: Almost all of the stuff is
Wynand’s baby. He is the driver
of the well-oiled machine. He, of
course, runs any plans past us,
but by that time it’s already a well-
formed strategy. Snake (Venter)
helps out with the selling of the
beer. I help out by drinking it.
You keep attracting crowds
even without dropping new
material in years. How?
JDR: I’d say it’s a combination of
“right place, right time” and hard
work in our forming years. I also
think we offer something very
specific to our fans, which they
might struggle to find elsewhere.
I’m sure some fans had to take a
break from us, but let’s hope the
fatigue never kicks in for the rest.
The musical landscape changed
a lot in 10 years, how do you
adapt?
JV: It has changed quite a bit on
the surface but the same princi-
ples remain. For instance, when
social media came out there was
a sweet period when you could in-
form all your fans what you were
up to and you didn’t have to pay
for your reach, but now it’s back to
paying for posters/flyers, whether
online or just putting them up in
the real world. We’ve learned to
constantly have content you could
create shows around – doccies,
books, beers, singles ...
Do you feel the same excite-
ment when returning to old ma-
terial?
JDR: Most of the fokof tracks has
become part of our DNA and it’s
always fun to play them, especial-
ly when the crowd helps out.
Catch up with the band
and their involvement in
other projects on their
website or order your
own copy of Swanesang at
fokofpolisiekar.co.za
info
CatchtheSwanesang
tourhere:
ɳɳ Today: Mystic Boer, Bloemfon-
tein
ɳɳ August 5: The Assembly, Cape
Town
ɳɳ August 6: OppiKoppi, Northam