The new Springbok Nude Girls album is being punted as the South African rock release of the year. DROR EYAL attended last week’s launch
IT’s late Tuesday, and the Springbok Nude Girls are the biggest rock band in South Africa. They believe it, the fans believe it and, more importantly Sony, their record company, believes it and is willingly to bet money on it. You see, to watch the Nude Girls in 1997 is to see a band that has proved it can stand up to international bands and sound just as professional and just as relevant. Tonight Sony acts like a proud parent at the first-born son’s barmitzvah.
A who’s who of the South African music and media industries has turned up for the most hyped album launch of the year: the Springbok Nude Girls’ Afterlifesatisfaction. Along with the VIPs are a handful of fans who had bought a copy of the CD and received an invite to the gig.
But this is the fans’ moment more than the VIPs’. It’s the strong ground-level support that has made the Nude Girls so big. Twenty seconds into the gig and it becomes apparent that the security barrier is not going to hold up for much longer as a mosh pit gets going in front of the stage.
Onstage it’s a different story as feedback fights for attention, with images from horror flicks, nature films and Sony playstations. During I Love You we get images of open-heart surgery, the heart palpitating in time with the beat. Arno stands onstage with the arrogance of someone who knows he is bigger than TV – and the fear of an impostor who’s sure he’ll be pelted with rotting vegetables before the next song is over.
He’s the eternal teenager, vacillating between songs that are almost a whisper to storms of sound that register on the Richter scale. But this is the magic of the Nude Girls, exuding enough energy to sweep even the most reluctant people on to their feet.
Theo and Adriaan bounce about like someone is about to remove their free drinks tickets, while Franois and Arno B keep up a steady rhythm, stopping the mutant ninja Nude Girls from self-destructing.
Most of those in attendance, at least those that have seen the Nude Girls in the last year, have heard most of these songs before. Songs like I Love You, Genie and Supergirl are not new. However songs like Grrr are a riotfest of metal licks and punk attitude. Hinting at the new Nude Girls’ sound, dense wall-of-noise guitars obliterate everything, punctured with trumpet bursts and overlaid with vocal effects. Harder, denser, faster now …
This isn’t so much a review as an advisory notice. The Springbok Nude Girls have a new album. It’s called Afterlifesatisfaction. You should buy it.
But the gig is over and people begin to disperse. Those with VIP tags adjourn to the VIP lounge to discuss the show and consume as much alcohol as possible before they close the bar. Backstage is a different story, and the show isn’t over as radio stations, television crews and assorted journalists jostle for their pound of publicity. Various Nude Girls repeat the same promos, only occasionally taking sneaky sips out of hip flasks. It’s been a long night …
”Hi, I’m Arno Carstens from the Springbok Nude Girls and my favorite newspaper is …”