SHORTSTRAW
Leigh-anne Hunter meets a Joburg band with better fortunes than their name implies
LASTAIR Thomas, 28, lead vocalist of the band Shortstraw, is singing about scones and tea in his socks when I walk into their rehearsal room in his Blairgowrie home. Bass guitarist Russell Grant, also 28, offers me neat whisky, with a side of cotton wool for my ears.
When I met Thomas earlier in the week, he told me about his rotten luck. “When I sing, it starts to rain.” That, he says, inspired the name Shortstraw, but there have been other incarnations. That’s What Your Mother Said Last Night was their band name for a week when they started, but, says Thomas: “It didn’t quite roll off the tongue.”
“We have a song called Keanu Reeves that people latched on to, so we became known as The Keanu Reeves Band.” Some call them Go F**k Yourself after their popular song, LYSAGFY (Lower Your Standards And Go F**k Yourself).
As Shortstraw, their luck seems to have turned. In March, they were voted best indie band by viewers of the youth music channel MK. A few weeks later, they opened for British rock band The Kooks. The title track of their second album, Good Morning, Sunshine, reached number three on 5FM last month. Another single from the same album, Couch Potato, has also recently been playlisted on 5FM and YFM.
5FM Top 40 DJ Sureshnie Rider says: “They’re dynamite live performers. They’re original and hungry to be technically perfect. Those are lethal combinations in the music industry. They make me want to be a band member so badly.”
Success and a growing fan base have taken five years and “a lot of rejection”, says Thomas, “but you keep your chin up. I wanted to be a rock star since I was a kid.”
He started Shortstraw with childhood friend Ollie Nathan (vocals and drums) in a spare room in his mom’s house after he finished film school. Initially, their sound was very emo, says Thomas, “with some pretty bad singing”.
There wasn’t a genre for their music, so they invented one: Indiebele (a play on Ndebele), a mix of indie and African music. “We’re an African act and grew up listening
Ato people like Johnny Clegg,” says Grant. Tom Revington, 24, incorporates mbaqanga and kwela sounds in his guitar playing. Did they set out to come up with a different sound? “No. Yes. A little,” says Thomas. “I hate nothing more than watching a band take themselves too seriously. We aren’t serious people. As soon as it stops being fun, what’s the point?”
Keyboardist Gad de Combes, 28, chips in: “I don’t understand why bands have such insane issues. I’m sure they grew up middle class with swimming pools and pocket money. We’re just silly and having fun, and want people to have fun with us.”
Shortstraw is very much a live-gig band. Their audiences are known for crowd-surfing in plastic boats.
De Combes likens Shortstraw to Russell Brand, the English comedian. “We’re random and subversive and like to surprise people and do things that surprise us as well.”
Shortstraw has been compared to SA band Desmond & the Tutus, whose lead singer Shane Durrant performs guest vocals in The Wedding Blues, on their latest album. They don’t mind the comparison — they’re fans. “If South African musicians aren’t supporting local music, then who is?” asks Thomas. Durrant owns Wolves, a live-music venue in Joburg, where Shortstraw often perform. Two years ago, Shortstraw started a monthly event, Boosh, now held at Zoo Lake Bowling Club, to give new bands a platform.
Most of the band members have day jobs. Grant is co-owner of The Bioscope in the CBD’s Maboneng Precinct. Thomas runs a post-production company. Now, they are preparing for the Rocking The Daisies music festival in Darling in October.
They hope to perform in Australia and Europe, and both their albums have been released in Japan, but, says Thomas: “This is home. We won’t leave for good.” De Combes agrees: “There’s this idea that musicians can’t make money in SA, but I believe they can make a life for themselves here.”
Back in rehearsals, one of Thomas’s guitar strings snaps mid-strum. “Dude, you really do have the worst luck,” someone says.