Photo by Laura McCullagh
The Hellcats have been making big waves in local music for their electrifying shows and their no holds barred approach to rock 'n roll. The duo are two of the new faces on the Blood Brothers line-up for 2018 and I had a chat to them about the show, their heroes and the challenges that lay ahead for them!
Q: The Blood Brothers line-up has seen some amazing changes year on year. Is there any inclusion this year (apart from yourselves) that you are particularly amped to have part of the project?
A: I’m really so keen to see what Adelle Nqeto brings to the party. I’ve been a huge fan since I saw her at Mieliepop last year, she blew me away. She has one of the most incredible voices the country has to offer. When I heard what songs she’ll be singing on, I swooned. She’s an amazing addition to this years line up and I’m proud to be sharing the BB stage with her.
Photos by Andre Badenhorst
Q: You guys have toured all across the country and played many festivals so you have a pretty good idea of the talent out there. If you could choose 4 other musicians, locally or internationally to make up your own supergroup, who would it be?
A:I recently saw Stoker (CT) for the first time the other day. Fuck any other combination of artists – those guys are my supergroup.
Q: Your band is well known for your very unique configuration. Have you felt any limitations to being only 2 members playing hard hitting rock music?
A: No, not really, sometimes I wish we had more guys to help us carry all our kak, but that’s about it. Honestly, making our music is so much easier than it would be with more members. I say this from experience because Alessandro used to be in a 4 piece together. Not to say that was hard or kak, because we loved making music in that band- its just when we started jamming just the 2 of us we realised how easy it is to make rock n roll with two dick heads. We just understand each other musically. It’s pretty simple: Al hits the drums and I play guitar and then he sings like a fucking demonic angel, and then we have songs and play them live. We’ve always had this attitude of ‘fuck it, there’s just 2 of us, we’re not pretending to be Queen over here, people must just deal’.
Playing in Blood Brothers should be interesting though as it’ll be 9 more people than we’re usually used to playing with. We’re probably gonna slack off a lot more - hahaha
Q: The South African rock/alternative scene is pretty small compared to other countries abroad and that puts some limits on touring possibilities and festival opportunities (especially for consecutive years). Realistically, what are some of the goals you have set for yourself for the next year ?
A: We’ve played our arses off the past 4 years and it’s been good to us. Next year we plan to play less shows, but bigger shows. We’re gonna pump the breaks on club shows for a bit and focus on the big fuckers and festivals. Our main objective for next year though, is to hit Europe and the States. Not to go over there and ‘make it’ (because what the fuck is that even), we just want to go on a rock n roll holiday and play our sif music to more people.
Q: And what are some of the biggest challenges you face to reach those goals?
Getting our passports renewed.
BLOOD BROTHERS CAPE TOWN: Date: Saturday, 22 September 2018 Venue: Zip Zap Circus School, Cape Town Time: 19h00 Tickets: R180 Bookings: http://bit.ly/BloodBrothersCapeTown Facebook Event: https://bit.ly/2tcWkR6 BLOOD BROTHERS PRETORIA: Date: Saturday, 29 September 2018 Venue: Platteland, Centurion, Pretoria Time: 19h00 Tickets: R180 Bookings: http://bit.ly/BloodBrothersPTA Facebook Event: https://bit.ly/2toPBCQ
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