Hot Water have just returned from their most successful European festival to date. The group, led by Donovan Copley, have played almost every big festival in South Africa and are determined to do the same overseas.
Having started eight years ago, Hot Water launched their first album, Home, at Kirstenbosch Gardens in 2007.
“After that where do you go?” smiles Copley. “That was a pretty big start. We played other major events also on my to-do list and then my next goal was to play overseas. I like big challenges. I have always tried to do the impossible.”
Hot Water is perfect for overseas audiences. Their music is strongly South African without being too obvious and hey shoo wow. Copley’s music has strong influences of blues, kwela, maskandi, rock and even sakkie sakkie. His homemade guitar looks like he created it from a Castrol depot, and as for those pants. However, there is no doubt that the man is home brewed for international success.
“Hot Water is not your standard band,” he says. “I formed a space to create a new sound that is modern and South African, this is authentic for me and done from my perspective. I have incubated that and taken time to develop these concepts. The name Hot Water reflects the flexibility of that essence. I set it up to play with other musicians and not be dependent on other people to function. It is not a four piece band.”
Shortly after the launch of their first album (they have three altogether), they were spotted performing at the V&A Waterfront by a tourist from Holland. Although not part of any music industry he managed to get them booked at Waterpop in Holland, which is close to the Netherlands city The Hague.
While they were performing there, the director of The Hague Festival phoned them from Cape Town to say how he had just purchased a copy of Home and wanted to book them for his festival.
“There was a weird synchroni- sation of him phoning me in Cape Town and I was in The Hague,” laughs Copley. In 2009 Hot Water, Freshlyground and Hugh Masekela performed at that festival. From there they were signed to a big management company, Griot, which represents artists like Freshlyground and Masekela as well as Lira overseas.
Hot Water has since performed more regularly overseas.
In 2010, their biggest hit so far, La Duma, was played in 14 different countries.
They performed at the Kick Off party in Berlin for the Fifa World Cup.
By 2011 they had launched their third album, South. They then toured the album in Europe which resulted in good sales on iTunes.
Last year they completed a gruelling 40-day tour which included Germany, Holland, Croatia, Scotland and Switzerland.
“We played some serious venues,” recalls Copley. “We played a street festival where the Olympic Torch came by.”
Shortly after the performance they were booked to play Womad UK.
“It was hard core. It was one of the best shows we have done.”
This in turn led to the main stage and headline act at Womad Spain earlier this year.
“Womad has 35 000 people in Spain.
“When we played, the organisers estimated our audience was 15 000. They went mad for us. I wasn’t surprised at their reaction.
“The Spanish aren’t reserved. When we arrived I could feel that they were in the mood for some shit to go down. There was an hour break before we played.
“Backstage I could feel the crowd writhing and I thought, wow, this is perfect for Hot Water.
“I thrive on that energy. I go really wild with a big audience. I can really strut it. I felt like a South African rock star as opposed to a rock star from South Africa.”
Currently they are in negotiations for Womad in Australia and New Zealand and have been offered a record deal by a US company.
They are also returning to Europe in July for the summer gig circuit and festivals, and somewhere in between, Copley is planning the fourth album.
While he loves performing overseas, he enjoys balancing that with South African gigs.
“It’s about taking a stand for South Africa.”
With artists like Black Coffee, Culoe de Song, Lira, Goldfish, The Parlotones, Freshlyground, Prime Circle and Hot Water consistently touring Europe, it certainly would appear that our South African music industry is growing.