CITY OF HEROES, DEAD LUCKY, 3rd WORLD SPECTATOR

Early life as City Of Heroes saw small gigs, beer, vouchers, transport paying gigs, and small crowds. The band have slowly earned their name into taking stage with some of the biggest rock bands in the South African mu-sic industry, and to date, their first studio album, 'The Great Unknown' and soon to be two...

It's hardly a surprise that they'd have a music video by now, but to have theirs reach the top 50, in an already saturated scene, is an ac-complishment, especially considering budget issues bands face in this country. Well done boys!!!

Dead Lucky have been named by our music scene, as one of the 10 hottest up and coming acts to look out for in South Africa. The band has not been around very long, but is already making pretty big waves in local publications, radio and live event. The band has also just made a move into working with Niva, and will be performing at Niva’s 2nd B-Day at Aandklas this October.

3rd World Spectator have come to a crucial point in their career; a big enough band to be on the map, drawing huge crowds, and with their unique, international sound, fans have come to expect just a little bit more from the Cape Town 4-piece.

With that said, 3rd World Spectator released a music video for a well know anthem, ‘Sparks’. The Sparks video is a pure labour of love, we love the song as do a lot of our fans.

Check out the band’s video by linking up on Facebook.

GERALD CLARK, FOUR A PENNY,

MR CAT & THE JACKAL

As we all know, Gerald Clark hosted a benefit concert at Mercury Live where a good amount of musicians and fans came out to support the event.

Gerald underwent throat surgery not too long ago, but has thankfully made a good recovery with doctor’s being surprised at how quickly he healed. This means Gerald is good to sing, and sing he will, as he has just confirmed his first performance after the operation at Pinotage On Tap in Wellington on October 13th. Gerald will hit the stage with Tim Rankin on drums, Schalk Van Der Merwe on bass, and Simon Orange on piano.

Four A Penny has been pushing the Cape Town scene pretty hard over the past year or so, having released an EP and recently exited the studio having recorded 4 tracks that are extremely fresh and pumping! The band seems to have found something very special in their new tracks, so keep your eyes on their gig calendar and be sure to come out to see them in action soon! The band will be performing their new singles at Aandklas in Stellenbosch on 20th October. Keep up the steam boys!!

RAMfest, South Africa`s biggest annual Alternative Music Festival is proud to announce that Rise Against will be headlining RAMfest 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

After the success of their phenomenal set at RAMfest 2010, Paul Harding en Ben Verse from Pendulum (Australia and England) will also be returning to perform at RAMfest 2013.

Mr Cat & The Jackal has been hitting the South African music industry hard ever since dropping their first two albums, being nominated for 2 MK Awards, and taking the award for best animating/SFX at the 2012 MK Awards. The band will be performing alongside Reburn and 7th Son on 29 September at Zula Bar in Cape Town to celebrate the launch of SRH Clothing as well as Niva’s 2nd B-Day.

There are few things as inspiring as pure, unfettered talent in a hard-working, humble artist. Lucy Kruger is one of the few artists on the SA music scene that possesses all of these attributes and it shows in her work. Her singular sound is reminiscent of the fearless, female vocals of powerful acts like Sinéad O'Connor and Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries fame and also draws influence from the work of Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos – culminating in a rich tapestry of skilful, versa-tile vocals bolstered by soulful melodies. Originally from Johannesburg, Lucy (now 23) recently arrived in Cape Town after complet-

ing her undergraduate degree in Music and her Honours in Drama at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, and is set to take the noto-riously hardnosed South African music sce-ne by storm with her fresh take on indie/alternative rock.

Well-deserved accolades include being chosen as a finalist in the 2012 Barleycorn songwriting competition, as well as ranking among the top 12 entries for this year's Bushmill Band Search. Lucy has also been included in the line-up for the Rolling Stones weekend (14-15 September 2012), show-casing SA's most promising young artists,

and recently numbered among the emerging artists chosen for the Big Issue 'Young blood, fresh talent' survey. Niva Magazine tracked down Lucy in the Mother City to ask her some questions about herself and her upcoming album.

When did you first start singing and realize you had a gift?

I have always sung. It’s difficult to try and pin point a time where I started singing. I can remember singing a solo at a prize giving when I was 7. I was already smitten. I was not aware of what being a professional musician entailed but when people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I told them that I wanted to be a ‘famous singer’. My career goals havn’t ever really veered too far away from that initial fantasy. Although I would at this stage probably replace ‘famous’ with ‘successful’. There was a time when I was worried that only the best would make it and that I wasn’t the best. I came to realize that ‘best’ when it comes to music is very much an issue of taste and personal style. That is what I love most about it.

Explain the title of your debut album, “Cut Those Strings”.

“Cut those Strings” is a line from one of the tracks, ‘Little Puppet’. It is one of the first songs that I ever wrote. This is my first year outside of an academic institution. It is the first album I have made. It feels like up until this point, I have been preparing for this point. And now I am ready. Happily diving into the deep end.

I see that on your album, “Cut Those Strings”, you collaborated with Inge Beckmann on a song, is there anyone else you’d love to join forces with?

There are many people with whom I’d love to join forces. Collaboration is the most exciting part of music making. I have brought a few different musicians in on my project at different times. It is lovely to see the different energy and flavour each musician brings to the music. It is also very helpful for me in terms of identifying exactly what sound I want. I am also hoping to soon join a band as a project aside from my solo work. I think it would be good for me to explore and experiment with alternate musical genres.

What would you like to achieve in the music industry?

I want to be able to keep making music. I want the luxury of time to work on my music. This means being able to sustain myself solely off my music. I think that entails branching out of the country and thinking big. As soon as I had finished recording my first album I wanted to get started on the next. It was incredibly inspiring and gave me lots of ideas for new projects. I would love to find an interesting way of merging my performance experience in drama with my work in music. It strange to me how separate those two worlds are in this country.

You are launching your first album – “Cut Those Strings” - on 20 September at Mercury Live; tell us a bit more about your album.

“Cut those Strings” is a culmination of material I have written over the last five or so years. The musicians and I have taken the songs, which were written in a very stripped manner, and exploded them into full experiences. We went big. We didn’t limit ourselves or the songs at all. What was so exciting about making the album was that I had not yet formed an exact sound and so there was space to play. And we did. The musicians really gave the songs a chance to show their full potential. The songs are saying what they always said but much more powerfully and eloquently.

You have a really unique sound compared to other South African acts; do you find it more difficult to break into the local music scene?

Any difficulties I have encountered have had less to do with my music and more to do with not knowing many people in Cape Town and the industry. But that is slowly changing. Most people are willing to embrace a new sound once they have listened. It is to get them to listen that is the tricky part.

Last but not least, what is next for Lucy Kruger?

Now I want to play. I want to get my music out there. I want to figure this industry out. I want to create a space for myself that allows me to continue to be creative.

Her soon to be released debut album ‘Cut Those Strings’ (produced by Schalk Joubert and engineered by Dave Langemann), features a host of innovative artists including Inge Beckmann, Schalk Joubert, Kevin Gibson, Melissa Van Der Spuy and Albert Frost, yet promises to remain true to the sound her growing fan-base has come to know and love. The launch date is set for the 20th of September at Mercury Live so make sure you pencil this in on your calendar.

By Ice Carstens, Photo’s by Dylan Culhane

“This album has been a diary of my life in a way. It is a musical depiction of where I've been over the last couple of years, and I'm really excited to share it with you all. I hope that the public are ready to listen to raw, unpretentious, brutally honest music, because that is what this is about " says Ard about the album. "It also turns out that the general theme is love again, I guess that's just me - no point in changing that now, right? While trends and fashions come and go, love always prevails.”

Ard Matthews is known as one of South Africa`s most prolific singer/songwriters. His heartfelt music and dynamic stage performances have inspired people both locally and internationally. As the front man of South African band Just Jinjer, his indelible lyrics and melodic arrangements led the way to the success of their debut album title ‘All Comes Round’, which became one of the biggest selling albums of all time in South Africa in their genre. The album achieved double platinum status in its first year, with the follow up album “Something for now” reaching the same status a year later.

In 2010 a decision was made to pursue a solo album, and so began an extensive writing process which took Ard all over the world and around South Africa – from sailing around the Mafia Islands, to visiting India on an extended trip in February 2012. The album draws on many themes and thoughts and was recorded over a period of many months, with the last few penned at his beach house in Durban where he now lives with his canine companion Jeff. With brand new tracks and some formidable life experience behind him, the new album is set to introduce an exciting solo path for Ard Matthews.

“First Offerings” is an independent release and will be distributed by MESH (Music & Entertainment Solutions Hub.) All tracks were written, produced, recorded and performed by Ard Matthews. Guest artists such as Tumi (and the Volume), John Ellis, Paul Hepker, Theo Crous, rugby great Alistair Hargreaves and big wave surfers Ryan Butcher and Greg Bertish are credited where they appear. The album was mixed in Los Angeles by Bryan Cook (Train, Five for Fighting) and mastered by Hans DeKline.

The live band that will represent this album is called The Ard Matthews Affair and features Ard on vocals and bass guitar accompanied by an all star line-up that currently consists of John Ellis (Tree 63) on guitar and Josh Klynsmith (Gangs of Ballet) on drums.

By Craig Read

So, having been a huge Just Jinger fan back in the day, the album launch at Ace’s & Spade’s was not to be missed! Getting into the venue was sort of like saddling up with sardines in a can, it was that packed! It was really good to see! The band, which comprises of ex-Tree63 muso John Ellis and Gangs of Ballet’s Josh Klynsmith, hit the stage at around 9:30pm. The band performed their new material on the launch, making it very clear to the crowd that they were not totally pleased with a certain radio station in our country for denying a playlisting because one of the chorus’ were too short. The event was a great success, I got to check out a brand new venue, have some drinks and of corse listen to one of the most legendary South African rock vocalists. Ard Matthews.

By Nic Owen

Fax Police has 4 members namely Alex Hadiaris on guitar, Aidan Bagley on bass, Shaun Coetzee on drums, and Joshua Adams on guitar and vocals. The band comes straight out of Kommetjie, and have been floa ng around the local underground scene for about a year now. Fax Police describe themselves as half rock and half awesome, and they seem to be the biggest fans of their own music, allowing their passion to direct them into the future rather than making music for the wrong reasons. The band may be young, but they are definitely going somewhere with their fresh music, great a tudes and passion for what they are doing. Keep it up!

Fax Police

Summer is around the corner, what be er me to get into shape! 072 415 8829

'That's not to say there isn't a lot of catchy stuff on this album; there is. We just haven't been afraid to experiment with our sound and push ourselves with this album. It still sounds like us; like Zebra & Giraffe; but it's definitely darker, noisier, and lyrically, a lot more honest.'

With Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, A Perfect Circle and Marilyn Manson having a significant influence on the mood of the album, The Wisest Ones showcases Zebra & Giraffe's desire to experiment while continuing to solidify their roots as one of South Africa's most prominent alternative-rock groups. Which is exactly why the band connected with US-based mix engineer, Mark Needham, who has worked with both seasoned performers, such as Chris Isaak, as well as up-and-coming artists.

'He's mixed some amazing stuff in his career and we managed to strike a deal with him where his long time assistant Will Briere mixes and Mark oversees. It's really worked out well - the mixes sound amazing. When Will and Mark sent a spec mix of "All I Gave" - we went with them. They have not disappointed.'

'We know some of the songs from this album won't be played on radio, and to a certain degree with Collected Memories and The Inside, I always worried about a song's commercial appeal,' says front man and lyricist, Greg Carlin. 'With The Wisest Ones we really just wrote songs that felt right - songs that almost needed to get out. Whether they had a catchy chorus, or a chorus at all didn't really matter.

By Nic Owen

Zebra & Giraffe

With the success that Zebra & Giraffe has had the privilege of experiencing over the past few years, what part of Zebra & Giraffes timeline stands out above all else? I guess for me the first year or so was really exciting as it was all so new and exciting. In that year we won a SAMA, a MAMA, played with The Killers and at Cokefest. I’ve also really enjoyed doing this new album. We approached it differently and it’s the album I’m most proud of.

Commercial VS ‘The Wisest Ones’ – With some amazing influences such as Deftones & Nirvana, how did this change in the bands message come around? I am personally a big fan of music that is coming from the soul, but sometimes radio stations aren’t. Do you think that SA radio stations will playlist any of your new material found on ‘The Wisest Ones’? Would it really even bother the band if the songs are not playlisted as 13 of your previous singles have been? We’ve been lucky – we’ve had great support from radio in SA. Initially we battled to get darker songs like ‘The Knife’ on radio, but when they eventually did get on, they turned out to be the biggest hits for us. I think people appreciate something different once in a while. With this album we’ve already had I’ll Blame You playlisted on most stations and we’ve definitely got a few more singles on the way that should do the same. Although I’ve never written a song specifically for radio, or rather with the intent of it getting on radio, it’s still important these days to get songs playlisted. It helps with general marketing of your album and you get a whole bunch of shows because you’re playlisted.

One question that I have heard flying around is simply; Where does the name Zebra & Giraffe come from, and how did the band decide on this name? It’s a name that I came up with a long time ago. I named one of my folders on my computer ‘Zebra & Giraffe’ – it had no meaning at the time and I still doesn’t. After a while I just got used to visiting the Z&G folder which had all the music I was writing in. When it came time to actually name the band – I suggested it to the record label and they loved it!

Is the new album entitled ‘The Wisest Ones’ a new, fresh beginning for Zebra & Giraffe? Will the band still be playing older radio singles at events? It’s definitely a fresh beginning in the sense that we have a some new members and a bit of a different sound. We’ll always play the older songs live – there’s nothing worse for fans when bands don’t play their hits! We also love playing songs like the Knife and Oxymoron – the crowd always goes wild and gives great energy back.

There are obviously tons of SA based bands who are already looking up to Zebra & Giraffe as their idols. If there are some words of knowledge and encouragement you guys could give to younger developing bands in SA, what would that be and why? I always say focus on writing good songs. What-ever genre you explore is up to you, but at the end of the day it’s all about the songwriting. Try and find your own voice, something unique, and give the audience something interesting to listen to. There is so much music available to listen to these days. The internet is flooded. In order to cut through the clutter you need to have something unique but also some good songs! Gimmicks will only last so long…

Engineering on any album is crucial. Finding the right engineer or team can sometimes never hap-pen for bands. How did Zebra & Giraffe get in touch with US based engineer Mark Needham? Does Zeb-ra & Giraffe feel that Mark is the right man for the job? Somebody that will grow the band from strength to strength? From the beginning of Z&G we’ve always worked with Darryl Torr as producer/engineer and in many ways he’s helped shape and grow our sound. With this album we’re finally happy with the mixing side of things. Mark is a great mix engi-neer but the credit on the album must go to his assis-tant Will Briere who actually mixed the songs. Mark played more of a executive role whilst Will actually did all the hard work. As a team they’re definitely the best we’ve worked with and will hopefully continue to.

So if anybody is feeling like I am at the moment, I’d like to know a few details of the next chapter for Zebra & Giraffe. I have heard that the band will be touring the USA later this year, as well as tour Eu-rope in 2013, tell me a little bit about it all. We’ve been looking to go overseas for a while know. We went to LA briefly last year but didn’t explore it properly. At this point it’s looking like Europe in early 2013 but we’re still in the planning phases. It can be an expensive exercise to head over there for the first time so we’re making sure we take the right opportunity!

Mention the names ‘Greenday’ & ‘Coldplay’ any-where around the world, and people know we are talking about 2 of the worlds biggest bands. How did it feel to top these 2 huge bands at the MTV Africa awards? Was this the best feeling the band has had the opportunity of feeling this far? Well I guess if it was up to crowd vote we would have lost that one! Haha. But yeah that whole experience was amazing. Going to Kenya, performing at the MAs, meeting Wyclef, and then obviously winning – it was something we’ll never forget.

That half of Tailor’s debut album was written in a day is remarkable enough. That those songs spilt out of the Cape Town-based singer without any warning is as strange and striking as ‘The Dark Horse’ sounds. After four years laying the groundwork for her first solo project, in February, Tailor travelled to her hometown of Johannesburg to record half a dozen demos. To her surprise, she finished the session with twice as much material and a newfound understanding of what inspires her songs. “As Tailor, it was my first time solo in a proper studio with a producer,” recalls the singer, who was first signed with a band at the age of 15. “I took what I thought were my twelve best songs, written over a few years. Just as we finished laying down the last one, I began playing about on my guitar and singing lyrics that seemed to sail in to my head. I didn’t even realise I had written a song until the producer asked me to play it again because he hadn’t hit record.” That song, the bewitching ‘Wolf’, is Tailor’s first single from ‘The Dark Horse’. But it wasn’t a one-off. “One by one, new tracks just flowed out of me,” says Tailor. “No one could believe I hadn’t prepared them. It was a bizarre, spiritual experience. I felt as though I had floated out of my body and was watching someone else. I learnt a lot about myself that day. I discovered a side to me I didn’t know was there.” Discussing those songs now it is obvious to Tailor that all address her need to escape, to break free, to start her life over and be honest with herself. The lyrics, she admits, had probably long been floating about in her subconscious. They deal with personal issues on

which she won’t elaborate and childhood memories she tried to forget, but forced herself to face. “The title, ‘The Dark Horse’, is significant,” says Tailor. “I felt like a dark horse that day. I felt as vulnerable as I did as a child. The songs aren’t about any particular childhood event, more that moment of clarity when you realise not everything your parents told you is true; when you discover your values are different and what you’ve grown up believing is not what you believe in at all.” One of the songs Tailor dreamt up that day was ‘My Faith’, an operatic, cinematic, bile-soaked ballad built on broody piano and classical-style strings. As her vocals grow from a growl to a primal, passionate wail, Tailor bares her soul so openly listening feels like intruding. It’s a song she couldn’t have planned to write; if she had, she would have masked her emotions, exposed a lot less of herself. The need to escape drives much of ‘The Dark Horse’. It’s there in the gorgeous, spritely acoustic guitar-driven ‘Ghosts’ and in the sinister lyrics of the otherwise poppy ‘Step Back’, a song for a friend in an abusive relation-ship, now due to be married. It’s at the heart of the oblique ‘Indian’, a song Tailor wrote after watching the Fritzl horror unfold on TV. Even the album’s sunniest song, the glorious, handclap-backed ‘Love Anthem’, isn’t as happy-go-lucky as it sounds on first listen. “I always write happy songs when I’m sad,” says Tailor. “And I was very sad when I wrote that. The song is about suspecting something’s not right in your relation-ship. Am I in a rut, or have I completely fallen out of

love with you? It’s about someone questioning their relationship, whatever type of relationship that is.” The lovely ‘Lucky Lucy’ is an ode to Tailor’s beloved grandmother, who died at the age of 88 on 3rd January this year. Lyrically, it’s the album’s most straightforward song – “Three days in and I’m already heartbroken”. Typically, those lyrics are put to the fore by a powerful, beguiling vocal performance. Yet pinning Tailor down to a single style is impossible. Musically, the album flits from modern folk to blues-rock to pure pop and spooky soul. Songs can be rich and cinematic or simple and sparse. Vocally, Tailor is as versatile. You’ll hear hints of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey in her rockier songs, but also of Feist, Florence Welsh, Ellie Goulding and Kate Bush. “I have several different voices,” says Tailor, “possibly because I’ve never been influenced by any particular singer. But I have listened to a lot of Kate Bush since I started recording. Of course I knew of her, but I didn’t really listen to her music until my producer played me ‘Hounds Of Love’. I was struck by how similar our pronunciation is. She’s the first singer I’ve ever thought I sometimes sound like.” Melanie Le Roux (Tailor’s real name) has been singing since the age of 12. Growing up in Jo’burg, her dad played her everything from opera to soul, to rock and pop. With the help of a tutor she taught herself guitar, then piano, then drums, all of which she plays on ‘The Dark Horse’, as well as bass and percussion. In prima-ry school, she wrote her first song – about lip-gloss. “I was obsessed with lip-gloss, I wore it 24/7,” Tailor laughs. “I loved lip gloss so much I sometimes stole it from my friends. The song wasn’t brilliant, but what it taught me was I could write about anything. And when I sang it, I heard I could sing.” Aged 14, Melanie woke up one morning and decided she would become a singer. “It sounds insane,” she says, “but that’s how it hap-pened – literally overnight, as though the idea had come to me in a dream.” The following year, with no vocal training, she got label deal with her band Mel-funktion. Three years later, the band was dropped without ever releasing an album, although they did put out singles and go on tour. “It was an awesome experience, to be thrown in to that situation at such a young age,” says Tailor. “I got to know who I was a writer and performer. The music was a bit nu-metal, a bit No Doubt and, on stage, I couldn’t stand still. I was an absolute power bunny.” The band broke up in 2007 and Melanie moved to Cape Town, where she became Tailor, though only after quitting music for a while.

“When Mel-funktion split up, I hated music. The band ended on such bad terms that I packed away my guitar. I decided that if music made me feel so shit, it couldn’t be my calling. Then one day I sat down wrote a song and realised how much my writing ability had grown. I found a new sound, began playing gigs on my own for the first time and, eventually, became Tailor.” At the start of this year, Tailor signed with Just Music, who brought her to Jo’burg to record her demos with Shadowclub producer Matthew Fink. On hearing her new songs, Fink encouraged Tailor to play all of the instruments on the album herself – the only other musicians are the string players , session guitarist and Fink, who helped out on drums. In late March, Tailor returned to the studio in Jo’burg to record ‘The Dark Horse’, during two and a half hard weeks of 10 hours days. The album has been mastered in the States at Ster-ling Sound by Grammy Award-winner Ted Jensen (Coldplay, Paul Simon, Sigur Ros, Florence & The Machine, Muse, Rufus Wainwright). For Tailor, ‘The Dark Horse’ marks the end of her escape and the start of a new chapter. “I love the drama in the album because it sort of sums up my life - lots of ups and downs, like a rollercoaster ride. It’s odd, but it’s also in your face. It’s not just like me, it is me.” By Lisa Verrico

RAMfest, South Africa`s biggest annual Alternative Music Festival is proud to announce that Rise Against will be headlining RAMfest 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

After the success of their phenomenal set at RAMfest 2010, Paul Harding en Ben Verse from Pendulum (Australia and England) will also be returning to perform at RAMfest 2013.

Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The band`s first two albums “The Unraveling” (2001) and “Revolutions per Minute” (2003) met with considerable underground success. Their major label debut “Siren Song of the Counter Culture” brought the band mainstream success, producing several successful singles. The two albums after that “The Sufferer and the Witness” and “Appeal to Reason” respectively debuted at number ten and number three on the Billboard 200 Chart. All three albums reached platinum status in Canada and Gold status in the USA.

Rise Against`s sixth studio album “Endgame” was released in 2011. “The songs to me are a selection of who we are as people,” says vocalist McIlrath. “We’re not 100 percent political or 100 percent personal. We’re people with many different cares and passions. Many different things make up our daily lives. I don’t consider myself any more political than those out there who care about the world they live in.”

And as for the pressure in following up its string of suc-cesses—which now includes three gold-awarded al-bums and gold singles—McIlrath says it’s all internally generated.

“The pressure that we feel is the pressure that we put on ourselves,” he says. “We try to step up our game on each record and create something that’s relevant, new and fresh, and is still Rise Against. I want to give my perspective, and from the punk community, take in what’s happening, interpret that and put it into a song, letting the world know how we feel about it. That’s the goal behind a lot of the music.”

Rise Against will be performing at Ramfest Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

Dealing with the local music scene these days is very challenging for management, booking, promotion companies and record labels. To be able to get any artist to the next level requires being able to take the package and sell it to the public or other entertainment professionals or companies. Unfortunately, too often the product is rarely worth buying or even helping to promote further. Bands and artists tend to have this notion that, “Without the music you have nothing,” when dealing with industry professionals. While this is true to an extent, it’s not the whole story. In the industry, we can hire songwriters that have a proven track record, hire musicians to record it and make our own successful bands that we own completely and can control. We don’t need local artists with attitudes, little work ethic or strive not be productive in furthering their own careers. We all do what we love for a reason. It’s not always about being successful but for the satisfaction for seeing someone achieve their dreams so we keep diving into the murky waters of local musicians to find those that are worth partnering with.

The package, as we refer to the artist’s business plan or presentation, has to be ready to go and that is the artist’s responsibility to get there. It doesn’t fall on

page to complain. If you want to do that, do it in pri-vate where we can’t see it. This is common sense that seems to have escaped many artists.

Wasting Time Goofing Off On Facebook: If you have time to post a million personal things on Facebook but don’t promote your show then you aren’t serious about this business. Stop spending time goofing off and start making things happen for your music. Face-book is a great networking tool when used right. The excuse, “I am so busy,” is quite weak when we can see your profile. This goes for both sides of the busi-ness, not just artists.

Not Getting Back To People: When you approach someone and ask for their advice, services or whatev-er else and say, “I’ll get back to you,” then do it. The usual excuse again is, “Sorry, I was so sick” or “I have been so busy” but again we can see your social media so if you are well enough or have time to do that, you are well enough to practice a common courtesy and get back in touch with people, regardless of the out-come you decide on. This applies to getting back to people on booking a show, a meeting, or any other situation involving your band, music or related promo-tions. It is also basic good business manners. Not Doing Your Research: Approaching people about services they don’t even offer. This happens all of the time. You see a business name and just assume at what they do but don’t even research the company. You are wasting everyone’s time and showing how lazy and unprofessional you are. Not Accepting Gigs Because You Don’t Have The Money: “Sorry we don’t have the money to drive that far,” is a ridiculous excuse for a local or regional book-ing. You don’t have the money to drive to open a new market but you do have money to buy beer, party with your friends, buy drugs, go camping or visit someone three states away. Again, your Facebook page gives this all away. If you do not want to play a show for specific reasons, then politely decline, thus hopefully leaving the door open for future shows. If you aren’t able to be dedicated to your vision and dream by planning in advance and having a band fund for spe-cific use: gear, travel, other expenses then don’t even bother approaching anyone. You can’t build a solid fan base if you aren’t playing out. Not Having An Appropriate Press Kit: Everyone has been doing this long enough to know you need one. No matter if you are a band, solo artist or musician looking for extra work.

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anyone’s shoulders to make this happen except for you. There is no excuse, what with all the free info out on the internet in books and magazines, that an artist can’t figure out the basics of the business, create a presenta-tion and become attractive to the people that can help them get to the next level. Until that happens, it’s hard to get a manager, booking agent or anyone else to be excited about making 0% of 0% because the artist has created absolutely no demand for themselves. The mon-ey isn’t available in the industry for developmental deals as it was say 15-years ago. Thus the artist’s chances of getting signed on with professional representations are slimmer if they don’t present an attractive market value. Here are a few of the reasons that artists intentionally shoot themselves in the proverbial foot. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just some very obvious points. Not Booking Enough Shows: Most bands/artists want others to do this for them but in truth and reality, the artist should be booking their own shows until they are gigging at least 80-dates a year regionally and making money doing it. Why would anyone in the industry want to waste time booking a band that isn’t willing to do it themselves, does not understand the basics of promo-tion and end up making a small percentage of absolutely nothing for their work? There are no short cuts here. Pick up the phone and dial for dollars.

Poor Promotion: Most artists spend very little time and effort promoting and usually post a gig once or twice on some form of social media expecting people to see it and show up on such short notice. This is absolutely pathetic. Especially in a band with several members, usually only one person promotes it. In no way shape or form is this acceptable, nor will anyone in the industry look kindly on an artist that does this. You don’t deserve to get paid at all if this is how you sell your band. Believe it or not, we all look at this and notice how well people promote themselves. Also, social media sites are not the only form or promotion needed. You still need flyers, advertisements and many other forms of creative promo-tion. It is not everyone else’s job to do all your promo-tion. When you are looking for opportunities with your gigs and no one shows up for your shows, you lose on many levels and miss out on opportunities.

Misuse Of Social Media: If all you do is complain about the venues, management or any other form of the music business, you are signing your death warrant. Again, people in the industry and your peers see this and who would want to book you back at a venue or assist your band if this is your level of professionalism. You are a business, act like it. Grow up and quit using your bands

Yet another awesome up and coming band out of Stellenbosch. Clear the way for The Man Motels! The bands upbeat and chilled attitudes makes it pretty difficult to put them into one specific genre, but at the moment the band is calling it surf-rock. The band has 3 very talented members namely Garrith Holloway on guitar and vocals, Steven Harzen on bass, and Henry Van Der Westhuizen on drums. The band got together by pure luck, and instantly connected with their punk backgrounds, making it easy to write songs they could relate to. The Man Motels have said that they have been very frustrated with the South African music scene, and it was at this point that they found each other and started throwing ideas around for a band. They describe their music as something that makes sense to them, something easy, something straight forward and fun. By watching the band perform, you will be able to see that these guys just want to have fun on stage. This is always nice as there are way too many bands in the Cape Town scene that are nothing less than boring on stage, to say the very least! The Man Motels have recently released a single entitled Tugboat which you can hear on their Facebook page. The bands plan for the near future includes releasing a video to attract more faces to their music, as well as play larger events with more established artists. Do yourself a favour and come check these boys out at Aandklas in Stellenbosch on 20 October, they will be opening for 7th Son and Dead Lucky. Keep up the good work guys!

By Nic Owen

The Man Motels

Everyone should have an electronic press kit (EPK) and/or hard copy press kit. Sending someone to Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation, YouTube or other social music site, while a plus, is not a replacement for a professional media kit. If you don’t have one, you do not show seri-ous business regard for your own career so why should anyone in the industry.

Sending One Line Emails Saying You Need Represen-tation: Again if you don’t have a press kit and you can’t take the time to compose proper business letter and introduction about yourself or your band, don’t even bother. All you are doing is showing how lazy you really are. Be professional, always.

Only Being Able To Play Weekends: We are all looking for bands than can tour, not just play every now and then. It’s hard to break a new market and build a fan base when you can only play one quarter of the year. Not only that, but you are competing with so many other bands for these bookings when weeknights are so much easier to get. This is why people with families often get passed by. It’s too hard to coordinate everything. We all make choices in life and once you decide to get married and have kids more often than not you aren’t able to be on the road enough. This does not apply to everyone, as many do have support systems in place to allow for travel. If you are serious about your career, have this support system in place. No one makes any money if you can’t play so they won’t sign you. It may not be fair but everyone involved has to pay their bills so why would anyone sign a band that can’t make them money? It’s not about the music when it comes to getting signed, it’s about people earning a living.

Expecting To Work Without A Contract: First of all, one of the main rules of the music business is…always get a contract, so why you would you even consider asking someone to work with you without one? Why would a smart business owner work relentlessly to help you further your career just so you can walk away with the success they brought you? If another agency comes along and offers you a deal and you choose to go with them, with out a contract featuring a ‘buy-out clause’ your former manager or agent is screwed and may be liable for future booking, promotions or business deals being worked for your project. The standard industry rap goes that the “industry and music business” people are the ones that screw over the artists but I know from experience that artists are fabulous about breaching contracts because they do not want to pay someone. Our courts are full of artists being sued by companies for breach of contract so it goes both ways. No one should EVER work without a contract, period. No one

should risk his or her business on a promise or hand-shake agreement. You will get the short end of the stick every time.

After years of doing this and dealing with all types and genres of artists, the most common reason for artists not getting signed is that they are not focused on their end goal. They spend money on things they don’t need such as alcohol, drugs or video games instead of putting it into their careers and business package where it needs to go. To be successful means spending money on your career, missing friends because you are busting your butt working hard, and taking your act on the road into new markets. Don’t expect your team to do it for you, to be focused on you and your career when you can’t even do it for yourselves. This makes no sense what so ever. Again, no one in the industry will get involved with an artist that can’t and won’t work as hard as everyone else. These are also many of the reasons most artists will be let go by a professional company. More often then not, these reasons make it very, very difficult to promote you and sell your package and product or in general, make anything happen for you. This is a business and the artist needs to treat it like one. Be professional at all times, work hard always and get focused. Quit blaming everyone else for what you are not doing for yourself. Without having a great package to work with and sell, people just aren’t interested in not being able to make any money. It is the artist’s responsibility to build their business to an appropriate level before expecting or seeking help. Remember this is business and everyone needs to make money, not just the artist. Good Luck! Written by David Lowry

Birch believes there’s a revolution afoot. A tidal wave of changing attitudes; around the way people think about their world, their responsibility towards each other, the planet, and the type of music that’s being churned out.

Trenton and Free Radical, a musical partnership between Birch and writing collaborator Marco Wielander, is evidence of this revolution. Ibiza-raised Marco is a studious musician who is never without his guitar; having played with the likes of Roots Manuva and Killa Kella, he’s developed unique techniques for laying down tracks, sampling, and layering, giving their music a distinctively individual character. Their sound—seductive, acoustic, urban—elegantly marries catchy tunes with meaningful lyrics. Their songs have the energy and impact of anthems, their words pack meaning and their rhythms are ones you can’t help bopping to.

Free Radical delivers honest beats—although there are diverse influences, including hip-hop and electro, the result is sufficiently distinctive and edgy to evoke a sense of being unique, avoiding tired genre labels. Theirs is a contemporary African sound with universal appeal, and the muscle to unite divergent tastes. It’s revolutionary music geared to ignite dance-floors while exploding our thinking.

Birch says he’s disgusted by apathy. Pay attention, and you find yourself intellectually engaged; they’re

With his feet firmly planted in African soil, Trenton Birch has a global musical sensibility. Having done his time in London developing the distinct sound and conscious lyrics of his reggae-infused Afro-beat band, Trenton and Free Radical, his return to Cape Town is a major score for the South African live

stoking awareness, activating listeners. They’re not radical in a purely political sense, but Birch is a poet with something to say, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. The band sings about war, about social injustice, about love; and they sing the praises of heroes like Mandela, offering thoughts on making the world a better place.

Before setting of for the UK, Birch was prominent on the local music scene as part of electro-rock band Anti-Gravity which opened for South African performances by both The Prodigy and Faithless. Whilst in Europe, Birch promoted Johnny Clegg, and headed up the African hip-hop website / label Afrolution and ran the record label Black Mango Music which helped launched Goldfish internationally.

As Birch celebrates a return to South Africa, Trenton and Free Radical is finding its feet in Cape Town, playing up a storm on the live venue circuit in preparation for the Spring-2012 release of a debut album with sizeable international credentials. Produced by Dean James (Nitin Sawhney, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly) and Craigie Dodds (Sugarbabes, Natty, One Eskimo, Gorillaz), the album—“Giant Step”—is mixed by Gripper (Faithless, Dido, Hempolics), and includes vocals by the inimitable Maxi Jazz, best known to the world as the lead singer of British band, Faithless.

It’s a collaboration that suggests the esteem in which the band has been held whilst working in the UK. The album also features the immensely talented South Africa hip-hop MC Ben Sharpa and Senegalese hip-hop artist and activist Sister Fa who recently won the global “Freedom To Create Prize”.

As they rack up live appearances in South Africa, Birch and Wielander are joined by local bassist Thabo Mobo and drummer Andre Swartz, filling out their live sound as they constantly strive for a richer, more authentic, local flavour. As Birch puts it: “Although we started playing in London, our sound and inspiration was always from the African continent—this is where my roots lie.” Mobo has played with, amongst other bands, Ill Skillz, Archetypes, ShapeShifting and Calabash, and leapfrogs between hip-hop, funk, jazz, and soul house. Swartz, whose roots are in gospel, has also worked in diverse genres, from jazz and rock/ska to hip-hop and hip-hop metal crossover. He’s played at all the country’s major festivals, recorded locally, and toured internationally.

You can also find out more about Birch’s community outreach foundation, Breathe Sunshine, by visiting www.breathesunshine.org. The foundation raises funds to build schools and community centres in needy parts of the country. By Warren at Plug Music

On Friday 31 August, Niva Magzine was invited to check out the re-launch of Trenchtown in Observatory. On arrival at the venue, my first thoughts were ‘WOW’ as it was packed to the brim, reeking of amazing scents coming from the kitchen, with hundreds of people seeming to be having a very good night. My partner and I sat down for a meal starting with chillie poppers, then moving onto ribs and calamari. The food was prepared by the venues new chef, Paul Wakelin, who has really created a wide spread menu with the management keeping the prices as reasonable as possible. The atmosphere was very pleasant, with a surf-rock vibe infecting everybody! Friday night saw my partner and I enjoying cocktails, beer, food, a great vibe and of course not to forget a wonderful acoustic performance by Reburn, who used this opportunity to introduce their acoustic set to the crowd. Reburn played some of their well known songs as well as delivered some great cover songs. Trenchtown is situated just down the road from Gandalf’s, and makes it the perfect place to go for a meal and chill session before hitting Gandalf’s for the second leg of the party night. The management at Trenchtown is also doing it’s bit towards promoting local music by hosting a weekly pub quiz, acoustic performances and offering Cape Town bands big discounts on all of their meals, as well as keeping the alcohol affordable to make sure we have a great night, every time! Congratulations to all who were involved with the re-launch, the place looks and feels amazing, the food was out of this world, and I will definitely be back soon! If you have not yet checked out Trenchtown, do yourself a favour and book a table for you and your mates, you will not be disappointed! By Nic Owen

HABIT TO have just unleashed their second album called Boomerang Saturn! Already the singles ‘Movin’ and ‘Space’ have been playlisted on various Radio Stations and the music video for the albums first single ‘R10.40’, is hitting TV screens nation wide!

The success of Boomerang Saturn demands an increasingly busy touring schedule for HABIT TO nationally and internationally! Right now the band is preparing for their 2012 International tour where they have been invited to play stages in: Abu Dhabi, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Beijing, Shanghai & Yantai (China). – Putting their home country, South Africa on the map!

These three musos come together in one harmonious blend of New Age Rock. Having studied music at tertiary level, HABIT TO synchronise a thought process that digs deeper than the basics of song writing.

Formed in 2003, HABIT TO have built up a strong following not only in Durban but around the country, winning over new fans with every gig. The band has also performed at most major festivals and shared stages with the likes of Prime Circle, The Parlotones, Goldfish, Fokofpolisiekar, Springbok Nude Girls and many, many more.

In 2006 they won the Durban Battle of the Bands, which awarded them the studio time and funding they needed to produce their debut album, ‘Secrets to a Triangle’. This achievement also gained them huge popularity and opened up many opportunities.

The single “Cast In Stone” reached #1 on MFM charts & received extensive radio airplay on ECR, Radio 2000, Tuks FM, & others, while the music video for ‘Gratitude’ was put into rotation

on Go TV, MK and MTV Base! Following on the success of the previous album, HABIT TO unleashed their latest album Boomerang Saturn in 2011. This diverse album takes you on a journey through change and into tri-umph. Its intricate music digs deep and arrives at a “feel good, rock out, never give up” type attitude.

The Guilty Parties:

Michelle “Chillie” Stent (Vocals & Lead Guitar) “Having a chick in the band that can rock out and come with some serious, face-melting guitar solos definitely helps HABIT TO stand out” - Sarona Reddy, Eish Maga-zine

Dale “Dang” Wardell (Drums) “Dale Wardell is a skilled and powerful force on the kit... Impressive any way you hear it” - Claire Angelique, Sunday Tribune

Andy “Stimples” Stent (Bass & Vocals: 2003 – 2011) “brother and Bass player, backs (with) sonic assaults and verbal offerings on life and how it should be… (he) employs elements of artistic flair in their live shows.” - minimal mystic, South African Music

Alan “Bundy” Meyer (Bass: 2011 – present) It’s great to see a long-haired, sweaty and accomplished musi-cian hit the stage with vigour and glory in his fingertips… we can only hope that they soon start getting the re-spect and national festival spots they deserve”. - Gar-age band dot com

By Chillie Stent

Habit To

By Ryno De Lange

The ring of amps and the cheer of the crazy Worcester misfits are all but a fond memory, a crazy fond memory. On the 25th of August 2012 Event Horizons hosted the second The Right to Rock; Metal Rising mini-festival at Die Balke in the industrial town of Worcester, Western Cape.

Having hosted a good few gigs at Die Balke before I thought I knew what to expect from the evening, or so I thought. With the strike of 21:00pm came what I can only describe as a vastly talented, well oiled war-machine; Arc Reactor, having only heard one track of the boys on their Facebook page I did not know what to exactly expect. These guys are a tight music foursome, churning out fat riffs and beastly drums finished off with angry yet emotional raw vocals. Pushing my way through the sweaty crowd trying to get to the front of the stage I could hear the excitement build up around me. This was the first time an opening band has caught the attention of a very tough and critical crowd. Even for a small town which only sees bands every other month they know what they want and they are not afraid to let one know what they want and it was very clear that Arc Reactor was the perfect fire starter for the evening. It was not log before the moshers took to the pit and gave it their all, Arc Reactor are one outfit that I would like to see repeatedly and I am looking

forward to the day the boys release an album.

With 22:00pm crept in the ferocious Junkyard Lipstick who have been turning up the heat in the music scene for around a year now and have established themselves as not only just a brilliant and professional band but also as a very organized business. Having worked with Junk-yard Lipstick in December 2011 on the Out Of Nowhere Siege Tour, I was looking forward to what the girls had up their sleeves and with a new line up to add to the excitement it was a fresh thrashy experience all over again. These females know how to thrash out on a stage and quite a lot of guys out there can take some notes from them, what I enjoy a hell of a lot about Junk-yard is seeing the hard work that they put behind the scenes to make their performances as good as the previous or next performance they had or are going to have reflect on stage. With horror make up and a whole lot of rage Junkyard Lipstick sure know how to please the music pallet.

23:00pm hit with the sound of ING. . . shreddING, kill-ING, conquerING and hatING the stage. These South African metal gods have come a far way in miles and years in the South African music scene and have stuck to their guns from day one. ING are quite an act to be-hold, not because they have stage antics or do anything funny to get attention on stage, no not at all and also dont get me wrong either, they definitely are not boring on stage, giving it more than the crowd can take. The fact they are so outspoken and brutally honest about their views of the world and some political figures In our country and hey! Who cant forget those classical death metal lyrics of disembowelment, they sure do strike a nerve. Old school thrash and death metal in its prime, I sure did enjoy feeding the boys some shots to keep them lubricated for more thrashING along with a line of headbangers front and centre of the stage. Hearing the new material from INGs latest album release INGquisi-tion I must add was an eruption of core blasted into the small tunnel of chaos and debauchery from the young and driven Forgive Us Not, ending the night off with a frenzy of growls and screams, moshing and the ever popular core-break downs turning the crowd into a tor-nado of limbs.

Forgive Us Not are one FUN band and capture an audi-ence with energetic stage presence and mad skills. FUN are not the average hardcore band, and I myself got caught in the mosh for a while. FUN and myself have travelled a short path together and this is not the first time I have invited the craziest bunch of youngsters to play at once of our events. After an encore from the Worcesternites the last notes rang out from the last song played at The Right to Rock 2, the show was over yet the night had yet to start for Die Balke.

I took the time to scope around for a band from a far corner across South Africa, already knowing about The Devil Sent Me Back for sometime now, I decided ill do a small write up on the bands EP "Animals".

Hailing from Grahamstown, Easter Cape The Devil Sent Me Back, the five piece metalcore moshers have released their début EP "Animals". A five track EP filled with all the core elements needed to complete a heavy, metalcore album. I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of metalcore and did not think that The Devil Sent Me Back would capture me, to my surprise I was captured and swallowed whole within minutes.

What strikes me most about The Devil Sent Me Back is the fact that they don't stick to the average metalcore formula, they wonder outside of the boundaries and explore a bit of all the core and older metal genres sound to create a unique and powerful punch to the ears. I asked the band a bit about the EP and the bands drummer, Jason Brits had this to say "In my opinion, the EP is special because we started from scratch in a small town and our efforts are shown through this EP, and we are pretty stoked with the outcome." The bands ex-guitarist and vocalist, Colin Nass recorded the drums and vocals at the Music Department in Grahamstown while the guitars were recorded privately in a Cape Town bedroom, the recording took a couple of months to finish and was finally mixed and mastered by Nick Smuts. When I asked the band what they liked most about the EP, the bands guitarist Craig Alberts said "The sweet recording quality, having our songs put to tape and Colin's destroyer vocals".

Something that I found very interesting about the band is their outlook on life and how they depict all of the everyday strife in their songs lyrics. "The Devil Sent Me Back's lyrics are often based on overcoming things, be it emotional or the entrapment of free thought. 'More' is the main issue.

There is more to the daily trials we face and there is always hope for change" Craig Alberts explained to me, who also added "The biggest ambition I guess was to just have a decent recording under our belt, and the ability to let people all over the world hear our music." Craig Alberts is spot on with that, the recording quality ill give a solid 9/10, (pto)

the bands musicianship and talent is immense. With solid gut wrenching riffs, powerful piercing growls and the thundering backbone of bass and drums to end of the beautiful nightmare that is The Devil Sent Me Back.

The Devil Sent Me Back are booked to tour the West-ern Cape early January 2013. Be sure to join their face-book page to keep an eye out for tour dates and to get your hands on the bands EP. By Ryno De Lange

The Enigmatic and Misunderstood Paintball ‘Sniper’

This month I’m gonna talk about the back player/stealth player, often called a ‘Sniper’. These are the guys that love to dress up in full ghillie suits, or at least full camo, and use concealment and cover to pick off prime targets in ambushes.

Now I’m not gonna hash words here, I don’t put ‘sniper’ in inverted commas for no reason so let’s get one thing perfectly clear: a paintball ‘sniper’ is in many ways no different from a regular player. They don’t use any specialized markers that shoot further, high powered scopes and other jazz so before you get all excited you have to realize that what makes a good paintball ‘sniper’ is the ability to blend, self-reliance as they’ll often be working on their own, and an insane amount of patience. As in the whole game may go by without them firing a single shot.

First thing first you’re gonna want to blend with your environment. Some guys go all out and make (or even buy) a ghillie suit. This is usually a ‘cloak’ of mesh on which is tied various bits of material and vegetation to help a sniper break his shape – that is, the shape of his head and shoulders and general body outline so as to blend with the surrounding bet-ter. Good snipers often pitch up early and cut some of the local vegetation so that he literally looks like a bush plucked right out the field. A great idea but a lot of effort.

Next up you’ll want to move slowly, if at all. The hu-man eye is practically designed to detect any sort of movement, so if you’ll want to restrict any sort of movement to a minimum, and if you have to move then do so slowly and deliberately. You’ll also want to watch the kind of light you’re dealing with. Keep out of direct sunlight and stick to the shadows, but too much shadow can also make you appear out of place.

You’ll need to be able to gauge and read the field and your opponents intentions. You usually won’t have anyone watching your back or spotting for you so you’ll have to make educated guesses as to the ene-my’s movements. Setting up ambushes along a trail is a good example of this, as a person is more likely to take the less obstructed route down a path rather than bash his way through thick bush.

A lot of what it is to be a successful ‘sniper’ is to make that first shot count, as the sound signature will very likely give your position away. So paintball ‘snipers’ often go for the ‘one-shot-one-kill’ thing. This doesn’t really work too well in paintball. First off most players are wearing multiple layers of padding or clothing, so it’s more like ‘one-shot-one-bounce’… and if the ball bounces and doesn’t break the player’s not out, simple as that. Secondly most paint is never uniform, that is, they don’t always fly straight. Even some of the higher grade tourney paint flies off target, so your first shot could completely miss your target regardless how good your marker is.

Which leads me to my next point: marker choice. Your choice in marker can make a huge difference in whether you’re a successful ‘sniper’, or a dead one. Some markers may sound like they’ll be good ‘sniper’ markers, but really they’re not. And no, there’s noth-ing ‘special’ about a ‘snipers’ marker, just a few basic things.

Bolt stick is a big one. Some of the older blow-back markers are not equipped with anti-bolt stick, so often when they pull the trigger and there’s not enough lube the bolt doesn’t fire off the marker correctly. A couple years ago I was in the field and heard that distinctive click and walked right up to the guy strug-gling to get his marker to fire. At least I did the hu-mane thing and barrel-tagged him out.

Another example is I once had a guy with a Tippmann A-5 pop out the bushes and take a shot at me. He had me dead on in his sights, but his Cyclone Feed didn’t feed a ball so he dry-fired and, this being a Tippy, it was ungod-ly loud. By the time he had rectified the problem I had already moved around him and came up behind him. Can’t tell you how often this has happened to me.

A lot of players, even experienced ones, swear by pump markers. While in many ways they’re pretty accurate, pump markers don’t have detents which keep the ball from rolling out the barrel, so if you tilt it too far forward your paintball is gonna roll right out of there and you gotta pump it again to feed another one, by which time you’re probably dead. Had this exact thing happen to me not too long ago; I heard the shot, looked over and there was a guy with a pump desperately trying to pump it to pull of another shot after he’d dry fired his first one.

So if you’re gonna play ‘sniper’, you’ll definitely want a marker with eyes in the breach so that if you pull that trigger it’ll only fire if there’s a ball in the breach. Speed-ball markers are thus a pretty good choice in ‘sniper’ markers as the mid to upper tier markers come standard with eyes. This however leads to another possible prob-lem. Unless you’re running a straight-up gravity feed hopper on your speedy, your electronic feeder may have a built in automatic power-down battery saver. While this is a good idea for normal play, if you’re in the bush for half an hour waiting for that one shot and you don’t real-ize your feeder has turned itself off you may be in for some trouble. The same goes for some electronic

markers which have the same batter saver built in. Nothing worse than finally lining up that shot only to pull the trigger and find your marker or feeder has powered itself down.

So in closing you’re gonna want to break your body shape and blend in to the environment, literally disap-pear. Also you’re gonna need insane discipline and patience, and your gonna want to make sure your marker fires that paintball when you pull the trigger.

I’m gonna be honest and admit I don’t play ‘sniper’ very often, it’s not really my style cuz I want up there in the fight, but I know a lot of really good players that do and I’ve been taken out plenty of times by ‘snipers’, so I won’t bash it. If that’s what you want to play, hey go for it. But if you’re gonna play this role there are a few things you’ll have to come to terms with and try to find a work around:

Firstly, is it kind of boring? Well yea, least if find it so. Unless you’re one of those forward ambush type ‘snipers’ you’re probably hanging back while you’re team runs forward to win or lose the game, so you’re not really a part of the action.

Secondly if you’re gonna do the ‘one-shot-one-kill’ thing I’ve often found that either you fire and you miss, or it bounces or it actually hits (assuming you’ve taken care in choosing your marker so it doesn’t dry fire). To be honest, the ‘one-shot-one-kill’ scenario doesn’t really happen often in paintball. You’ll really want to put a stream of paint on the guy to make sure you get

a break and he goes out, cuz if that ball doesn’t break he’s not out. You may hit him, but if there’s no break it’s worthless.

With that in mind, don’t get downhearted about being a ‘sniper’. A good ‘sniper’, who’s taken all of the above into account and worked hard at being good at what he does, is a fearsome thing on the field and worthy of the title SNIPER.

Next month I’ll turn the tables a little and describe how you as a regular player can sniff out and get those ghillie bastards!

Till then, see ya on the field! By Franz ‘JollyRoger’

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