SOUTH African indie rock band Desmond & The Tutus ( pictured) are not your usual cup of tea. Those of you who are familiar with the Pretoria-based band will know that they are carefree, wild and crazy – but it works for them.
And what’s great about this group is their live performances which really stand out.
They are explosive on stage and deliver loads of energy during their set. So fans of the indie artists will be glad to know that the dynamic Desmond & the Tutus are making their way to Durban and Cape Towan this week to deliver the show of their lives.
Tonight caught up with drummer Craig Durrant to chat more about the band’s journey in the industry so far. Durrant is friendly and passionate as he describes the band’s sound: “We try to make dance music so it’s indie with dance and a lot of fun.
“I think we’ve grown as musicians. When we started out, we were all young and none of us were very good at our instruments.
“We were all amateurs and we’ve become better musicians just by being in the band. It helps you to develop your sound in terms of the live shows.
“With our latest album, we did stuff we had never done before. It’s a natural progression, but we haven’t taken a completely different direction. It’s always the same focus which is indie.”
With their latest album, Mnusic, Durrant tells me the writing process was quite different as compared to their previous album, Tuckshop.
“With the first one, we kind of wrote it over a couple of years and we played live for about two-and-a- half years before we released an album. So the process was quite different and we had a lot more time with the first one. The second one was more deliberate and more structured.”
As we chat, Durrant shares some of the best experiences they had when touring overseas. From playing in London to Paris and Japan, Desmond and the Tutus have made a name for themselves outside South Africa.
“Japan was really interesting. We toured there in 2010 and we went back in May this year. We had one successful single there.
“We knew we were selling albums out there and we had some sort of following. We played seven shows there and they were all completely sold out.
“In the bigger cities like Tokyo, we played at the same venue two nights in a row and it was a full house. It was so insane and we headlined that show. That was a career highlight for us. We’ve also played in the UK and we’ve done two shows in Paris. The response was really good there.
“Also, we had a South African theme in Paris and other bands also played like The Blk Jks and The Brother Moves On.
And there were boerewors rolls outside. It was good, but the price was really steep compared to our R15 a roll here in South Africa,” he laughs.
What’s interesting about Desmond & the Tutus is that they prefer to manage their careers, and by the looks of it, they’re doing a pretty good job. “The way we manage the band is kind of DIY. And people respond to the DIY aspect. For us, the band represents an important part of our life. We’re trying to build this brand that we came up with eight years ago. We keep doing what we’re doing and we’re more than happy with the way things have turned out.”
So what can fans expect in the future? “We’re planning on releasing a third album, maybe next year. That’s the band’s main focus at the moment.
“The albums we’ve released have done pretty well. We’re always writing new stuff, releasing stuff and playing shows for younger people to get more fans, to build the fan base from the younger people and get a good rotation... It’s a nice balance.”
• Desmond & the Tutus will be performing at various venues in the major cities (Durban and Cape Town first) throughout the coming week. For more info, visit the band’s Facebook page.