Hot line-up for Splashy Fen
While Splashy Fen will always be about the live music, this year they have incorporated an EDM stage which will be headlined by a strong Durban underground contingent, writes
WHILE the EDM culture is dominated by the Cape Town music scene, Veranda Panda are waving the KZN flag very high.
Their big hit last year, Pineapple Sundays, had to be one of the happiest songs of 2014. The violin-playing half of the duo, Jane Baillie, smiles when she speaks of their successful track: “Pineapple Sundays is a silly, fun song. There needs to be a certain kind of irreverence in the industry.
“We are music with machines and a violin. Our aim is to do something new and blaze a trail,” she continues. “We want people to dance along with us. We want to use our passion for music to do this.”
Baillie is a full-time member of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra but approaches Panda seriously. She met the other half of Veranda Panda, Liam Magner, when yet another of her projects, Quattro Femmes, collaborated with him for a Vodacom July event a few years back.
Through their initial meeting, Magner, who is a producer and a DJ, then invited her to jam with him at Origin, Durban’s premier dance music club. The reaction was so positive the two decided to work together. She admits that, as a violinist, she never envisioned herself going down the Veranda Panda path. Baillie has her masters in Music and also teaches violin.
Subsequently they have released four EPs over three years and are continually releasing singles, their latest being the even more fun Marlon Brando. They have played most festivals, including Grahamstown, and toured the country. “We have never boxed ourselves as musicians. We make what we like.”
For the past two years they have been star attractions on the main stage at Splashy Fen, but are excited about playing the EDM stage this year: “We are reinventing ourselves for Splashy Fen and will be showcasing a brand- new live show for the first time.”
This includes a special box for the stage to incorporate their show which will also include Baillie on a wireless violin which means that she can stagedive during the performance, something she is really looking forward to.
She is not the only female to be performing on the Ground Zero on Tour stage. An Energiser bunny come techno/psytrance DJ, going by the name of Shugga, is set to pump up the volume. A born and bred Durbanite, this fiery, eccentric young DJ is taking the EDM world by storm.
Already in her short career, she is a resident at Origin and plays regularly at Jozi’s long- standing mega club Truth as well as Tiger Tiger and various trance festivals.
“I have it a lot easier as a female DJ because I am a woman so the bookings are easier,” she says. “However, I feel I have to work harder to gain respect from the other DJs.”
Shugga says she loves trance because it is “so emotional. It’s uplifting music. The culture is also great. It’s a bit of a hippie culture and is very free. Everybody loves each other and there are no arguments or fights.”
She first started out in music as a bass player on the punk rock scene. “Yeah, I had black nails and only dressed in black,” she admits. It was through close friends that she discovered her real passion of dance music. Being proactive, she realised an opportunity to promote trance and started her own online radio show. Called Techtoast FM, it runs every Thursday between 6 and 8pm.
“The scene in Durban was so small, but this show has helped it grow,” she says proudly. Shugga will be doing three sets at Splashy and will include psytrance as well as deep tech.
Ground Zero on Tour will feature a total of 30 DJs and will be open from 6pm. On Easter Sunday they will open from noon with a promise of a mega dance fiesta.
Ground Zero has rapidly gained a reputation as one of the premier monthly dance events on the Durban calendar. They operate from Live – The Venue and offer that old-skool warehouse feel which they are bringing to Splashy for the entire festival. Ground Zero On Tour has its own marquee with bar facilities as well as its own camping area. There is no entrance fee for the area.