US fest takes to band unknown at home
ROLLING Stone magazine called them “potent as whisky, wild as the desert and fiery as all hell”, but at home in Cape Town they’ve barely caused a ripple.
The boys of Crimson House aren’t too concerned. They’ve just touched down in New York on the way to their annual gig in Alpine, Arizona, where they have top billing.
Founder and lead singer Riaan Smit said two members of the six-strong group played at the Alpine Country Blues Festival for the first time in 2014 — Crimson House could only afford to send two musicians to the US — and had been invited to take their “gypsy blues rock” back ever since.
The band was founded in 2010 with a passion to play their music “with likeminded people”, he said.
The musicians worked the local scene, touring extensively and playing festivals such as Oppikoppi, Synergy, Up the Creek and Splashy Fen.
But it was in Arizona that they hit pay dirt.
“The festival has helped us get an anchor in the American market and aids us in getting here every year to do more, meet more people and connect with amazing artists and producers,” said Smit.
Flying and long hours on the road were the challenging part of touring. “It’s taxing, to say the least, but worth it. We just travelled 65 hours at the time of this interview and we still have six hours to go. And it’s hard to say goodbye to so many new friends. It’s hard to leave places like New Orleans.” The group has big plans. Said Smit: “We will be recording with a great producer, Alan Sanderson [who has worked with Fleetwood Mac and Elton John], again in California. We’ll be back home at the end of July, then releasing new material.”