 |
      |
Plays: 1134
Views: 2502 |
Formed: 2002
Official Site: velve.co.za
iSound Site: www.isound.com/velve
|
|
|
Velve is at the forefront of a rock revolution currently trampling its way through South Africa’s big cities and small towns - and if its debut album, ‘Selling Skin’ is anything to go by, this four-piece will soon be at full-throttle force on the global music scene.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Velve is at the forefront of a rock revolution currently trampling its way through South Africa’s big cities and small towns - and if its debut album, ‘Selling Skin’ is anything to go by, this four-piece will soon be at full-throttle force on the global music scene.
Brimming over with crunching guitars (think Metallica in full bloom), and boasting a relentless rhythm section, all sealed with vocals that have the force of a Cape Town southeaster, this is rock music that isn’t afraid to wave a flag in the faces of those who deem the genre exhausted of all innovation.
Sure ‘Selling Skin’ draws on a myriad of influences including grunge, metal, and 90s alternative rock, but as the album’s singular artwork indicates, its set of 12-songs pushes the curtains aside to reveal a band that’s got a musical vision all of its own. And while there’s a distinct dark edge to Velve’s material (it’s not entirely apt but Gothic is one incredibly subtle thread inching its way through the songs), the group is as at home in more melodic terrain.
An example of the latter is ‘Overpass’, a track that’s heading to radio and will be accompanied by a video so expect to see it on a television set soon. Announced by a tender guitar melody, the song is one of ‘Selling Skin’s’ highlights – a tale of love that’s gone tragically wrong, it’s a masterful offering that benefits from a hands-off production approach.
Another of the album’s headline tracks is surely, ‘A Murder’, which outlines a power-drenched song with the eeriest of vocals, courtesy of Lark’s Inge Beckmann. And few will argue with the skillful combination of light and dark that is ‘Burned’, or ‘Black Winged Witness’, a solar-plexus-smacking cut that delivered the album title in its lyrics and takes direct aim at the 21st disease of unquestioning acceptance.
Lyrically, Velve’s debut abounds in wordplay in a way that acts as a vortex into the music’s centre. “Shadows dawning on the faces I’ve been mourning” off ‘Bleed’ is typical of the group’s skill, and in its slow and steady build-up its one of ‘Selling Skin’s’ musical centerpieces.
Word trickiness is also where the four-piece’s name comes from. It sounds like the regulator most of us have on say our tyres but really Velve is a shortening of velvet, in turn taken from the group’s first name, Velvet Mary.
“One of our drummers suggested it to us and we thought it sounded cool,” says Trucker. And the band member with a name that also represents a transition (let’s just say Trucker is not the name his folks gave him) should know a thing or two about what sounds good: he is, afterall, Velve’s wordsmith.
It wasn’t Trucker ‘though who wrote the highly visual, literary allegory that is ‘Selling Skin’, the story. You’ll find it in the pages of the album’s sleeve, accompanied by Rouleaux van der Merwe’s pretty astonishing illustrations. Van der Merwe co-created the story of a crow who “steals skin” with Velve’s guitarist, Charles Mulder, but the words themselves – poetic, affecting, ancient and compelling – came from the pen of Dawid de Villiers, a lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.
That Velve has taken intricate care of ‘Selling Skin’s’ details is testament to Trucker, Mulder and bassist, Wouter Burger’s single-minded pursuit of making music. The foundations of the group came from Mulder and Burger’s school friendship, and a school band named Kelp that played original material, even winning a songwriting competition with a track ‘Gemini’. “We began songwriting from the start,” says Mulder, “and I think that’s why the album sounds so solid.” Adds Burger: “It’s still a very collaborative effort. Charles and I will play around with the music and then Trucker will put his lyrics to the songs.”
Although at the same school, Trucker wasn’t in Kelp – ‘I was on the outskirts,” he says. It was when Mulder and Burger were studying in Stellenbosch and had formed Velvet Mary that Trucker slotted into the band, replacing the existing vocalist. Sensing that they had a real music proposition now, from early 2002 Velve began working at crafting the songs, the live shows, the visuals and more that makes a fully-fledged band.
Early recordings included debut single, ‘Fallen’, which was recorded in 2003 at Street Level Studios (home to James Stewart of that band The Usual). ‘Fallen’ has received consistent airplay on a number of South Africa’s national and student radio stations since then, and also topped the SAMP3.com singles charts for two consecutive weeks. A high-end visual aesthetic surfaces on Velve’s music videos, with ‘Satin Soul’ earning strong rotation on MK89, adding considerably to the hype around the band.
Even prior to the release of ‘Selling Skin’, Velve was making inroads into the fiercely competitive South African music scene. The 2004 RockTheNation.co.za and zaZone.com Awards saw Velve's demo effort ‘Wired Angel’ voted into second place in the Best Album category by the public. Earlier that same year, Velve performed their title demo song live on air for Cape Town University campus radio station UCT Radio. This version would later appear on a well-received compilation of rare acoustic tracks called the Native Noise Acoustic Collection. Available for download from nativenoise.co.za ‘Wired Angel’ is currently still the most downloaded song on the site. In 2005, Velve won the Doc Martin's Demo Competition (hosted by Blunt magazine), as well as two Oppikoppi Battle Of The Bands competitions.
It’s an impressive build-up but the remarkable feature of ‘Selling Skin’ is that, aside from ‘Statues’, every single cut on the album was freshly written for its recording. “We wanted to start from scratch, when we began recording,” Mulder says. “It was important to us to pin-down where we are musically at the moment and try and capture an immediate energy in the studio.”
Recording was done with Theo Crous, of Springbok Nude Girls and Kobus! fame, who is quietly carving a niche for himself as one of the country’s most gifted producers. Crous’ astute production hand is evident through ‘Selling Skin’, allowing Velve’s strong rock attack to occupy centrestage when required but equally, pulling back the group’s sonic thrust when needed.
In the end the combination of Velve’s exceptional musicality and superior songs, and Crous’ magnificent production work has earned the group a deal with Just Music – a coupling that’s likely to see Velve imprint itself in the hearts of music fans countrywide before long. And now that the band has finally settled on a full-time drummer (and yes, they’ve heard every rock drummer joke doing the rounds), Velve is preparing to take ‘Selling Skin’s’ songs on the road with Morgan O’Kennedy on board. Says the drummer: “I've been a band of my own for six years (Ghost) and Velve was one of the bands we've always been into. Our project went south, and for me to be now part of Velve is nothing short of awesome! The guys are great, the music rocks and it already feels like home.”
“We’re ultra-happy that Morgan has joined us,” says Trucker. “We’re now a foursome with a great album to promote and we can’t wait to hit that stage.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Artist
Add to Profile
Add to station