ww PUBLIC ENEMIES Dressed in fresh trainers, crisp jeans and an WHY ARE BLK JKS BEING expensive-looking leather jacket, Mpumelelo Mcata OUTLAWED FOR PLAYING looks like the consummate pop star. As the lead guitarist in the Johannesburg band BLK JKS, he’s ROCK’N’ROLL? getting ready to perform at the Trans Musicales de CORTESY BLK JKS Rennes music festival in north-western France. It’s WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY HELENE DANCER the band’s final gig of their European tour. “It’s been mad,” says Mcata, pushing up his lens- less, thick-rimmed spectacles. He surveys the band’s PHOTOGRAPHY cubicle backstage at the festival venue, which is pretty tidy apart from a few empty beer cans on the INDWE FEBRUARY 2010 77 BLK JKS table. BLK JKS’ bass player, Molefi Makananise, sits the boys are very proud of. It veers from jazz to prog down next to him. He appears the more serious of rock and ska, underpinned by lots of guitar the two but there’s a twinkle in those brown eyes. distortion and frequent Afro rhythms. Ramoba’s “We haven’t travelled like this before,” Mcata drumming is mesmerising. continues. “It’s been intense.” Despite pop-star appearances, successful tour dates and growing The African TV on the Radio critical acclaim, there’s still a touching vulnerability “As a band, we come from different influences of to the band. They seem overawed by how their lives music,” says Makananise. “But however different have moved on from the days of playing tiny gigs at our inspirations, we found ourselves always loving home to people who didn’t quite get their unique one thing, which was music.” brand of rock. Makananise and Mcata take pleasure They all write together, and refer to their method in recounting their tour stories with childlike glee. as an African democracy. “We believe that what “In March 2008, we went to the States for the we’re doing is not about one man. We don’t have a first time and did a 56-hour drive to Texas from New York,” says Mcata. “It wasn’t supposed to be so long, but we were in a vegetable-oil-powered yellow Rock’n’roll is seen school bus and it kept breaking down. It would get really hot but we couldn’t open the windows as white music – because the oil would drip in through the windows. By the time we got to Texas we smelled like fries.” the enemy’s music bandleader, but are more like a unit. Everyone’s opinion must be respected, and if your suggestion is not working, then hard luck,” Makananise explains. This method and fusion of musical influences means the outcome is ambitiously eclectic and in stark contrast to a lot of commercially successful music, especially in South Africa. “At home, there’s a lowest common denominator to music,” says Mcata. “There’s a formula and if you work to that, you can have a hit. What we’re doing is different. There are many elements inAfter Robots we could have shaved off and fixed, but we didn’t, Opposite: guitarist because it needed to have a soul and vulnerability. Mpumelelo Mcata, singer Lindani We’ve let it go and have been free and honest about Themba Buthelezi, it so people with a high emotional intelligence will bassist Molefi be able to relate on a much closer level.” Makananise and This depth of thought is evident in their music, drummer but BLK JKS’ artistic honesty and distinctive rock Tshepang Ramoba playing at the House edge has meant they’ve faced a backlash on their of NsAkO in home turf. “The political situation is such that Johannesburg rock’n’roll is seen as white music – the enemy’s They both laugh, and Mcata, fuelled by the music – so as soon as you step into that place people memories, tells the story of their recent gig in don’t know whether you’re serious or taking the Trieste, Italy. “The venue’s called Tetris, and we had mickey,” Mcata says. The band has found a spiritual to play some Tetris in the van because we couldn’t home at the House of NsAkO music venue in the squeeze through the tiny streets.” Makananise Johannesburg suburb of Brixton, but the journey smiles. “But the people there bought the most CDs has been harder in the Mother City. “Cape Town’s after the show: 25. And it was a small club, so that’s been a weird place for us,” says Mcata. “It’s almost pretty amazing.” like when people see us, they are wondering if we’ve BLK JKS have been making music together for ever heard of [experimental bands] Interpol or the five years. Mcata and their lead vocalist and second Postal Service. There’s a patronising kind of feeling, guitarist, Lindani Themba Buthelezi, come from like we’ve just stumbled on this and don’t know Spruitview on the East Rand; Makananise and their what we’re doing.” drummer, Tshepang Ramoba, hail from Soweto. He readjusts his glasses. “You could go and sound They’ve recently released their first album,After like Mos Def, but all it’s gonna be is cute, and in Robots, produced by Brandon Curtis of the New South Africa – especially the youth market – they York-based space rockers the Secret Machines, but need to tap into something ugly. We need to stop the buzz really began with their Mystery EP. with the fear of self. Let’s be South African. BLK JKS’ sound eschews boundaries, something Something better.” INDWE FEBRUARY 2010 79 So BLK JKS Makananise is a little more sanguine. “Along the way, and especially overseas, people are getting over the politics and to the heart and the centre of the music,” he says. “We didn’t set out to be a rock band. We didn’t walk in and put distortion on the guitars immediately. That happened as part of our growth process.” The hype surrounding BLK JKS at this year’s Trans Musicales de Rennes festival is testament to this acceptance abroad. Their hipster credentials were also established overseas: they made the cover of tastemaking US magazine Fader back in 2008, and Diplo, the trendsetting, Philadelphia-based DJ and producer, named the band the African TV on the Radio, referencing the pioneering experimental band from Brooklyn, New York. The boys laugh at the mention. “It’s the ‘Is it ’cos I is black?’ situation,” says Mcata. “Colour is always mentioned. For me, it’s not a bad thing that we’re black – it’s just the reality.” Makananise nods in agreement. “We don’t need to separate ourselves because of colour. We shouldn’t push each other away. We should actually appreciate each other even more, like landscapes or the beautiful colours that decorate existence.” Riot of colour Later that evening, BLK JKS are watching the “lost” 67-year-old Detroit folk rocker Sixto Rodriguez play his set. The singer was rediscovered in South Africa in the Nineties and the boys are fans. Ramoba is jumping about, his dreadlocks a tousled mess and his grin so wide you can’t help but be swept along by his euphoria, while the very polite Lindani is more reticent but appreciative all the same. Makananise throws his head back and sings, “But thanks for your time and you can thank me for mine,” the lyrics to Rodriguez’s song “Forget It”. “That’s my tune! I’m happy now,” he says. When BLK JKS take to the stage afterwards, they are intense, thoughtful, sweet and earnest. Some punters look puzzled, but as they get deeper into the set, they begin to appreciate this wonderful music from a Jozi foursome who have the potential to turn the local music industry on its head. BLK JKS ON RECORD AFTER ROBOTS/MYSTERY EP From Vampire Weekend Robots, like Mystery to Coldplay, Afrobeat has produced at New York’s become a key sound in Electric Ladyland studios, modern rock. Helpfully, BLK is equally creative, mixing JKS are actually from Africa. polyrhythmic art rock Mystery, their debut EP with big-band oompah of February 2009, mixed provided by Chicago’s Afrobeat and South African Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. mabaqanga with dub, jazz, The Sunday Times prog rock and psychedelia. described it as “a haunting Their debut album, After noise-rock adventure”. 80 FEBRUARY 2010 INDWE.