How did Strident start its journey to becoming the wellestablished South African metal band that it is today? When we first started attending gigs as teenagers, we were frustrated by the lack of melodic metal bands. We also felt that there was an excess of homogeneity with regards to sound and presentation. When we saw Kobus! Live at Corner Bar in 2007, however, our eyes were opened to what could be achieved. Here was a band that didn’t give a damn what anyone else was doing, who weren’t afraid to be unique, theatrical and bombastic. I think that gave us a lot of courage. When Francois Blom offered us a slot opening for Kobus!, we leaped at the opportunity. We didn’t have a singer, or a whole lot of songs, but we weren’t going to let that stop us. We were swept along by the endless possibilities, and our set came together in a relatively short period of time.
Strident was one of the first metal bands that I was introduced to by a friend via Facebook; how has social network platforms such as Facebook impacted Strident’s ability to gain fans? Our primary means of gaining faithful fans is still very much through our live performances, but social networking does make it possible to reach people on other continents or in local towns where we don’t get to play. We have more fans in South America and Mexico than we do here, which is quite gratifying, if a little unreal.
With the local metal scene as small as it is and only having a handful of proper promoters in South Africa such as Metal4Africa.com and Emalyth; what is Strident’s opinion on new promoters coming into the metal scene and what other companies or promoters have Strident worked with that have made an impact on the metal scene? I think being a metal promoter in South Africa is one of the most challenging undertakings imaginable, for a number of reasons. We’ve had to deal with a number of fly-by-nights who are either there to make a quick buck and take advantage of the bands and fans, or who just genuinely don’t know what they’re getting themselves into; we have, however, also had the pleasure of working with a handful of intelligent, established companies who are devoted to developing the scene. Some names that immediately spring to mind are Patrick Davidson from Metal4Africa, and Dave Sass from Subterania. They’ve been good to us from day one, and they continue to go from strength to strength. The Fourie brothers who run Ramfest have also done wonderful things, not only for metal, but for our music scene in general.
Interviewed by: Ryno de Lange
Strident have recently gone through a change with their line up; what happened to the formed members and who are the new members? It’s not easy being in a band in South Africa, particularly a power metal band. It’s very expensive and time-consuming, and unfortunately certain personal and economic realities have kicked in for various members over the years. No-one’s ever been ‘fired’ from the band; it’s generally been a case of members facing unavoidable realities which make being in a band in any meaningful way impossible. Our line-up changes have always been amicable, and anyone who’s been in Strident is considered to be a member for life. Our new members are the incomparably passionate George “ShredKing” Engelbrecht on guitar, who drives over 150km each way to attend each gig and rehearsal, and the massively overqualified keyboardist Helgard Muller, who’s both a classicallytrained pianist and singer. They’ve opened new doors for us, and it’s a very exciting time within the band.