Parlotones revisit heritage in EL tour
MULTI-AWARD winning indie rock group The Parlotones are making their return to East London this Saturday with a show at The Venue@Hemingways.
The band is on their national tour, which will kick off in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Speaking with the Daily Dispatch, frontman Kahn Morbee said the band would be playing a mixture of all their songs since their debut in 1998.
“It will be an entire catalogue of the band and the only new song we will do is one we did for the Smile Foundation,” he said, adding they were saving their new material for their album due to be released next year.
The Parlotones have been making music since 1998, when the band first met in Johannesburg. In 2003, they self-released their first album, Episoda. Since then, they’ve released multiple platinum-selling albums, won numerous awards, filled arena after arena, and even opened for the Fifa 2010 World Cup.
In 2015, after releasing a number of albums under a label, the band released their first album as independent artists. Morbee said doing music as independent artists has been a great experience for the band.
“We have more freedom now and no one is dictating to us what to do,” Morbee said, adding that they had a licensing deal with Gallo Records.
“We still own all the copyright to our music and we get to decide who we work with,” he said.
Morbee said one of the biggest lessons they had learned was the importance of having business-minded people to help grow the band.
Morbee said the band’s latest book, Stories behind the Songs, will be available on the day of the show.
Hemingways Casino marketing manager Neville Austin said they were thrilled to be hosting one of the country’s best selling musical acts.
“With their great music and energetic performance, they will undoubtedly have fans rocking,” said Austin. Tickets for the show cost R150 and are available at Computicket or on the Hemingways website, www.hemingways.co.za. —