Matthew Simpson
Attempting to confine the effect of being at a THC gig to words is much like attempting to explain the Aurora Borealis to a blind person. But I suppose it can be found somewhere in the wild, bemused grins plastered on the faces of the audience, in the intricate tap and thump of the tangled drumbeats or in the shine of the neon lights.
THC aren’t a band in any orthodox sense of the word. They are more like a collective, a clan of performers, artists and musicians whose motives are, according to their manager Gene Draper, “to ignite crowd energy by taking the show into the realms of fantasy”.
They do this by creating a melting pot of spectacle. Their faces painted in swirling neon masks, they drive the beat on using four African djembes, congas, a drum set, a didg and deep bass. Andrew Louie weaves a psychedelic tapestry of funky guitar and spacey lead, with assorted samples and ambient tinkles thrown in by DJ, Simon Joyner.
In front of them puppeteers, draped in dark cloth, manipulate giant ultra-violet insects, followed by dancers, jugglers, maniacs twirling fire chains and fire breathers.
The Mad Professor MCs, adding a layer of ragga and reggae, ably assisted by Dale Lithgow, looking something like a deranged sangoma, murmuring soundbites of what they might call propaganja.
The music is an eclectic mix of funk, reggae, rock, some township jive, uplifting house and tribal dance. And when the band eventually steps down the music goes on with a session of serious trance and world dance music spun by their DJ which is a welcome relief from the usual overplayed anthemic house we have to deal with in most clubs. It is a maniacal spectacle that has the effect of flinging the audience onto the dance floor and sweeping away inhibitions.
The main focus, however, is eco-awareness. Activists, and in their own way very political, they use their shows to spread the message of legalisation.
It’s something we’ve rarely seen in South African music since the likes of Bright Blue and Juluka. It’s nice to hear a white boy band sounding African again. And with others, like Colorfields and to some extent Battery 9, doing something similar, maybe things are swinging around again.
THC have just emerged from a wildly successful month-long South African tour which culminated in a kick arse performance at Splashy Fen on Saturday night. A band that can pull drunken soaks and spaced out dopeheads from their drug-induced stupor has to be able to conjure up some serious manic energy.