Siva rocks on with Silver Willow

NFLUENCED by his grandfather, Siva Pillay fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll at the age of 6. By 16 he started playing the guitar and a year later turned his poetry writing into song lyrics. At 17 he wrote his first song. “My grandfather played the violin and the passion that I saw in his eyes when he performed influenced me,” said Pillay.

“When I enrolled at the University of Durban- Westville (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal), I formed the Silver Willow Sterling Band with my friends, Fazley Imandin and Dess Baskali, and we sang during student protests. Here my song-writing skills were put to the test.”

Pillay said he drew inspiration from bands that included the Beatles.

“The Beatles turned my life on its head with their magical compositions and vocal arrangements. So did all the harmony bands that followed, like The Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

Pillay said his lyrics and melodies were inspired by the acoustic guitar playing of Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Traffic, Steely Dan and AC/DC.

Today the band is still going strong on an online platform with a new name, Silver Willow, and an 11-track album that was released on iTunes in January.

“Despite Fazley being in New Zealand and Dees living in Durban, we have managed to release an album with songs dedicated to socio-political issues.”

He said when Fazley and Dees were in Johannesburg they recorded a few tracks and for the remainder of the album he used guest musicians.

“The album touches on issues that include the #FeesMustFall campaign, Nelson Mandela and even the dangers of chatting on Facebook.”

Pillay described the sound of the album as folk, folk-rock and pop rock.

For Pillay this is just the beginning of a new musical journey.