And then there were Nine … Malu van Leeuwen spoke to four=20 alternative funksters creating a stir in Cape Town
THE first time I met Nine, they dubbed their sound gham- rock, or, as one of their fans put it, “Cape Malay=20 alternative funk”. While drinking the pub dry, all four of=20 Nine expanded on their views about life, the universe and=20 the small world of local music — views which illuminated=20 the uncompromising and mercurial nature of their music.
But that was a year ago. Nine are now sipping lemonade and=20 cautiously speculating on the future, not least since the=20 surprising success of their recent demo (sold out within a=20 week) has brought them an unexpected pleasure: the faint,=20 sweet smell of recognition.
“We wanted to give a sort of photograph, a snapshot, of=20 what the band is about,” vocalist Farrell Adams explains,=20 “and the phases we’ve gone through.”
Recorded, mixed, financed and distributed by Nine, the demo=20 is exactly that: a fragment of what the band is “about”.=20
Songs such as the eponymous Nine and Not Your Fault have=20 always been crowd-pleasers, but they also document a=20 difficult history. Nine, for example, deals with racial=20 harassment at The Playground, a now-defunct Gothic=20 nightclub in Cape Town where guitarist James Reynard=20 recalls being cuffed by a bouncer.=20
As for being an all-black band playing to predominantly=20 white audiences, that doesn’t disturb them in the least.=20 “That’s not an issue any more,” says Adams.
Nine’s DIY ethic aims to establish local demo culture and=20 to dispense with the image-stereotyping that goes hand-in- hand with marketing music. Their demo has five different=20 sepia-tinted covers — “It was cheaper anyway”.
Demo sales, on the other hand, don’t translate into=20 overnight success. And although Tusk requested a copy for=20 the New Music Challenge competition, Reynard says: “I don’t=20 want to think about it, because so many things don’t pan=20
If there’s an unfamiliar air of wariness about Nine, it’s=20 probably linked to the months, nay years, of slogging on=20 the receding club circuit.=20
Still, it’s a scepticism tempered by the realisation that=20 hardcore attitudes are as stale as the old South Africa,=20 and that fans become bored with the barrage of musical=20 intimidation. “Instead of being as in-your-face as we used=20 to be, the message is more latent,” Reynard maintains.=20 “It’s like a reconciliation. We’ve grown older …”
Does this mean that, uh, Nine have swopped feisty,=20 politicised aggression for complacency?
The band members aren’t interested in these questions; they=20 prefer to term their recent musical developments as=20 “changing accents”, or, as new bassist Grenville Williams=20 phrases it, “exploring chords and textures”. Adams agrees:=20 “We want to raise the concept of a song, filter in other=20
At Nine’s demo launch, they proved they can slip into=20 ambient mode just as easily as they can brutalise your=20 headspace. The opening number, Save the Moon — a=20 collaboration with didgeridoo and jembe players — used the=20 combination of seemingly disparate musical genres to=20 stretch Nine’s music to an almost filmic, sensual=20 intensity. This was in stark contrast to the next song,=20 where Adams’ powerful voice punctured the sleepy=20
At the other extreme, rumours of a conspiracy between Nine=20 and incendiary industrial band Factory Power Corps have=20 been keeping the old grapevine oiled for months.
“Dealing with diverse influences isn’t that strange to me=20 personally,” Williams points out, “because I’ve been living=20 in two different worlds. I went to Bishops (private boys’=20 school) and then I’d go home to Athlone, and the music that=20 comes from there.”
“But,” Adams cuts in, “we will always be funky, no matter=20 what we do. Because the funk is where the soul is!” And=20 Nine’s soul is definitely in music: they balk at the=20 thought of getting day jobs and would rather continue=20 paying their dues in small, dimly-lit nightclubs.
“Members of this band get to be everything from manager to=20 roadie,” Adams laughs. Who knows, they may even get to be=20
Demos by Nine are available from CD shops in Cape Town, or=20 phone Farrell Adams at (021) 705-3042