Top of the chart!

Thanks to your votes, we've finally done it! In our sixth week on the Kia Take40SA chart, our latest single, "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)" is at NUMBER ONE!

Mark Haze - Number One on Kia Take40SA chart

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for the song. It is very special to us that you took the time and energy to vote for our song and we really appreciate the support. Moments like this make all the hard work, sweat, long drives, backaches, headaches and loss of hearing worth it. Thank you again for supporting us by voting, buying the album and having fun with us at our shows. You guys and girls are amazing.

If you'd like to keep the song at number one on the chart, go to http://www.take40sa.co.za and vote for Mark Haze - "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)". Make sure you tune into 94.5 KFM (Western Cape) or 94.7 Highveld Stereo (Gauteng) on Saturday between 10am and 2pm to hear if the song stays on top.

Thanks again! You are the greatest fans ever!

Some East Coast memories

The band just finished our East Coast Tour and it was loads of fun. Thank you to everyone who came out to the shows in spite of the stormy weather. You people are amazing!

Here are a few behind the scenes photos* from the tour. I'll be adding photos from our recent trip to Malawi soon as well as other randoms. Keep checking in for more updates.

Me, ready to hit the road!

Bjorn getting his geek on.

One of the many great landscapes along the way.

Setting up my kit for the first show of the tour in Port Elizabeth.

Mark hanging out before sound check in Port Elizabeth.

We played a lot of hacky sack to pass the time.

Brian feeling the long drive.

Philip, our sound engineer, did most of the driving.

Bjorn playing some guitar while Mark did a radio interview in Port Elizabeth.

Me, playing around with my in-ears backstage in East London.

Mark and I playing some Mario Kart in Jeffreys Bay.

Philip and Bjorn tuning up guitars backstage in Queenstown.

Mark getting ready to go on stage in East London.

Catching a nap on the bus.

Mark checking out t-shirts at the Tamboekie Festival, Queenstown.

The band goofing off backstage in East London.

*All photos by Nicci Hayden

A few photos from tour

As you know, my band's on tour. Tomorrow, we fly to Malawi to play the Moon Rock Festival and then on Tuesday, we drive up the East Coast of SA to play a bunch of shows. I'm hoping to do a tour diary of the East Coast trip that I'll post either during or after that leg, depending on connectivity. For now, here are a few photos from the current tour that I snatched up from our manager's Instagram account. (Thanks Nicci!)*

Live on stage at Die Boer Theatre - We played 2 nights there to kick off the tour.

Bjorn on the way to a show.

Me laying on the cheese during sound check.

Finalising stage setup before sound check.

Brian "slappin da BASS". He says that's his setlist on his iPad, but he's actually just reading comics.

We had a great crowd at this show.

So happy to have my Yamaha kit on the road with me.

I'm surprised no one tried to swing from the chandelier above the crowd.

Bjorn rocking out.

Mark can sing with his eyes closed. Legend!

Quite a trippy photo of us on stage.

Band and crew (minus Philip, our sound engineer) hanging out at the merch table after a show.

*All photos taken by Nicci Hayden

New Music Video!

We've just released our new music video for our latest single "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)"!

Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dowZyZx5neA&

The album "Where Angels Fear To Fly" is available at Musica, Look & Listen, iTunes, Amazon and other great stores!

Another chart update!

Our single "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)" is doing really well! Check out the link to the Mark Haze website below for an update.

Thanks to everyone who's been requesting the song and voting for it on the various radio stations' charts.

Here's the link: Mark Haze - Official website

On the charts!

Our tour kicked off with a bang this weekend, playing three incredible shows and getting to hang out with a bunch of great bands. To add to this, we found out on Saturday that our latest single "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)" debuted at number 35 on the Kia Take40SA chart on 94.5 KFM & 94.7 Highveld Stereo.

Now that the song is on the chart, it is that much easier for you to vote for it. Simply go to http://www.take40sa.co.za/vote-now.asp and vote for Mark Haze - "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)" by clicking the button to the right of the song title and then filling in your details at the bottom of the form. You can vote as many times as you like!

Thanks to everyone who has already voted for the song and to all of you who supported us at this last weekend's shows.

On Friday, 5 October 2012, we'll be doing an acoustic set at Ou Meul Theatre in Paarl & on Saturday, 6 October 2012, we'll be performing at Buckley's in Bellville. Hope to see you there!

Tour starts tomorrow!

My band's hitting the road again. Check out our upcoming shows below:

This weekend's shows

27 & 28 Sept: Double Trouble at Die Boer, Durbanville

Entrance: R90.00 per night.
Bookings are essential, as limited tables are available:
021 979 1911/ 083 406 0111/ navrae@dieboer.com
http://www.facebook.com/events/446565955375052/
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29 Sept: XS Music Festival, Nasrec Expo Centre, Johannesburg
Tickets: http://online.computicket.com/web/event/xs_music_festival/630138369

http://www.xsmusicfest.co.za/
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5 Oct: Ou Meul Teater, Paarl
Book: 083 564 0056.
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 6 Oct: Buckley's Bellville
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12 Oct: Moon-Rock Festival 2012, Chintheche Inn, Northern Lakeshore, Malawi

East Coast Tour

Mark Haze East Coast Tour:

17 Oct: The Music Kitchen, Port Elizabeth
Tickets: R100.00
Book: 041 364 1964
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18 Oct: The Jam Shack Theatre & Function Venue, East London
Tickets: R100.00
Book: 072 225 7120

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19 Oct: Tamboekie Festival, Queenstown
Tickets: TBC
Book: TBC
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20 Oct: The Mexican JBay, Jeffrey's Bay
Tickets: Ladies R30.00 / Gents R50.00
Book: 042 293 2966
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21 Oct: Barnyard Theatre Mossel Bay, Mossel Bay
Tickets: R100.00
Book: 044 698 1022

Brought to you by:
- Universal Music SA
- Nicci Hayden - Travel Counsellor
- Yamaha Music South Africa
- Paul Bothner Music www.bothners.co.za
- Holiday Autos South Africa

See you at the next show!

27 Oct: Fairmont Community Festival, Fairmont High School, Durbanville
https://www.facebook.com/events/303733219724060/

31 Oct: Jamrock Theatre, Brackenfell
https://www.facebook.com/events/504364659591701/

More dates to follow for November/December

Mark Haze - "Where Angels Fear To Fly" - also available from iTunes and Amazon online stores

Mark Haze Music Videos, Tour Dates & More!

My band released a music video for our single "Alone" recently, which is now showing on several TV stations across the country. It was directed by Marnus Tredoux from Magic Hour Productions. If you haven't yet seen it, click the link below to watch it on Youtube.

"Alone" by Mark Haze

A shot from the music video for "Alone" by Mark Haze

If you liked the video, please show us some love by voting for it on the MK Top 10 chart. You can do it here: http://mk.dstv.com/category/top10. You can vote as many times as you like!

Don't forget to catch us on tour this Spring/Summer. We're playing shows in Durbanville, Bellville,  Paarl, Cape Town, Brackenfell, Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Jeffrey's Bay, Queenstown, Mossel Bay, Namibia, Malawi and more!

All our tour dates can be found at http://www.markhaze.com

If you haven't been to one of our shows, check out what it is all about in the video below.  This video for "Shake What Your Mama Gave You" was created by Dylan Haskin using live footage from one of our Cape Town shows. Click the link below to view it on Youtube.

"Shake What Your Mama Gave You" by Mark Haze

A shot from the music video for  "Shake What Your Mama Gave You" by Mark Haze

The latest Mark Haze album "Where Angels Fear To Fly" is available through Universal Music at all major South African music retailers, as well as on iTunes and Amazon online stores. Don't forget to request our latest single "Wake Up (Dreaming of You)" on your local radio station.

Lastly, you can "like" us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/markhaze12 and follow us on Twitter - Mark Haze: @MarkHaze12, Gareth Haze: @GarethHaze12, Bjorn Faree: @BjornFaree12 & Brian Lee: @brianlee12A

Music Industry Rant: Drinks Specials

I receive a lot of event invitations on Facebook to other artists' shows. I also send out similar invitations to my own shows. The thing that bugs me though is when the description of the show is 30% information on the bands and their set times and 70% information on the exceedingly long list of drinks specials that the venue has on offer.

Yes, it is nice to have a tasty cold beverage, purchased at a bargain price, to enjoy while watching a band, but this should not be the selling point of the event. If people want the music industry to develop, then venues, musicians and promoters should start focusing on what the event is all about: Music. If your venue claims to be a "Live Music Venue" and not simply a pub with a termite-infested stage, then start running it like one. Centre your focus on hosting great live music events with top-quality sound and lighting. The music industry should be focusing on music and leaving the liquor focus to the liquor industry.

Photo Challenge! - "Cruising"

I've always had an interest in photography, so for my birthday in March, my wife along with a few members of our family chipped in to buy me a decent camera. After buying a book on photography and practicing a bit, she's decided I need a challenge. So, every now and then she thinks up a different style of photo that I should take.

Quite a while back, she suggested I take a photo that shows motion. Although it is long overdue, I finally managed. Yesterday, as it was such a nice day, I took a walk through town at around lunch time and snapped a few photos, amongst which I got this one entitled "Cruising" (Click to enlarge the photo).

I managed to take a few other nice ones, which I'll add soon.

My next photo challenge is to create an interesting landscape/cityscape photo. It should be fun. :)

Mark Haze - Gauteng Acoustic Tour

If you're in Gauteng this week, make sure you get down to one of Mark Haze's acoustic shows. Mark & our guitarist Bjorn are in Gauteng all week and still have about 4 shows left of the tour.

Check out the picture for the dates:

Blogging like it's going on Twitter

Hi!

Yes, I'm still here.

I've decided as of today to update my blog more frequently, but with shorter posts and hopefully more photos.

I have a decent camera now, so I therefore have no excuse not to take cool photos and share them with the world.

My blog is basically going to be like a Twitter account. Short, to-the-point, and hopefully interesting.

Thanks for your patience during my 6+ months of inactivity.

For your patience, and as part of my promise, here's a photo I took a while back of a rainbow on Table Mountain from my apartment window. No editing done on it as of yet. :)

Back in the studio

I've spent the past few weeks at Bellville Studios recording drums for the upcoming Mark Haze album. It has been a blast working with the legendary Theo Crous, who is not only a fantastic engineer and producer, but also very easy to get along with and lots of fun to work with.

It has been quite a while since I've been in a studio, which proved to be a bit of a hindrance for me. I think I've grown so accustomed to not hearing enough of myself due to poor on-stage monitoring at shows or just the loudness of our rehearsal room, that I actually found that playing in studio is a lot harder than I remembered it to be.

You see, playing drums on a studio recording immediately puts your abilities as a musician under the microscope. If at any point you're slightly out of time with the click track, the engineer's hawk-like vision notices this while he examines the waveforms on the screen, and even though the untrained ear might not notice it, that little error can be catastrophic in the long run. I had to re-play several parts to get them just right, as contrary to my prior knowledge, you can't always fix human error with a Pro Tools plugin.

However, the recordings so far are sounding great and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it. Bellville Studios is an incredible place to work and this is noticeable just by looking at the equipment on offer. I had the privilege of playing a Yamaha Absolute Maple Custom kit along with a rare Ludwig Black Beauty brass-shell snare. The sound quality and feel of the kit was fantastic and the sound that Theo got out of it is world-class. I cannot wait for you to hear the finished product.

Apart from recording, I have been enjoying life in Cape Town, although I think the wind is about 10km/h stronger outside my apartment than anywhere else in the city. I've discovered a ton of fun places to eat and hang out at, all a few minutes away from home. The joys of living in the city... :)

Although I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to, I hope you've been enjoying my Twitter updates. If you're not already following me, and you're interested, feel free to do so HERE.

Adios, until next time! :)

Begin New Transmission...

I'm not even going to count the number of days/weeks/months since my last post. I've been busy, so here's a quick round-up of everything that's happened in the past few months.

My last post was on 23 September 2011. I got engaged the next day, which was our 7-year anniversary, on top of Table Mountain. I then got married a little over a month later on 11-11-11. It was awesome and being married is fantastic. Nicole and I are very happy. We received a lot of gifts and kind wishes from our friends and family, which are very much appreciated. On that note, we have moved into a new apartment in Cape Town and are enjoying life in the concrete jungle, although we have a great view of Table Mountain, which makes it seem far from the city.

I had a really fun Christmas and New Year and have been enjoying the summer. It is good to be performing again. If you didn't realise, my brother, Mark Haze, came 2nd in the last season of Idols SA, which has helped our band tremendously. We no longer perform as 12th Avenue, but rather as his band. It's basically the same as always, just better shows, and since we are all basically session musicians now, it opens us up a bit more to collaborate with other artists, which is quite cool. Mark also signed to Universal Music, which is pretty awesome. We've been working hard on new material and will be heading into studio in a couple weeks time to record his new album, which Universal will be releasing.

The shows have been very well attended and it's great to see so many new faces in the crowd, as well as everyone else who has stuck with us through thick and thin. It's been good to travel more than usual lately too, even though I miss home during tour.

There it is, the last few months in a nutshell. It doesn't sound all that exciting the way that I'm writing it, but it has been quite a roller coaster of a time. When I have a bit more time and energy to put into my blog, I'll maybe go into more detail. Maybe not, though. Just because I have a blog doesn't mean that I have to share absolutely everything that goes on in my life. That's what Facebook is for, right?

If you're in Cape Town this Friday, 27 January 2012, get down to Mercury Live in De Villiers Street. We'll be performing there and it should be a blast. Get your tickets at Webtickets.co.za

Adios!