I fondly remember the first time I saw the Springbok Nude Girls. It was the early Nineties and I stood on a table to see over the crowd jammed into McCoy’s, a dingy but daring little Pretoria rock bar, to hear Bubblegum on My Boots at the band’s first gig in the city.
Arno Carstens, on the other hand, recalls as much of it as Ozzy Osbourne remembers of the Seventies. From behind the customary celebrity camouflage of cap and sunglasses, he mumbles something about it all being a blur as we sip strawberry juice in a respectable Norwood bistro.
Has the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll god morphed into a mild-mannered pop star? He now has suburban roots in Jo’burg, watches National Geographic and listens to Katie Melua (but also Slayer, Damian Marley and the Arctic Monkeys). Two years ago, he told the Mail & Guardian: “Nowadays I have everything I want: a girlfriend, a dog, I got DStv, DVD, a great sex life, the works.”
Adult contemporary radio play, grown-up fans and a string of 2006 South African Music Award (Sama) nominations make life comfortable, no doubt, but Carstens disagrees. “It doesn’t matter if you have a good album or a good song. You never know what the future holds … it goes well and then, the next day, everything turns. I’ve managed to keep my business running … I’m not competing with Robbie Williams.
“I’m one of the luckier musicians, I can actually make a living out of it. There are a lot of really cool bands out there that can’t make a living out of it.”
Is he turning into a stylish Steve Hofmeyr? “What does he do? He brings out albums and he’s got a TV show. I really wouldn’t like to have my own TV show; I’ve done it before [on kykNET] and it’s really terrible. I mean, I had to pay the bills, I did modelling and I had to do a TV show, but I hated every second of it. Music, on the other hand, I know how to do it, I will do it as long as I can. Money’s cool, but I always try to do what I like. I used to be a fine artist before I was a singer, and I always did my own style of painting.”
Not surprisingly, then, his next two projects will be markedly different from the catchy pop-rock on his hit solo albums Another Country and Hello Goodbye Boys. “We’ve been working on a new Nude Girls album,” he says. “I’ve also been working on an electronic album … I think the most daring, the most way-out thing I’ve ever done was doing my solo albums, which are very mellow.
“To do heavy stuff doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cool. That’s the biggest load of bullshit. Most of these bands, they do heavy music and they’re such a bunch of wankers, actually. I’m going to do heavy music now because I haven’t done it for two years and I really want to do some heavy stuff. You must always do what you want to do, not what people say is cool.”
And what about Fokofpolisiekar — seen by many as successors to the Nude Girls — who are embroiled in a religious spat after scribbling supposed blasphemy on a young fan’s wallet? “That is such a great thing that happened; I love it,” says Carstens. “The thing is, it’s not just a Christian thing, but a Muslim thing and a whole religious thing.
“Religion should be banned from the planet. There is nothing wrong with spiritualism, but I’m really not into religion. Religion has killed millions of people in the history of mankind. The whole thing about religion, the whole main idea of God, is a thing of love and forgiveness and, if you understand that concept, then a true Christian would have welcomed the Fokofpolisiekar statement to react to it in the right way, to spread the word, if they want to, of their religion. I don’t think these people understand their own scriptures.”
The new Nude Girls album — due next year, with all the original Girls in action — will be “a bit more angry”, with a Doors sound, Carstens says. The Nude Girls have performed several reunion shows, and the old hits can only be dusted off so many times. “That’s why we haven’t played for seven months or longer,” he says. “We just said, look, fuck it, we’re not going to play until we do a new album.”
In the meantime, expect an unusual turn on his electronic album, to be released before year-end. “People who come from the Eighties don’t know how to do their own music any more, like Depeche Mode doesn’t sound like Depeche Mode anymore. We are objective and we know what it sounds like, so the whole basis of it is kind of Eighties electronic sound. But the technology is new, so the sound is more mature, and we got a lot of different rappers and female singers. On this album, every-thing is a collaboration,” he says.
“It’s not necessarily going to come out under ‘Arno Carstens’, and it’s not really for playing live, it’s more for European radio play, maybe some TV stuff … some of the stuff is just fucking weird.”
As next month’s Samas approach, he says he’s proudest of being in the public vote category — even though “the chances are fucking zero that I’ll win it” — because it is testimony to the musical crossover between “the great divide between black and white”.
Another Universe won a Sama for best rock album. Hello Goodbye Boys might follow suit. “Of course, first prize would be rock,” says Carstens, “but the album doesn’t fit the profile of what will be considered as rock. I mean, I’m singing pretty much what the fuck I want, therefore the attitude is more rock than any of the other guys. But the guys that should win, Seether, have done very well for South African music.
“In Cape Town [at the Coca-Cola Colab concert] they really kicked Metallica’s ass. For anybody out there to say they’re not South African, that’s bullshit, they are; they consider themselves South African.”
When Hello Goodbye Boys was released, enthusiastic press releases spread the gospel of Arno Carstens, with mention of world domination and Grammys. “I think the record company went a bit overboard with the wording of it,” he admits. Still, the album is selling overseas and, in September last year, Arno Carstens Week in London comprised free gigs and an Empire show attended by about 800 people.
“It wasn’t about doing one brilliant show and making money, it was about promoting the album, even though I would have loved it to be a sell-out show. For me, I never really thought England is the place. We chose England because there are such a lot of South Africans there … it’s 10 000 extra CDs you’re selling, why the fuck not? But actually, my main interest is in Europe. I’ve got a connection with the Germans, and I get a lot of fans from America, but the Europeans have a lot of culture and they are not as arrogant as the British and the Americans.”
As Carstens ventures back into wilder musical territory, will he ever wear dresses on stage again? “I wear my kilt every day … I don’t think I’ll go in a Speedo on stage,” he admits modestly. “I don’t think I’ve ever taken off my shirt anywhere on stage … it’s not my thing, I’ll leave that for Cito of Wonderboom.”