New Shit!
Hey there internet,
I don’t know about you, but it’s my favourite time of year. Varsity work: zero. Early mornings: zero. All that’s on the agenda is gym (cuzzie), food and music. I’ve already taken slack for going to Nickelback, and had the opportunity to see how Rous pimped out his car. Over all its been a pretty good end to the year.
Where’s my alarm clock?
Holy barbeque chicken wing it’s been a long time!
It has come time for all of us at the University of Obama Activities to get out our timetables and wristwatch calculators and begin work on those assignments we were given to do during the holidays. Cause like really. Who thought that would actually get done “during the holidays”. #retardswithPHDs
That’s right. The holidays are coming to an end, and with that gone are the days of rising at noon, consuming the day with series and ending it of with a live rerun of Taylor in the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival at the Baxter Theatre. Taylor has been performing with a comedian called Wilfredo for the last month, along side Marc Lottering and Alan Committee to name a few. I must’ve seen the show 4 times, and every time was a laugh. (more…)
Refreshing
Mmm holidays – delicious, and indeed refreshing. There’s nothing like waking up at 1 in the afternoon to remind you that for all the crime, corruption and disaster in the world, good still prevails. It’s also refreshing to be writing a blog post again, now that I think about it. And now that I think about me thinking about how refreshing writing is just then, part of the reason why we’re feeling so refreshed is probably because we’re writing new music. Did that sentence confuse you? Well, me too. But the absence of a squiggle means that Bill Gates followed along quite nicely. Thank you, Microsoft.
(If you thought “Refreshing” referred to refreshing this website in order to receive new blog posts and are feeling disappointed, I’d like to apologise. I’d also like to apologise for the immense strain your keyboard must have taken refreshing this page over and over for the time we were away.) (more…)
See You This Wednesday™
Hey errboddeh!
I know. It’s been a while.
A good… Long while.
Now I am telling you that we’re back with our first gig of the year at Zula Bar this Wednesday (16 Jan, 2013, just in case you wanted to put that date on your calendar or list of things you totally have to do) for Early Bird Wednesdays! FREE ENTRY (c’mon, seriously.) 4 BANDS –
9pm – Jesse And The Process
10pm – Set For The Sky
11pm – Forefront (that’s us, in case you were weren’t sure)
12pm – Elusive Moose
Greeting from the silence
Awe
Hey there. Long time no see, sadly. I thought it’d be write of me to hit up the internet again, so here I am. Yes, that was an attempt at a pun. Everyone is crazy busy at the moment, but that isn’t really an excuse not to give you delicious blog nutrients. After all, we did promise to keep you fed. I’m halfway through the toughest exams I’ve ever had to write and I’m taking time out just for you. We do still care.
People have been saying to us “Forefront, when are you playing again? We’d really like to see you play again soon”. My usual response to this is yelling “My name isn’t Forefront”, before rushing to the bathroom in tears. In truth we have been out of the loop for quite a while now, and it’s starting to get to us. We like playing for you, really we do, and we should be playing again regularly quite soon.
Now, and don’t get mad when I tell you this, we actually played on Friday. Please, I asked you nicely – calm down. We couldn’t invite all you lovely people because it was a private function. I won’t tell you how fun it was, because that would be a little rude, but we did enjoy ourselves quite a lot. I won’t even tell you how awesome it was setting up and playing at a street party. The good news for you is that we remember just how fun it is to play and have been encouraged to do more of this performing thing soontimes. (more…)
Fun in the Sun
Well heeeeey there everybody! Hope you’ve all been well doing your thing and having a good time and lots of fun in the sun, for summer is cloooose by and soon we’ll all be frolicking on the beach together and be happy. In the sun.
So its been a little while since you’ve seen Forefront on your newsfeed, which is good news and bad news. Neutral news. Bad news because interacting with all you cool cats is a huge part of what we’re all about, and keeping you in the loop is pretty important as far as we’re concerned. On the good side, however, its not because we don’t love you! We’ve been busybusybusy recording, mixing, getting things organised on Forefront’s front, as well as exams and other work that we’ll all doing. However, at the rate we’re going, we are setting a vague HB pencil date of releasing our hugely anticipated (by us) First & Foremost in November! Yeah! We’re all still lank excited about the project, and we hope you are too. And, in a month and a bit, you’ll have a little something to keep us by your side. And in your ear holes.
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Wowzors
It’s been a while. A few whiles, even. But don’t worry, we’re still alive, we’re still playing music and stuff, and I still have a moustache. And some new shoes. But that’s not relevant, so I won’t bring it up. Right. A fair amount has happened in our absence from the land of blog-posting, but we return home once more with goodies from our travels.
The main reason for our absentness has been the ol’ recording thing. By now you must be thinking “will I ever hear these recordings?” or something along those lines. I must confess, until recently similar thoughts had plagued my mind. But I was put at ease by Jason who kindly allowed my ears to feel some of the stuff we’ve been working so hard on. The sensation was incredibly pleasurable, I assure you. I had to flick my hair out of my face afterwards (like in a shampoo ad) because it had landed there in my glee. You will have your shampoo moments too, I promise.
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Greek Speak
Yo yo. Cha. cha… Yeah.
Now that I’ve greeted you with sounds that Jay Z uses when he’s not rapping in songs, I think we can get right down to business.
In slightly irrelevant and only marginally interesting news, Rous and I have got to that point in the semester where we adapt so we now stay awake in lectures. Although our methods are rather similar, I think he’s got one up on me, which is good, considering his day is much longer, and vastly more boring than mine.
Rous’ coping method involves a blackberry (preferably not frozen and with some sort of battery life) and an installed version of Pokemon Silver. Yes, it is completely possible. I made him prove it to me. I took the less insanely awesome approach, and I spend my lectures playing Simsons. For all those parents out there (including mine) Simsons is the latest in lecture note capturing software. Great stuff. You can even record videos of the lectures on it. (more…)
Politics
Heyheyhey! So on the off chance that you didn’t realize, its nearing the end of August…which means the beginning of September is approaching! Which means that Spring is approaching! Which means that after spring’s undecided phase of playing hard-to-get with the sun, WARM WEATHER IS ON ITS WAY! And its about time too – this winter has been particularly cold, so props to everybody who has survived. But the days of shivering, shaking and shrinkage will soon be over. Rous has confessed that he’s been looking a bit white and pasty recently, and is more than excited to hit the beach and have fun in the sun.
So we here at Forefront have noticed we’ve been acting a little bit like a band of politicians: We’ve shamelessly plugged the release of our ‘First & Foremost’ demo, said we’ve been working hard producing the drums and bass, said we’ve made alleged plans to track vocals and guitar… But nobody’s seen any promised delivered quite yet. Well, truth be told, there is NO demo to look forward to, its all been a fabrication.
Mmmmmmmmhhhhhmmmmmmmmm.
Truthy-truth be told, there actually IS a demo to look forward to, but we haven’t had the time to begin tracking the guitars and vocals quite yet as we’ve all been furiously rehearsing for what is most definitely our biggest gig yet. Like, this is pretty big. Its so big, in fact, that we’ve had to hire out an entire school hall to pull this event off. Its so big, in fact, that we’ve had to add a completely new element in form of live acting, dancing, and choir singing with a cast of over 50 people! Its SO big, in fact, that we’ve decided to add piano, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet AND EVEN BASS-GUITAR to our sound!
Soup People
Soup people
I’ve got chills, they’re multiplying. Might be the extreme cold, or the excitement for Friday. I’m going with a combo. Aww. Yeeeah. If you aren’t sure what I’m on about, take a look at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/343329272416035/
Unless I’ve managed to mis-copy or mis-paste, that should take you to the event for Friday that everyone (literally everyone on the planet) has been talking about. For the TL:DR among you, here’s a plot synopsis:
This week Friday (yes, tomorrow). Mercury. Bands playing. Forefront playing. At 10 (pm). Along with other kewl bands. The Dollfins. The Man Motels. Free entrance.
See why we’re excited? See you there, pear. (more…)
Moving Forward
Ohheythere! I didn’t see you, but now that I have, I’m going to hunt you and force you to listen to what I’ve been telling everybody 😀
So, on the first front:
On Friday (and planning for another one today) we actually managed to have a band practice! Setlists were decided and run through, and it must be said that we’re all pretty amped for our show at Mercury on Friday. Yes Mercury. How much is entrance you ask? Oh yes, it’s free. So come. And bring friends. You’ll also be able to check out The Man Motels and The Dollfins on the night. Should be crazy.
On the second front:
We’ve been called in by the very cool local band “Soldier” to open for them at the Jolly Roger on the 8th of September, we’ll definitely keep you posted 🙂
Hi low
Hi low there.
How are you all doing this fine public holiday? Good I hope. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all you fine ladies a great day of being a women. The one day where I will refrain (as much as Jason possibly can) from making kitchen jokes. Those of you who know me understand how difficult that will be… This probably won’t last very long. 
but I guess it’s the thought that counts.
So today is a public holiday… And for the little kiddies the beginning of a long weekend… A very long one. Id like to express my jealousy, as today I am sitting in a musical practice for approximately 12 hours. Well. Not so much approximately… Maybe exactly 12 hours would be a better description.
The Weather
Well hey there everybody! Hope you’ve been keeping well, warm and wonderful this fine winter morning. As usual, its cold as balls today, but the sun’s out to compensate for it. Much like the weather, Forefront too is a little cold as balls – but don’t worry, the sun will be out soon.
We’ve finally got our drum and bass recordings back from SAE after our resident diva and engineer Kenni Burnell thought it would be best to withhold them for a few weeks as he had lost all of the CDs in his car and had nothing else to bump & bang through his hood. Now in possession of these sessions though, Forefront’s next move is to start tracking guitars (ideally next week or so) and then vocals after that. It’s the calm before the storm, and this one’s a hurricane.
In other news, we’ve also gotten our photos back from the youngest-in-charge, Robin Taylor Photo, an awesome and madly talented photographer and good friend. And as predicted, they are indeed looking very sick. We’ve shared a couple of cool ones on the facetubes, but more will come with the release of the demo.
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Swamped
Hey ya’ll.
So keeping with drummer stereotypes, I am late with my blog today… And apparently also can’t keep time. It seems Forefront have become quite delayed over the past week. Even those of us not returning to a demanding timetable at Varsity seem to be missing deadlines. So my apologies for the lack of blog posts this Monday. Nick is working on it, and his post should hopefully be ready for his next blog post a Monday or two from now.
On the Forefront… front, we have been jamming in some practice jams this week (a whole one practice) for the Camps Bay High School Battle of the Dance Crews. We are going to be hitting up some hip hop to open the show, which I am quite excited about. Despite what looks like a minimal practice schedule I can assure you we will be ready. It has never failed us before at least.
We have also heard word from our mad photo skilled friend, Robin Taylor, about the new photos that are almost ready for collection. We have seen some of the new photos, and advised him to perhaps take up photography as his photo skills are as good as Rous’ hair is ginger.
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The Coldbert Report
Alright well, I’m a little bit sick but otherwise in a good space to write a little splurge (I didn’t think ‘splurge’ was an actual word until my blackberry didn’t underline it as misspelled like right now) about what’s currently cooking in Forefront’s kitchen.
Firstly, if you’re in Cape Town and you’re all like “uuugh its so cold here its raining its freezing I wanna go somewhere warm its too cold naaaaaaww”, which may or may not have reflected my very own thoughts/public exclamations recently, you should stop and think about how lucky we are to live in Cape Town where even in Winter there’s some lovely sunshine and vitamin D goodness all up on your skin. You should really stop and take a second to think about all the truly unfortunate droves of people chilling up in GRAHAMSTOWN for the Arts Festival where the weather is severrrrrrrely chilly. I’m currently up performing in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and let me tell you, I’d dig to swing by Cape Town (just a chilled 12 hour bus ride) for a bit of warmth. Also, hit me up if you’re in Grahamstown and have access to a heater or fireplace. Or even bodyheat. I’m very cold.
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Show and Tell.
Well, last night we had a really sick gig at TheRussian’s Cause4Paws event out in Durbanville. We’ve played a gig there before, and have now been offered to play a couple of gigs out there and made some cool connections, as well as getting some rad crowd response. Definitely worth the trip.
Meanwhile, Forefront have been preparing to record drums and bass at SAE Studios in the very near future, so we’re deep into our preproduction for the 8 tracks we’ll be recording for our first EP. We’ve planned some cool stuff for the EP, but it takes loads of planning and stuff, so it’s still in the early stages, but some cool stuff is definitely coming your way soon. Definitely.
The coolest thing that being involved in the local music scene has showed us is that SA has some mad crazy talent. It’s awesome to see people that we know doing some very very cool stuff on the music front, and we’re working to be a part of it all. We’re all quite inspired at the moment. :’)
We’re in the process of confirming some gigs, so keep in touch for details.
See you all soon.
Nick
Charity Drive
Good morning
*Afternoon. How I do enjoy being on holiday. I’ve decided to get up, at last, and do the write thing by making this post. By like, writing it.
Today is Thursday. I know this because yesterday was Wednesday. And because I just checked. Tomorrow is Friday, and we’ll be practising one last time before Cause4Paws this Sunday. For those of you who don’t know, Cause4Paws is a charity event being hosted by The Russian to raise money for The Lucky Lucy Foundation. It will be featuring a line up of 13 bands performing from 14:00 – 20:00, including us. For those of you who don’t know, The Lucky Lucy Foundation is an organisation which looks after abused and neglected animals. They cover rescue, treatment, rehabilitation of the animals and help to find loving homes for them.
It feels great getting involved in an event like this. Yes, The Russian is in Durbanville. Yes, that is mildly inconvenient. But it’s about much more than that. Seeing the amount of sponsors and bands that have gotten involved, seeing the effort being put into the event and the passion people have for the charity, and getting involved yourself, is worth the mild inconvenience. Seeing what people can accomplish if they’re willing to put in effort is inspiring. After all the effort that’s already been put in, the least we can do is overcome the mild inconvenience and support this event. (more…)
And Go!
Hey errboddeh! It’s fatboy here again to tell you about all the new exciting things we’ve been doing and the events coming up.
Forefront has become a split mission of late, with each member being assigned separate jobs going forward:
Nick and I have been doing fairly similar stuff, namely, writing and getting shows for the next while. You’ll catch us at The Russian in Durbanville for the Cause for Paws charity gig on the 24th and Zula Bar in Cape Town on the 30th of June. Keep an eye out for more developments!
There should be a full live acoustic set coming your way in the next while, covers, originals, and exclusive acoustic originals included. We’re also putting some cool new material together, as well as some more underground ideas, but those things are for us to know and for you all to find out 🙂
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Catch Up
Alriiiiiight, so its been a couple of days since we’ve launched the website, and so far so good! We’ve received some great feedback from fans and it seems that okes are digging the site, which is cool. The site itself is one of those wordpress thingy things that Jason has altered and changed and personalised – we think it looks pretty sick, and we hope you do too.
To be honest, the launching of the website has been the most exciting thing that’s happened in a little while – last gig we played was at Zula a couple of weeks ago (which went very well), and otherwise its been all quiet because our good ol’ rhythm section have varsity exams. But myself and Taylor have taken the time to work on some new material that we think is sounding rad, so that’s productive at least. We’re playing at Mercury on Monday, which we’re lank excited about, and may throw in that new stuff I was referring to now now, so come through and listen to the mentioned new stuff and tell us what you think.
Forefront Band 