It doesn’t get much bigger for local musicians than sharing the same stage on an international billing with the Rolling Stones. And for Arno Carstens and his band, New Porn, what to many rockers is just a dream will become reality on Saturday as the local lads play main support to the Stones in San Sebastian, Spain.
This follows the band’s recent performance at the Isle of Wight festival, which also featured Wolfmother, Amy Winehouse and Muse, among others.
Paul Thackwray, of SonyBMG, who has been Carstens’s label manager for 10 years, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday: “We are still pinching ourselves. Arno is overjoyed and in complete shock.”
According to Thackwray, John Giddings of the Solo Agency, a powerful agent in world music who also represents the Stones, had been impressed with Carstens during the Ronan Keating tour to South Africa this year. Following this, Giddings booked Carstens for the Isle of Wight festival, where he “played a great show”. Giddings himself even introduced the band before they went on at the festival.
And this week, Giddings invited Carstens to rock with the Stones.
Such a billing could well lead to bigger things for Carstens, said Thackwray. The singer has been part of the South African rock furniture for more than 10 years, and is best known locally for fronting the Springbok Nude Girls.
Apart from Carstens, New Porn features a veritable who’s who of the South African music scene: Albert Frost (electric guitar), Brendan Jury (keyboard/strings), Jerome Reynard (drums) and the Leicher cousins, Kevin and Warren (acoustic guitar and bass).
Carstens has in the past shared the stage with the likes of INXS, the Cult, Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M. and Metallica.