GQ sat down with Francois of Van Coke Kartel to talk about the bands new album, Wies Bang, their comic series of the same name and what life in an Afrikaans rock band is really like.
GQ: Francois, what can you tell me?
Francois: Obviously its an exciting time for us now, weve finally finished the new album. It was quite a lengthy project, you know, we worked on it for a year, writing and eventually recording it. Weve got two new band members who joined us right before we started writing the album and I think we came up with something pretty cool. Im very excited to unleash the thing.
How did Van Coke Kartel get its name?
The story comes from when we started Fokofpolisiekar in 2003, where our first show got a review in the papers and I still used my old surname, Badenhorst. My dads a Dutch Reformed minister, so the whole congregation phoned the house and complained (laughs). So my mom asked me to use another surname, so we had this Van Coke joke running, and I said, from now on Im Francois van Coke. When we started Van Coke Kartel, Wynand and I from Fokofpolisiekar took a break for about a year, but we felt we still needed to make music. Van Coke Kartel was originally going to be a collection of musicians playing together, and thats the whole Kartel idea. And thats how it kind of worked up until now we had different musicians playing on every album, up until this one now. Now we have a band.
You guys have changed quite a bit. Do you think its beneficial having members come and go? Sometimes when you think of bands theyre a tight-knit creative group and it flows. Do you find its been a problem?
I dont think its been a problem. I think its just part of who we are now. I mean obviously it feels like we were searching for the right guys for four years, but now weve got them and were all happy. Weve actually got people who we get along and connect with and that kind of connection in a band is very important.
Is that why the sounds on your three albums have been so different?
It has been, and weve tried to do different things as well. That was the idea with Van Coke Kartel, but I think thats starting to change now.
How does life as a member of Fokofpolisiekar compare to life as a part of Van Coke Kartel?
Obviously we still do Fokofpolisiekar now and again where we play two or three shows a month. Its great to go back to where it kind of all started and weve got a great connection in that band with the five members as well. But it was very different because the scene was different at that stage, there wasnt a lot of bands touring, we were the young band on the scene, the first band really touring the country in a van. It was before you had cheap flights and before everyone had a laptop it was a completely different ballgame.
You guys have won two SAMAs how does it feel?
Its a great feeling and of course its awesome to get that recognition.
Whats you best fan or stalker story?
Thats always a difficult one for me to answer because you get crazy people everywhere, and I dont actually know what the craziest moment is. Weve had big guys stage-dive and people cant catch them; and crazy guys who want to protect you at shows, acting like they own you. Theres always something crazy going on.
Whats been your favourite gig?
We were in Taiwan this year and we got onto the bill of this festival, Sun, Air, Sea, or something like that. Its the biggest show weve ever played they had over 1.2 million people over five days. When we were on stage, on the international day, there were over 100 000 people whod never heard our music and couldnt understand it at all. What was so great about it is that they were into it from the start, even though they didnt understand a thing! It was a cool, inspiring experience, that they were excited to listen to something so new and different.
What did it feel like sharing a stage with Muse and 30 Seconds to Mars?
The joke about that show was that obviously we played very early on in the day and we had to leave that show and go play in Oudtshoorn that night. So we didnt even see the other bands, but obviously its still always great to play on one of those big stages. Im a big fan of Muse, but I never got to see them live which was a little bit disappointing, but it was still great experience.
Do you guys have any rituals, pre-gig superstitions, or the like that you carry out?
Not really, to be honest. We drink a couple of Jagermeisters and then were good to go (laughs).
The lifestyle of Van Coke Kartel is it all sex drugs and rock n roll? Whats it like being in an Afrikaans rock band?
I think were the more senior guys now on the scene so we try and tone it down as much as we possibly can, but its obviously difficult if your life is sort of in clubs and at festivals and things. But we try to keep it mellow these days.
How do you think South Africans will receive your new album, Wies Bang?
Theres a lot more variety on this one. With Jed coming in, it was a big change for the music, because he did most of the writing on this album. Things are drastically different, and I think this album is kind of about us in SA, in the world at the moment relevant to our situation, you know. So I think people might get into it because of that.
Where did the idea for Wies Bang, the four-part comic series, come from?
We did an ad last year for Saatchi, we thought it was a cool thing to do, so we did it for free. So in return they put this whole idea together. Its kind of a fictional story of why we did what we did on this album.
Its got a very Dusk Til Dawn feel about it, with the whole vampire thing where did that come from? Was that intentional?
(Laughs) I dont know where the vampire thing came from. It sort of just came out in the storyline. I think we just needed a way to get Jagermeister involved, because I think Jagermeister wants to take your urges to drink blood away or something like that.
OK, thats an interesting concept.
(Laughs) Ja, actually I dont know I dont have a clue about why the vampires are in there.
So if you have to give a GQ reader advice about how to start a band, what would you say?
Play with people you get along with, first and foremost. For me, that is the best way to do it. I found that with Fokofpolisiekar, with there being five members, its so much easier if you get along. You have to spend time on the road together, youre basically married to four guys and we found that with Van Coke Kartel now as well after four years. I think thats the core thing. I know theres other people who do it and they dont get along, they dont even speak to one another, but it just makes it easier. And then I think if youre a young band, practice together as much as you can. That makes you a well-oiled machine.
Any last words?
Dont do anything else, just get the new album (laughs).
6009801199238
SF013
Supra Familias, 2011
Country: South Africa
Very good condition
C05
