Plus 1 Media Productions : Three Bored White Guys

published in an EPK (electronic press kit) for Plus 1 Media Productions (Dec 2006)

Love Your Country

A few weeks back I emailed a dear friend who is ‘tall, with a black coat and moustache’ about a gig in town at Roosevelt’s, the venue so cool you overheat, and have to hang off the balcony to be able to breathe. Barely. That’s if some chick doing her sexy dance hasn’t thwacked you squarely across the face.

“You might enjoy them,” I tacked into virtuality, “- bluesyRock honkies doing something supposedly country. Ish.”

-ish is an apt post-script for their ilk. They’re multi-coloured, multi-talented, they aren’t yoked by a genre, and they don’t want to take over the world. Yet. They’re Three Bored White Guys. Which is 5 inspired, new seeyow theffrican men of music doing it their way. If twangs of change, twings of mettle and the burble of a bass guitar following a backyard banjo beat strung along by nosy-nasal blues vocals are anything to go by, this is one get-up likely to get you off your feet.

“We’re the Borat’s of Rock Music” says Anton.

From mandates to mantits, they’re hardly your usual cup of rockabillies. Alt country has its paws and claws in their sound, but they like to shake it up and move it around. They’re risquée and understated, borrowing the lightheartedness of country music, and infusing into it social commentary that kicks you quietly in soft places. If you’re listening to the lyrics. Some are, some aren’t, such is the diversity of their audiences. Fans bring their own brand of madness which translates well into performances; some end up passed out on the dance floor; others climb up on stage and sing along. It’s uplifting; everyone gets down and you can come as you are, whoever you are. The only prerequisite to a 3BWG show?

“Make up a strange dance” says Anton. “One show last year we invited everyone on stage with us. Gave them tambourines. They had so much fun. Everybody had a laugh.”

Why should we be impressed with Three Bored White Guys?

“They can answer that better than I can,” says manager, Sean Wienand, and continues eloquently, “I know why I wanted to work with them. In many respects they embody everything that Rock ‘n Roll has been for the last four years, both directly and indirectly. They are accomplished musicians in their own right – each of them – who have been in the music industry longer than they’d like to admit, and at the same time they have never lost touch with the roots of what it is that they actually do – the whole low-fi, down-and-dirty, old fashioned Rock ’n Roll harping back to the fifties where guys were recording on little tape decks.”

“Do It Yourself!” Anton interjects. Management concedes. Independent, monthly mp3 releases online, anyone?

(www.myspace.com/threeboredwhiteguys)

How did they find each other?

“A conflagration of circumstance.” Says Anton.

A what? Ok, he’s the lyricist. The common factor is the former Crazy Cats. Remember it? Frank does.

“It was a small (Cape Town) bar around the corner from Corner House; a little hole in the wall with a tiny stage and zero attitude.”

It boasted its own talking cactus and walls covered in cartoons. While also playing with other rigs, they began jamming there together. When it closed down they went their separate ways for a year, and a strategic retrospective received warm and wild welcomes from the audience, heralding a resurgence of alt country and folk music in the city. That was the beginning of Three Bored White Guys. That was three years ago.

Since then they’ve perfected their professionalism and intensified their passion. They play to what is required. Arrive on time. Do what they’re asked. They’re absolutely entertaining, excellently rehearsed but extremely flexible, able to give the full Monty with even half the band on stage. Promoters are responding. 15 shows between now and end of this year is ample proof, the repertoire being a bouquet of live gigs, residencies, private parties, weddings and corporate functions as a perfect indicator of their wide appeal.

The buoyancy of their sound is essentially tongue in cheeky. An innate Intellectual ethos underlies the apparent ease with which they entertain audiences.

“It’s largely about misinformation,” says Anton. “The name 3BWG is really a clue into what people can take from it. You’ve got five of us, firstly. 3 of the 4 statements in the name of the band are true. And I think it’s the same as what the band puts out there. You can take anything you want from it. You can take the fun, the seriousness, the danceability, the stage performance, the madness. You can take anything you like, and if any of those appeal to you, that’s great, we’ve done our job.”

“It’s important to remember that we don’t count our success by the number of people we clock at the door,” says Greg.

“In Cape Town, audience size is as unpredictable as the weather.” Frank offers.

“And as perennial,” I counter.

“It’s the amount of faces we see the second or third or fourth time,” Anton adds.

“And if they know your lyrics!” I tally.

They’re not your standard lyrics, either. Socio-political undercurrents are well placed alongside well founded insults “aimed at society, not people” Frank emphasizes, because ‘nobody notices when hearts are breaking all round / in the lonely town.’ Touché.

For a cocktail of light, hickabilly diggable music and seriously prickly lyrics that’ll tickle your toes and prick your conscience, go catch them live at large downtown and down a whipskey together. You’ll be so glad you did. And as the new wave of independent music breaks into the great outdoors, watch out for Three Bored White Guys pimping their hides and working up a sweat in the sun. Just for you.

Gotta love this country.