AS OBSERVATORY-based band Morning Pages celebrates three years of independent music-making, they share their unique approach to non-commercial cultural production, resisting the calls of labelling their music as a particular genre.
“It’s more like meditation, you reach a point when your mind is not filled with clutter”. Their story provides a window into the possibilities and spirit of the alternative music scene of Cape Town.
The best introduction to Morning Pages would be the origin of the band name, which is inspired by Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. Cameron describes a practice termed ‘morning pages’ – writing three pages of what is going on in your head every morning. “You wouldn’t necessarily read the pages again or try to perfect them,” explains Frank Lunar, one of the band members. “It’s rather a form of release. The idea of doing it in the morning is to let it all out so you start the day clean.”
How does that spiritual daily exersice translate itself into a music? According to Imraan Samo, “we play as if we are writing our thoughts. We know that it’s not going to sound the same again and we accept it. A lot of people in the music industry are aiming to sound like their album every time they play. That is counter to what we are doing”.
Band member Caitlin Mkhasibe says: “There’s peace that comes with feeling purged, it’s like meditating. You reach a point when your mind is not filled with clutter.”
Even though they have been active for three years, with more than 25 performances in the last year alone, two gigs a month on average, they refuse to describe their music in genres. According to Samo, “its a mantra. If you sit in the forest with your eyes closed humming – it’s the same feeling you get”. Lunar describes the music as storytelling – “you can close your eyes and imagery will come up. We communicate these concepts and feelings without words, just through soundscaping”.
How about terms such as alternative or experimental music? Lunar: “People still want a familiar term they can associate us with. If someone was to look for a word to describe us, we could fit into either. You can find a lot of elements from different genres in our music”.
In their being and in their music, Morning Pages are the opposition of mainstream. They all are free spirited artists, self-employed, independent and mostly self-taught musicians. Despite being actively exceptional, they present the perfect experience for the mainstream audience – the majority that does work nine to five, subjected to daily authorities and in a constant state of rush. Their sound would be best ‘consumed’ as an evening ritual for the working class – a transformative experience from day-job into night-life. Those young musicians found the way to relocate the early hours train of thought into a more convenient time-slot for the contemporary mind.
They perform both at local venues and festivals, and in more intimate spaces like the forest or an abandoned building. They could have no audience – and they would behave, sound and look the same. “Even if we have three people in the audience– we will give them a show,” says Samo. He suggest calling their gigs “a ritual or a rite”, and he uses a reference to spiritual healing: “it’s like going to speak to a shaman”.
One of the biggest challenges in non-commercial music-making is finding rehearsal spaces. Morning Pages used to activate their rented rooms, but sometimes the body-corporates or neighbours would oppose. This year they relocated to The Drawing Room in Observatory. This is a key ingredient in the development of the band. “The more we play together – the more we find out when the music is ready for audience” says Samo. “I can look at Frank or Caitlin and know exactly what we’ll do next. That’s what we perfect while practicing”.
Mkhasibe adds: “We don’t speak using theory, we use feelings or wierd sounds to describe the music.”
The band was founded in 2013. The core duo Lunar and Samo met through mutual friends. “I was invited to play at a party and asked Frank if he wanted to join,” Samo recalls. After that they have decided to create a band.
“We tried to find likeminded folk. Six months after the first gig I bumped into Caitlin at the train station. We worked together before and I remembered that she played drums. On that day she took the wrong train. It was Saturday afternoon and we were having a band practice, so I invited her to join,” says Lunar. Samo adds: “Since then she fit in perfectly. It was all because she took the wrong train.”
Today Morning Pages consists of six band members — Imraan Samo (guitar,bow, screw driver, pedals, samples, drones and percussion), Frank Lunar (bass, bow and percussion), Caitlin Mkhasibe (drums and percussion), Simone Rademeyer (guitar and percussion), Rhea Dally (electronics, samples and drones) and Adam Linder (guitar and percussion) who is currently on hiatus. Like their music, also their structure of attendance is flexible. “The cool thing is that it doesn’t matter if we are two or six people playing,” says Samo. “We accept that it’s not eternal, people will come and go,” adds Lunar.
Their dreams for the future are not about glory or money.
Samo says: “Some people care about record deal, fame, pictures. We don’t care about that. We are about creating connections between people, trying to understand higher consciousness.”
So money is not an issue? “Our relationship to money is practical, only since petrol and food cost money. But it isn’t a factor of how we produce and express ourselves,” says Lunar.
Currently they have an exceptional period with no performances, which they are using to work on new materials with prospects of recording.
l For previous recordings, see soundcloud.com/morning_pages For more information, www.face book.com/themorningpagesband