I feel that if creative people have ideas they have a responsibility to the public — they have to get their ideas out there. It’s not good enough to have it and just keep it to yourself.
As well as singing in Desmond & the Tutus, I also own and manage Wolves. It is not a restaurant, a nightclub or a bar — we’re somewhere in between. It’s a bit more personal than any old bar you might go to, or some clinical coffee shop. My wife, Angie, and I were really passionate about creating a sort of community centre for the area of Illovo and also for the greater creative community of Jo’burg. We wanted to make it the craziest, best cake shop we could.
We organise fun events, board games and things. For example, Angie recently organised a bloggers’ night. A network of arts, crafts and fashion bloggers met at Wolves. They had all read one another’s blogs but none of them actually knew one another. We like to think that you can sort of feel our personalities and our energy through the place.
We also host a lot of unplugged one-man shows and we support bands that are doing things for themselves, like Shortstraw and the Frown. I like bands that have their own vibe. Howl Records, a label that we are developing ourselves, would be a nice extension of what we’re currently doing at Wolves. It’s about building a little community of musicians. It’s very organic and we are hoping that it will be a source for new, exciting music.
Despite all of these exciting new projects, Desmond & the Tutus remains one of my top priorities and it requires constant effort. When we started the band we were really just having fun — none of us had even been to a gig before. We grew up in Pretoria, unaware of the band scene.
However, when we got introduced to this amazing industry, full of so many passionate people and so many amazing opportunities, I knew I couldn’t just have a kind of “hobby” garage band. I had to see what I could do with it. I think it’s my personality but when I get involved with stuff I take everything super seriously. I put everything into it.
The band started out with a dance-rock vibe, sort of like Franz Ferdinand, which I thought was really exciting because it was rock music that you could groove to. Now we just want to make whatever we’re feeling; we feel comfortable just being ourselves. I think that bands will always exist and the rock scene will always exist — people will always be after live music. But you have to keep being creative. I also know that, although it’s really important to have the bands, the people’s support is just as important.
For more info about his projects, visit www.wolves.co.za or www.desmondandthetutus.co.za. Jessica Dix and Matthew O’Brien