Get the new single "Time" by Mark Haze, featuring Theo Crous, on iTunes today!

Mark Haze's new single "Time", featuring Theo Crous, is available on iTunes! You can buy it here:

https://itunes.apple.com/za/album/time-feat.-theo-crous-single/id657822743

The song, recorded at Bellville Studios and produced by Theo Crous, who also did the guitar work on the song, has been featured in a national TV commercial campaign by South African insurance company, Outsurance. Here's the ad if you want to see it:

www.outsurance.co.za/ads/revolution/

And here's the single artwork:

Image source: http://instagram.com/p/eSAlVcNif6/

Mark Haze - Where Angels Fear to Fly - Official Music Video

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/
------------------------
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/
------------------------
5 Oct: Ou Meul Teater, Paarl
Book: 083 564 0056.
------------------------
 6 Oct: Buckley's Bellville
------------------------
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
------------------------
18 Oct: The Jam Shack Theatre & Function Venue, East London
Tickets: R100.00
Book: 072 225 7120

------------------------
19 Oct: Tamboekie Festival, Queenstown
Tickets: TBC
Book: TBC
------------------------
20 Oct: The Mexican JBay, Jeffrey's Bay
Tickets: Ladies R30.00 / Gents R50.00
Book: 042 293 2966
------------------------
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

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:

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!

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. :)

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.

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).