Backstage passes

Continuing in showing off my collection of partially focused cellphone photography, I snapped a few pics of some backstage passes I've collected from various shows I've played or been involved in somehow. Check it out!

 

 

Hard Rock Cafe - Cape Town - 1999

I was only 11 when this show happened, but I got this backstage pass when I went to the soundcheck with my uncle, whose band headlined the event. It was the New Year's Eve/Millennium Party and it was also my first visit to the Hard Rock Cafe. 

 

 

 

Lanners Landing - Klapmuts - 2002 or 2003

One of the most intense shows I've been to. This took place before I joined 12th Avenue. I was working as a roadie/lighting technician (underage labour) for the band at the time. The crowd was so crazy that someone picked up a monitor from the front of the stage and passed it around the crowd!

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Exposure Festival - Observatory - 2003

 My first (unofficial) show with 12th Avenue. Their drummer at the time had hurt his hand and I filled in for him.

"Crazy" EP Launch - Mercury Live - Cape Town - 2005

Our first EP launch was a major DIY effort. We had these passes made for the band and crew and spent the entire night before the show inserting the CD sleeves into the cases, as we printed the first set of discs ourselves.

"Crazy" Tour - 2006

My second tour with 12th Avenue, which included my first trip up the Garden Route.

RAMFest - Rawsonville - 2007

We played the opening night of the inaugural RAMFest outdoor festival. It rained really hard for most of the night, but stopped when we hit the stage, and we got the funniest stares ever from the late night staff at the local KFC. I suppose we asked for it showing up in our stage clothes...

"Rock N Roll Circus" Tour - 2007

Much of this tour is a blur to me. I do, however, remember falling asleep for a few seconds on stage in Durban, due to pure exhaustion,  as well as Mark and I having to ice our feet after walking on hot tarmac to the beach.

Seether SA Tour - 2008

Nights 1 & 2 of Seether's "Homecoming" tour. Good times!

Seether SA Tour - 2008

The venue for the Durban show didn't have enough space for dressing rooms for the support acts, so Shaun from Seether was cool enough to share their room (and their food) with everyone. 

Seether SA Tour - 2008

Final night of the Seether tour. What a party!

FIFA World Cup FanFest - 2010

 We were selected to play four shows at the various Cape Town FIFA FanFests. We met some fun football fanatics (alliteration...nice) at those shows.

Random Festival - 2010 or 2011

I don't actually remember what show this is from, but I thought it was cool that the promoter made custom passes for each band.

Mark Haze makes Idols SA TOP 10!

A huge congratulations to my brother, Mark Haze, on making it into the TOP 10 on Idols South Africa! Well done, dude! If you're not already aware, Mark is the lead singer in our band, 12th Avenue. The band is super proud of Mark's achievements so far and hope you'll vote for him in the next stages of the competition.

To vote for Mark on Idols, SMS 08 to 37400 when the voting lines are open on Sundays. You can also vote 100 times each week on Mxit by adding the M-Net application through Tradepost.

Here's a clip of the Top 15 performing together. Mark opens the song and shows off some of his guitar skills:

http://www.dstv.com/mnet/idolsSA/Video/Play.aspx?vid=7502

Well done, bro! Keep it up. :)

Mark Haze - Idols SA - Top 15 Performance

Check out this video of my brother, and band's lead singer, Mark Haze! It is his Idols South Africa Top 15 performance of "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns 'N Roses.

http://www.dstv.com/mnet/idolsSA/Video/Play.aspx?vid=7133&AdCategoryId=0

Mark totally rocked the song! But, as is the nature of this type of competition, he needs YOUR votes to get to the next round and continue performing on the show.

The public has until 10pm C.A.T tonight (25/07/2011) to get their votes in for Mark Haze.

Mark Haze - Vote for him on Idols SA!

You can get all the details on 12th Avenue's website - http://www.12thavenueband.com


Thanks to everyone who has been voting already and for all the support that you've been showing to Mark on Facebook and Twitter.

You all rock! Now, let's get my bro into the Top 10!!!

This took me all day...sort of.

I've had this window open all day on my pc and have only decided to start typing now. It's been a busy day, and I am very hungry. My awesome lunch was just not enough to sustain me and now I require something more. At least I don't have to fend for myself tonight. My parents are feeding me tonight (Good behaviour rewards... hehe!), so the kitchen and surrounding areas will be clean for another day until I release my next wave of messy cooking terror.

After what is sure to be an epic dinner, I have rehearsal with 3/4 of 12th Avenue. Mark Haze is up in Johannesburg, as he has made it to the Idols SA TOP 15! Well done, brother. We're behind you all the way. :) I'll post links to all of Mark's Idols videos whenever a new one is uploaded. Check my blog's archives for his first three performances in the competition so far.

While Mark's away, we're busy working on a few new songs. There's nothing super solid down just yet, but we've got some cool ideas. Bjorn, in particular, has been doing quite a bit of writing and has some really nice musical cards up his sleeve. :)

In other news, Nicole and I are embracing the nomadic existence again, and are housesitting for her brother, who is living it up in London for a few weeks. Craig, if you're reading this...t-shirts from Camden Town. That's all I have to say. :p Also, we're helping out as leaders at Youth Alpha at our church, which I think is going to be a very awesome experience. That starts this weekend. Hold thumbs that I don't influence any kids badly. I'm a good person. I just shout at people when I drive, that's all. :)

And...I think that's about it. No more news. Tune into CNN if you want anything more. :) Oh, but if you do want to make me very happy, then please please pleeeeeeeeease be the fantastic people that you are and "Like" my band, 12th Avenue, as well as my brother/singer/dude who's helping to make me famous by dominating in Idols SA, Mark Haze, on Facebook. It'll really mean a lot to me if you do this. I might just share my chocolate with you...Okay, I won't, but that's beside the point. Just do it!! :)

Mark Haze performs with The Parlotones on Idols South Africa

We've declared Sundays as Mark Haze Day! - My band, 12th Avenue, is so proud of our singer and brother, Mark Haze, who has been giving some amazing performances on Idols South Africa so far.

Check out the link below to see him performing with The Parlotones on the show.

http://www.dstv.com/mnet/idolsSA/Video/Play.aspx?vid=6036&AdCategoryId=0

To keep up with Mark's progress, keep checking out my blog and also be sure to check out the following sites:

www.markhaze.com
www.12thavenueband.com

And don't forget that when your share all your Mark Haze related news and comments on Twitter, make sure you use the Official #TeamMarkHaze hashtag!

More updates coming again soon. For now, 12th Avenue are writing new material, while Mark tears it up on the Idols stage. :)

The cuisine of the road

I love food. I have a fast metabolism and therefore I'm constantly eating. If it's not a sandwich or a bowl of cereal, it's a chocolate bar or a packet of potato chips. I'm known for not saying no to a second helping if I still have space for it, and I almost never say no to dessert.

Being on the road with my band often leads to a change in eating habits, and most of the time means a change of menu. On our last tour, we were blessed enough to have a temporary home away from home that provided amazing cooked meals for us, but this isn't always the case.

Two-minute noodles: The world's most versatile and affordable touring food. Dry, cooked, plain or spiced. It never gets old. Okay, maybe after a solid few weeks of eating it twice a day.

I remember my first ever tour, back in 2005. I was only 17 and didn't have much money to spend on anything really. My mom packed a cooler box full of food and a big flask of coffee for the band to share (Thanks, Mom), which we finished before the end of day one. So the next 2 weeks were not going to be easy. I actually remember on the first night, we stopped at one of SA's famous Engen 1-Stop Wimpy restaurants, where I, being the cheapskate I am, brought my foil wrapped homemade hotdogs into the restaurant and ate them there. (Don't worry, I ordered a coffee. Well, only because we'd finished ours already.)

The band's basic diet for the rest of this tour (because all of us were pretty much at the same level of poor at this stage and decided it would be better to pool our limited resources) consisted of two-minute noodles and peanut butter sandwiches. We bought powdered milk for cereal and accepted any free meal we could get our hands on. We even went as far as having Mark and Bjorn do an impromptu acoustic performance in a shopping centre parking lot. It got shut down after about 10 minutes, but we made about R25. :)

Thankfully, things got a bit better on later tours. We eventually moved up to roadside pies, which I can assure you are the single greatest health hazard to a band, and now we actually eat real food. Hooray!

Bjorn and I had a brief facebook conversation around hunger this morning, which got me to write this post. In a nutshell, I was hungry and craving a second breakfast. This made me think about the various meals that I end up enjoying on tour. So after that incredibly long introduction, here they are!

Breakfast - Cereal. Normally Coco Pops.
Second Breakfast - A couple hours later. Maybe a sandwich, fruit or on a good day, chocolate.
Brunch - Quick snack an hour before lunch.
Lunch - I'm not explaining lunch, seriously...
Mid-afternoon snack - Similar to second breakfast.
Late-afternoon snack - Cookies or similar. Mmm...
Supper - Om nom nom...
Evening snack - If at home, cookies or similar. If out, N/A.
Post show feast - If playing locally, normally N/A. If on tour, whatever's still open at 4am or leftovers from supper.

And there you have it! Now you know my secret to my on-stage energy! hehe! :p Looking back at this, I'm surprised that I am actually able to eat so much. I'm just going to say I'm a gifted individual. :)

Mark Haze's Idols Top 100 group performance

Check out this link! It's my brother, and 12th Avenue's lead singer, Mark Haze, doing his Top 100 group performance on Idols South Africa. They performed "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen.

http://www.dstv.com/mnet/idolsSA/Video/Play.aspx?vid=5836&AdCategoryId=61

Enjoy it, and keep following his progress on DSTV Channels 101 and 170 (HD) every Sunday at 17:30 and Channel 199 for all the highlights every day.

Listen up!

Firstly, 12th Avenue have released a new single - "Taking My Heart With You", featuring the vocal talents of our guitarist, Bjorn Faree! Listen to it on the SoundCloud player below:

Taking My Heart With You by 12thAvenue

In other news,  I hosted a drum workshop last night, with the help of Mark Haze and Brian Lee, where we discussed playing in studio, preparing for recording, different styles used on our albums, and drumming in general. It was very well received. A big thank you to Paul Bothner Music, our sponsors, who arranged the event. I'm looking forward to doing something like this again.

Mark heads up to Johannesburg soon to continue his journey on Idols South Africa. The Top 100 round will be aired this Sunday at 17:30 CAT on M-Net - DSTV Channel 101 & 170 (HD). Check it out, as you might just see Mark perform a few more songs. Keep following his progress on Idols and check out his website - www.markhaze.com

Do not fear, as 12th Avenue, will still be alive and kicking when he's away. Even though we won't be touring during this time, the rest of us are still going to be meeting up regularly to rehearse and write new material. So once Mark's back from dominating on Idols, we'll be able to play a few shows for all of you. Hooray! :)

That's all for now. I'm going to check out Transformers 3 next week. Will let you know what I thought and maybe talk a bit of nonsense about movies, since I haven't done that in a while.

Still alive....

I have literally 5 minutes to blog here, so I'll keep it short.

I'm still alive, even though it's been over a week since my last post.

I would've blogged tonight, but Nix won tickets to an awesome Jazz Big Band show in Cape Town tonight, so we are going to that. I'm really excited. Haven't been to that sort of show in a loooooooong time.

12th Avenue have an acoustic show on Friday at Berties Moorings in Gordon's Bay. I hope everyone that reads it comes, because it's the last show of our current tour.

On  29 June at Paul Bothner Music, Plumstead, we're hosting a workshop around recording for their Drum Month. This means that most of the talk revolves around drumming on a record. This means that I have to do most of the talking. Wish me luck...

Okay, that's my 5 minutes up. Adios!

Mark Haze on Idols South Africa

Check out this clip of my brother, and 12th Avenue's lead singer's audition on Idols South Africa. He's through to the next round at Sun City!

http://www.dstv.com/mnet/idolsSA/Video/Play.aspx?vid=3365&AdCategoryId=53

Follow his progress on M-Net (DSTV Channel 101), M-Net HD (170) and Idols Extra (199).

Paul Bothner Music Birthday Sale

12th Avenue's amazing sponsors, Paul Bothner Music, are celebrating their birthday with a 5-day sale that any musician looking for incredible deals should not miss. Check out the details below and take a look at their website - www.bothners.co.za

THE SALE OF THE YEAR!!!!

Absolutely Everything on Special!!

It’s our Famous Annual Birthday Bash!!

MASSIVE Savings on ALL our Gear at ALL of Our Stores

Extended Shopping Hours 

5 Days Only!! Wed 25 to Sun 29 May

First come, first served!! Don’t miss out!!

R3000 voucher up for grabs!! 

Shopping Hours at Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng Branches:

All 6 our stores – Including Jean Village and Glenwood Village

Wednesday till Friday: 9 am to 6 pm 

Saturday: 08:30 am to 3 pm 

Sunday: 9 am to 2 pm

Track by track - 12th Avenue (self-titled) - Why I played it the way I did...

This one is for the drummers, and for anyone else who might be interested in the writing and recording process of the drum parts on 12th Avenue's latest record.

Track 1 - "Walk on the Water"

The snare sound on this track came about by accident. After soundchecking the kit and getting a good sound to build from, we decided to record this track first. It was only the next day when we starting the next track, that we realised we hadn't hooked up the underside snare drum microphone. However, when listening to the song, we realised that it gave a nice industrial sound, so we kept it as is. The song features a fairly solid rock beat with fast paced fills. It was inspired by Josh Freese's drumming on Lostprophets' 2006 "Liberation Transmission". I was also listening to quite a bit of Paramore before recording this, which inspired quite a few of the snare-heavy fills.

Track 2 - "Wasting Time"

Lots of breaks and accents in this one. I planned a lot of the fills and breaks around the guitar riffs. The guitars also help to accentuate some of the drum parts through scratches and slides, which add another percussive element to the song. The drumming during the guitar solo is bit of a tribute to my favourite drummer, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). In fact, several parts of the song are very Bonham inspired. The use of the splash and china without any bass drum or snare, just before the last chorus, was kind of borrowed from the Seether track "Burrito" where John Humphrey does a similar sort of thing. In addition to my 10" splash, I also used an 8" splash cymbal for quicker decay.

Track 3 - "Sally"

A bit more of a blue/jazz inspired track, drumming wise. Most of the drumming you hear on the track came about by accident. I really just jammed it out with the band, as I couldn't remember which part came next. I was quite surprised that it sounded so good when I listened back to the take. I tried to keep a lot of the drumming fairly simple in this one, as the song has quite a bit of dynamics to it. We went for a bit of a deeper tone on the snare and toms on this song as well, which gives it a nice vintage feel. To add to this, I used a 16" thin crash in the last section of the choruses to give an older, more worn-out feel to the song. Again, there's a big John Bonham influence, as well as influence from Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters).

Track 4 - "Taking my Heart with You"

This is probably my favourite song to play on the new record and also one of the hardest to play live, especially when singing such high backing vocals. Amazingly, it was done in a single take. More Josh Freese inspired stuff happening here. It's also the only song on the record in 6/8 timing.

Track 5 - "Lost in Confusion"

Even though it's the most simple song on the record, it took me the most takes to get right. There's nothing too crazy going on in the song, but the straight-forward beat, along with the pumping bass guitar notes, drives the song.

Track 6 - "Nightmare"

This track has a lot of subtle effects and really nice offbeats that fit in nicely with the bass guitar work in the second verse. The choruses are straight forward, but build up to an epic climax. We used a lot of the underside snare mic on this track, which makes the ghost notes in the verse sound really great. The simplified fill at the end of the song actually came about by accident, as I miscounted the bars and thought the song was ending a bar later. The explosive reverb on the bass drum at the end of the song ends the record off really well.

My drum kit! Ain't she purr-dy? :)

Busy busy busy!

After a moderately quiet April, touring for 12th Avenue is in full swing again. Already, we have a few battle scars, which are an inevitable part of any tour. I have a few scratches on the back of my hands that I assume are from loading equipment into a vehicle. I've also been dealing with blisters on my fingers from drumming, which are thankfully all calloused now, as well as on one of my toes, as a result of doing a 10km walk the other day. My bassist, Brian, was unfortunate enough to get his thumb caught in a car door at the last show, but thankfully it's just bruised and he can still play bass.

Apart from minor injuries, the shows have been incredible so far, and we have loads more coming up. Thank you to everyone that's come to the shows so far. Your support is greatly appreciated and you really make it that much more meaningful for us.

Make sure you get down to one or more of the following 12th Avenue shows. We'd love to see you there!

12th Avenue upcoming tour dates so far:

6 May - Nameless Pub, Somerset West
10 May - Aandklas, Stellenbosch
21 May - Private Event, Cape Town
26 May - Tings n Times, Pretoria
27 May - Cool Runnings, Fourways, Johannesburg
28 May - Die Mystic Boer, Bloemfontein
3 June - The Grand Daddy Hotel, Cape Town
10 June - Plaasteater, Brackenfell

One of the strangest things to see on a train

I took this photo a few months back and have shared it with a few friends. I decided it's finally time to unleash it upon the internet! It's a little out of focus, but if you look carefully you can make it out.

Finger licking good...well, not exactly.

 
Yes friends, those are indeed chicken bones the floor. Where was this taken? The alley behind the local KFC? A traditional healer's backyard? No, this photo was taken inside one of Cape Town's mind-numbingly awesome Metrorail trains. I know I get hungry when traveling, but whoever devoured this culinary delight must've had some appetite.

This is among one of the many wonders that you can experience on the Metrorail system. I've yet to snap a pic of the shirtless, tattooed ex-prisoner that I once saw. Although, thinking about it now, I don't think he'd appreciated that very much. :)

Don't forget - 12th Avenue live in Durbanville this Saturday! - 30 April, 9pm, at Blizzard (Wellington Rd.) with Silent Side and Save the Ears for Breakfast! See you there!

It's all about the venue

My lifelong dream is to headline at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It's just such a fantastic venue with such a rich history of excellent performances. Apart from that, it's totally humungous! However, this isn't the only place I'd like to play. Cape Town Stadium, where I got to see the legendary U2 perform earlier this year, would be epic, as would any of SA's 2010 Fifa World Cup Stadiums. Madison Square Garden, NYC, USA would be another great place to perform.

However, when I think about it, I've actually performed in some amazing venues, and from a young age no less. I was only 13 when I played a drum solo in front of about 3000 people at Bellville Athletics Stadium, for my school's Inter-schools Athletics Tournament, which was nerve-wracking, but loads of fun at the same time.

Here is a list of a few incredible venues that I've been blessed enough to perform at, and why that particular show was so memorable. Enjoy!

Grand Arena, Cape Town - 2008

The opening night of our tour supporting Seether. 5000 people singing back at us waving giant foam fingers. Not to mention, the amazing backstage area, equipped with plenty of food and drinks. We also played Standard Bank Arena, JHB; Wavehouse, Durban; and NMMU Sports Centre, PE on that tour, all of which were amazing. However, the Cape Town show stands out the most, as it's my hometown and it was my first ever huge arena show. 

Artscape Theatre, Cape Town - 2005

My high school jazz band performed at the Cape Town Youth Jazz Festival. We did a half hour set that included some of the most insane improvisation and musical innovation. I particularly remember using a 5/8 running into a 6/8 time signature on one of the songs.

Die Mystic Boer, Bloemfontein - 2010

Closing show of our 2010 tour. We had an incredible show and one of the craziest backstage parties ever.

Mercury Live, Cape Town - 2006 & 2011

I've played at Mercury so many times, but our music video launch for our song "Single" in 2006 and our album launch for "12th Avenue", earlier this month, were two of the most epic shows I've played there. 

Endler Hall, Stellenbosch - 2005

I played at a Choir recital here while in high school. It's just a beautiful auditorium with incredible acoustics and a genuine pipe organ. I love it when you can hear every voice and every instrument when there isn't a single microphone in the room. 

Wanderers Sports Club, Windhoek, Namibia - 2010

My first show outside my country's borders, but definitely not the last. The crew at this venue made me feel like a rock star. I didn't have to worry about a thing.

City Hall, Cape Town - 2004

Another jazz band performance. City Hall looks amazing from the outside and even better from the behind the kit.

Zeplins, Pretoria - 2005

Probably the strangest place I've ever performed at. Very dark, very gothic, but still rocking. It was here that we opened our first ever national tour as a band, and where I witnessed my first ever failed stage dive. Can you spell faceplant?

V&A Waterfront Amphitheatre, Cape Town - 2008

This is another venue that I've performed at since high school. I can't remember all the details of every show I've done here, but I do remember a show in 2008 where the stage was covered in artificial grass, which was helpful since my bass player at the time left his shoes at home!

Back on stage again

After a lengthy, but absolutely worth it, recording process, 12th Avenue finally have a new album out. We launched the new record at Mercury Live, in Cape Town on Friday night and it was a show of epic proportions. While still doing soundcheck, we were receiving Twitter messages such as "We're queuing outside. Open the doors, it's cold out here!" By the time the doors opened, the queue was quite a way down the street and by the time the show started, a capacity crowd awaited us.

I had a fantastic time on stage. It was just one of those shows where everything seems to work. Thank you to everyone involved in making it such a success - the rest of the band, support acts, management, venue, crew, family, friends and fans. Big hugs to all of you!

12th Avenue on stage at Mercury Live, Cape Town. - I'm hidden behind the drums/band. :) - Photo - VoiceofRock.com

Where to from here? A number of places, actually. This Friday, we're set to play a 2-hour acoustic set in Gordon's Bay, which is likely to be a whole lot of fun. Gordon's Bay is a town full of fun people, great food and an awesome atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to it, particularly because it's the first time we're playing the acoustic versions of the new songs.

We have plenty more shows lined up. They're all on our website - www.12thavenueband.com - but I've added a few here for the lazy readers. :p More shows are still being booked, so this list is likely to get longer!

8 April - Bertie's Moorings - Gordon's Bay
30 April - Blizzard - Durbanville
6 May - Nameless Pub - Somerset West
7 May - Viper Lounge - Table View
26, 27, 28 May - Johannesburg, Pretoria & Bloemfontein - TBA

Tonight's the night!

A couple weeks ago, I was thinking to myself, "I can't believe our new album is finally complete". And now, after hours upon hours of rehearsing, it is time for our album launch show at Mercury Live in Cape Town, and the kick-off of our national tour.

On days like this, I don't really know how to feel. I'm definitely excited, but there's always a certain amount of nerves involved. I've never been afraid to play in front of a crowd. In fact, I'm more afraid of playing in front of 1 or 2 people (like music practical exams when I was in school) than playing in front of thousands. Maybe it's just a case of "Will they like the new songs?", "Will people actually show up?", "Will all the equipment work?" etc. etc. etc.

Things like that are what really make musicians nervous. Well, at least that's what makes me nervous. However, I think today,  the excitement levels are far outweighing the nerves. I think we're definitely ready for the show and the set that we've been working on is solid. We've also been getting loads of positive responses online whenever we mention the release show, so I think it's going to be a busy one tonight, which is awesome.

So, with about 10.5 hours to go until soundcheck, I guess all I can do is wait patiently...

See you tonight, Cape Town. It's gonna be a big one! :)

The new 12th Avenue album. Available from www.12thavenueband.com on 01/04/2011.

12th Avenue TygerBurger article

12th Avenue was featured in last week's TygerBurger newspaper!

The full article is available on our official website - www.12thavenueband.com

Go read it now! :)

12th Avenue - TygerBurger - 23/03/2011 - Full article at www.12thavenueband.com

12th Avenue MFM Radio Performance and Interview

My band, 12th Avenue, spent some time at MFM 92.6 in Stellenbosch yesterday. If you missed the interview and performance, check out the link below to listen to it.

12th Avenue on MFM - 23 March 2011

Don't forget about our album launch on 1 April 2011, at Mercury Live in Cape Town!

What's been cooking in the kitchen that is my mind.

So it's been a while since my last post. In this time, I've grown a year older (and hopefully wiser), been to the zoo, and watched my girlfriend shave her head to raise money for Cancer research. (She has a good looking head on her shoulders, so I don't mind. hehe! ) The band also collected our first batch of endorsed items from Paul Bothner Music. A huge thank you to them. Their endorsement is a huge help to our band.

As I'm typing this, I'm enjoying an amazing tuna sandwich, and a fairly mediocre cup of coffee, the combination of which is making me feel rather ill. I'm listening to the album "Sci-Fi Crimes" by Chevelle. I've been a fan of Chevelle since I heard "The Red" back in high school. I still really like that song. "Sci-Fi Crimes" is a very cool record. There's a lot of raw emotion in the songs that is often lacking in a lot of today's music (I'm not really a fan of the whole "baby, baby, shake your booty" thing).

I've started reading "Life" by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones (Thanks Nix for this awesome birthday present). It's such an interesting book and he tells his life story in such a way that even ordinary moments seem like an adventure. As little as I have in common with Keith in terms of lifestyle and upbringing, I admire his passion for music. The man truly loves it. I'm not even a quarter way through it, but it's already becoming a favourite for me. I've read "U2 by U2" and Nikki Sixx's "The Heroin Diaries", but this seems to take the cake so far.

12th Avenue's new record is being mastered. We've started promo on it already and have also started rehearsing our set for the Cape Town album launch on 1 April at Mercury Live. We have a number of interviews happening on the days leading up to the launch, which is always exciting. Tomorrow, we meet with the TygerBurger, a local newspaper, and in the week of the launch, we have interviews with Bush Radio and MFM. The MFM interview also consists of an on-air acoustic performance, which should be fun.

Alright, I think I've written enough to keep people occupied for a while. Later, alligators! haha! :)