FANS of Afrikaans punk band Fokofpolisiekar are in for a treat at the second instalment of The Saturday Social Club at the Red Roman Shed at Emperors Palace.
The bassist, Wynand Myburgh, says the hard-rock band took a 10-year hiatus before releasing their album, Self-Medikasie, last year and he promised they would bring on the heat in their performance next month.
“We’ve been going for 15 years, but we don’t perform a lot. I think we’ve done one other Gauteng show this year and we live in Cape Town. We are obviously excited about playing on the East Rand. We haven’t been in that kind of world for ever.
“The set is pretty much just a collection of songs from our first album all the way through to our latest album that came out at the end of last year. It’s all rock ’* roll and we will be bringing our A-game.”
The other band members are lead vocalist Francois van Coke, guitarist Hunter Kennedy, lead guitarist Johnny de Ridder and drummer Jaco ‘Snakehead’ Venter. They are all busy with individual projects.
“To be going for 15 years and still be best mates is amazing. That’s why we are still amped to play at shows.
"It’s great because we get to see each other, so when we get on a plane to fly somewhere, it’s like a get-together. We chat and see where we all are because everyone is busy and has their own careers and we don’t see a lot of each other. These shows are kind of special for us,” adds Myburgh.
Besides the risqué name, the band has always been revered for its honest-to-the-bone lyrics.
“It’s just the way it came out. In 2003 we were all stuck in Bellville where we grew up. We really felt, as young men, we wanted to break away from the kind of expectations put on us.
“Playing music full-time was kind of taboo and we wanted to prove everyone wrong. There was a lot of frustration and anger in us and writing that music at that time was an outlet.
“When we start writing an album we use it as an outlet for what’s happening in the group. Hunter has a talent for capturing what we are all feeling at the same time. He has always been able to look at us and hit the nail on the head.”
So the group's latest music is no different except that it reveals where they are now as opposed to when they started the band. “Self-Medikasie was about where we find ourselves now being in the mid-30s. A lot of digging and soul-searching went into it.”
The band has scored a nomination in the best rock album category for the 24th South African Music Awards on June 2. It previously bagged an award in the same category for the album Swanesang.
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