Well my prayers were answered pretty much the next day and before I knew it I was knocking back some smoky Double Black and tearing it up to this gritty, gutsy, killer blues album.
Black Water is how the blues were made to be played. It’s honest, unrepentant, wild and free and I loved every minute of it.
Take equal parts of Albert Frost and Dan Patlansky, throw in some Ray La Montagne for good measure and mix it up in a giant, bubbling cauldron of 12-bar blues and you’ve got Gerald Clark.
With a whisky-soaked voice that sounds like it’s straight from the Deep South and an arsenal of soaring, foot-stomping monster blues riffs, Gerald’s packing more than just an ace or two up his sleeve on Black Water, and he ain’t afraid to use ‘em.
Sick Tracks:
The album’s title track Black Water really is something else. It’s thumping, driving bass beats reminded me a little of the Kongos track “I’m Only Joking†and creates this perfect, sinister accompaniment to Gerald’s virtuoso slide-guitar.
It’s shit-kicking blues at it’s very best. A song about the bad ways of beautiful women. Sheer poetry I tells ya.
The album’s opening track “It Ain’t You†is a perfect taste of what to expect on the album. It plays out slow and steady as Gerald eases you into a world of unrequited lust, sin, vice, virtue and everything inbetween.
His vocals on “It Ain’t You†are a thing of wonder. He belts them out gritty as a rusted old freight-train on a one-way track to either salvation or damnation. Either way, it’ll get you hooked right from the get-go.
“Ain’t Going To Heaven†is also a great track. Gerald shifts gears on this one, going for a lighter, livelier, easy-breezy melody. I had a good chuckle at the chorous where Gerald sings “No I ain’t going to heaven / It’s the only place I’ll have to face herâ€. Hahaha! What a badass.
It’s not all hellfire and dirty, gritty, foot-stomping blues though. Gerald also lays down some sweeter melodies in quieter, more introspective tracks like the instrumental “Late Night Blues†and the light-hearted “Marry Meâ€, proving beyond a doubt that this man has some serious songwriting chops.
Should You Give A Shit?
Oh hells yeah you should give a shit! Goddamn! You should give two shits! Black Water has it all and whether you’re into heartfelt, badass blues or not, you’ll find a good couple of tracks on this album that will speak to you in one way or another.
To give you a taste of how sick this album is, here’s “Ain’t Going To Heaven†to sink your teeth into.
Excitement for this year’s Rocking The Daisies 2012 is mounting party people! Three sleeps and I’ll be there, cracking open a cold one at Camp Tiger and letting the good times roll.
So in this, the last instalment of my must-see bands, I am going to be tackling the bands you can’t miss on the main stage on Saturday.
Sure, there are other stages and other bands I could be covering, but as mentioned before, I can’t research every band at the festival so if there are other acts you think deserve some love, hit me up in the comments section.
If you’re also in this for the long haul from Thursday to Sunday, then Saturday is either going to make or break the festival for you.
Thursday night you’re probably gonna go balls to the wall and the same goes for the entire day on Friday so by the time Saturday rolls around you’re going to feel like you need a blood transfusion to boost the level of blood in your alcoholstream.
The trick to getting Saturday right will be to take it as super easy as possible during the day. Go for a dip in the dam if you’re feeling brave, indulge in a hot Woshbox shower, get a hearty breakfast in you and down at least a litre or two of orange juice and as much water as you can handle.
Flush your system out, rest up as much as possible and don’t even think about hitting the sauce until at least 4 or 5 in the afternoon because it’s gonna be a looooooooooooooong night and you want to be as fresh as possible when the big acts of RTD12 take to the stage to melt faces.
Though the main stage kicks off at 10am, I’m probably only going to mosey on over there at 12.10pm to catch Southern Gypsey Queen (featuring Al Frost).
It’ll be a bit like holding a defibrillator to my chest, cranking it to 11 and hitting the “charge†button (watch the video below and you’ll see why), but I do love me some loud, bluesey rock and roll.
This is the band sans Mr Frost – throw him in there and you’ve got a guaranteed recipe for face-melting good times.
Dig that drummer. What a flippin boychay.
After that it’ll be time to grab a bite and head back to your campsite for some R&R in the shade. Or go have a float in the dam (inflatable lilos are a must. Or you could go the Tiger route and take an entire inflatable BOAT. Bada-BANG!).
At 2.20pm Moving House are lighting up the main stage, a supergroup of sorts consisting of Andre Pienaar (Ashtray Electric) and Rob Davidson (ex Zebra & Giraffe).
I haven’t been able to find any of their material, but if I can summon the strength, I’ll definitely go check them out just based on the merit of their two previous bands.
The next band to watch out for will be Jeremy Loops at 6.05pm, who is one seriously talented guitarist and songwriter.
As the name suggests, this guy’s loop pedal skills have to be seen to be believed. One man. One guitar. And here’s what he’s capable of:
Insane sheeit right?! People who use loop pedals like that fascinate me because if they fuck up one of the loops, the whole song falls apart. So yeah. No pressure.
After that it’s Desmond And The Tutus on the main stage, but I’m gonna leave that one totally up to you guys.
The new single (“Zim Zala Bimâ€) has been murdered on local radio to the point where when it came on 5FM the other day the guy in the lane next to me deliberately swerved into oncoming traffic.
But let’s not forget what these guys are capable of. Here’s “Tattoo†off their most recent album Mnusic in case you need some reminding:
After that, run away.
Arno Carstens is up next and he’s probably going to play material off his new album, Atari Gala which, if the first video “Two Dogs†is anything to go by, could very well send you spiralling into a post-90s, ballad-rock depression guaranteed to kill whatever buzz you might have been feeling up until that point.
My advice would be to go line your stomach and start drinking heavily. It’s time to up your game, once Arno clears out it’s going to be two and a half hours of bone-rattling badassery, starting with Shadowclub, the made-in-SA version of The Strokes.
Funny story is I interviewed these guys back in ‘08 before they skyrocketed to fame. I used to do this fucked up show on UJFM called The Tuesday Night Bandslam With Rick Hunter And Al Burton (I was Al Burton).
Myself and Graumpot would go around with a roving mic and arrange to interview bands in weird places like bowling alleys, the Zoo Lake, the planetarium and in the case of Shadowclub, the putt-putt course at Fourways.
Our sound equipment kept fucking out and Jacques from Shadowclub (frontman) had this look like he was smelling a fart throughout the interview.
Then we started playing putt-putt so we could record some funny, random shit like we did for all our shows but Jacques was so over it by that stage he just walked from one course to the next hitting his ball into the water, kicking it around and generally just making it known that he thought the whole thing was a load of shit.
We ended up throwing the interview in the bin. The bassist at the time (forget his name) felt bad and suggested we try again when Jacques was in a better mood.
Second time around, we just interviewed them at Fuel Bar one night before they got onstage to play a gig at Carfax. The interview went a lot better and Jacques seemed to be much more chilled until about 30mins in when he started laughing in this really creepy way and told us he’d taken a large quantity of acid before the interview that felt like it was kicking in.
Crazy cat that guy. In my experience a bit of a douche, but I can’t fault the band, especially not Isaac the drummer, he’s a real stand-up guy and one of the best drummers in the business.
After that, it’s time.
Get your head in the game, smash a tequila or three, go take a long pee, fight for a spot nice and close to the stage and steel yourself.
Bloc Party, this year’s headline act are up at 11.20pm and trust me, you are not gonna want to miss this one.
This band was instrumental in kick-starting the indie movement that’s been rolling out in its various guises over the last decade.
Here’s their best track, “Banquet†which I’ll be losing my goddamned mind to when they rock it live:
So those are my must-see bands on the main stage on Saturday, like I said before, holler if you think any other bands deserve a mention and I’ll gladly show them some love.
Otherwise I’ll try have a review up by Monday / Tuesday after the festival has ended, so watch this space because I have a feeling Daisies is going to be pretty damn epic this year.
You can still get tickets from www.webtickets.co.za so get on that if you haven’t already.
Oh, and if you see a guy with a Tiger on his head missioning around, don’t be a stranger
The Down Lizzo:
