THE LAKE #023 by THE LAKE MAGAZINE

THE LAKE

THE LAKE WE ARE FOOLISHLY Ambitious

#23 / 151018 There are four obstacles. First, we are told from childhood onwards that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there. - The Alchemist / Paulo Coelho.

CONTENTS REGULARS:

PUBLISHER

Advertising / MARKETING

News 04 Wax Junkie 73 Print Run 76 Plimsoll 78

THE LAKE MAGAZINE PTY LTD info@thelake.co

Brett Bellairs brett@thelake.co

Editor / Art DirectOR

ONLINE EDITOR

ART:

Stefan Naude’ stefan@thelake.co

Mandy Nash mandy@thelake.co

Submissions

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

PHOTOGRAPHY:

info@thelake.co

Stalker 15 Friendship 27 Aberration 39 Unite 61

COPY EDITING

www.thelake.co.za @the_lake_magazine

Grey Matters 21 Zander Blom 55

MUSIC: Pandemonium Moth to a Flame

33 67

LIFESTYLE: Rink Rash 49

cONTENTS PHOTO Jansen Van Staden “Maloof Money Cup, Kimberley” 2011 www.phototool.co.za The views and opinions expressed within the editorial and advertisements of THE LAKE do not necessarily reflect those of its staff, nor any of its associates.THE LAKE and anything contained within is copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, copied or stored electronically without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

INTERN

Christine Stewart COVER

Lio Pauwels

Photography On the cover Concept / Styling Creative Direction Lighting / Studio Retouching

Oliver Kruger STIFF PAP Luke Doman Stefan Naude Big Time Studios Naomi E’camara

photography

contributors

Oliver kruger Frantz Birkholtz Henry Engelbrecht Jaco S Venter Jacqui van Staden Jabulani Dhlamini Dan Charles Hylton Boucher Rudi Geyser

Jacqueline Flint Xavier Nagel Dan Charles Lani Spice Lady venom Frantz Birkholtz Sean O’Toole Melissa Williams PRINTING Tandym print Tel: +27 21 505 4200 Email: print@tandym.co.za

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NEWS VANS / Independent Truck Co. Vans and Independent Truck Co., join forces for the latest installment of their collaboration series. The new Vans x Independent collection brings to life an extensive footwear and apparel collection that combines Vans’ emblematic checkerboard motif with Independent’s distinguished cross logo. In celebration of Independent’s 40th anniversary, the collection is bigger and better, epitomizing an unbreakable skate partnership for the ages. INFO: www.vans.com

ROASTIN RECORDs / Thor Rixon Michele is the latest LP that comes from Cape Town producer Thor Rixon. Once more drawing on previous influences such as electronica, afrobeat, techno and other bass heavy dance styles and fusing them together to create a silky smooth plethora of sounds. On the album Rixon works with some extremely talented South African vocalists and makes use of his own voice to add a fresh element to his electronic dance style. INFO: www.roastinrecords.com

BAD PAPER Bad Paper is a multi-disciplinary editions and publications company, co-founded in 2016 by visual artist Rodan Kane Hart and book/graphic designer Ben Johnson. They collaborate with artists to concretize their existing ideas or to translate their prior experience into different modes of thinking. Ultimately, this results in tangible pieces ranging in medium from sculptures and designed objects to prints and artist books. INFO: www.badpaper.co.za

LOMO / Oktomat The Octomat is no Hollywood feature, but believe us, 8 frames can tell quite a tale. Envision yourself as a movie director on the world’s tightest budget – armed with 8 scenes and 2.5 seconds to relate your micro-masterpiece. Whatever the occasion: choose your scenes, motivate your cast, and coordinate your cinematography into a print-bound and Oscar-worthy Oktomatic vignette. 35mm format. 8 focus-free lenses. INFO: www.exposuregallery.co.za 04

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DARE THE UNKNOWN PALLADIUMBOOTS.COM

#PALLADIUMBOOTS

NEWS HURLEY / PARALLEL SEA Born and raised in Hawaii, 2 x Surfing World Champion, John John Florence, releases a special spring collection honouring his backyard and the crew that made him who he is today. This pack is created in conjunction with JJF’s production company, Parallel Sea and consists of a hat, long-sleeve T-shirt and 4-way stretch Phantom boardshorts. INFO: www.hurley.com

Carlo Mombelli - Angels and Demons

Zoo Lak - ZONK

Fokofpolisiekar - Droom Hoog

PERMANENT RECORD Permanent Record has 4 new slabs of vinyl before the end of 2018. Two new Fokofpolisiekar 10”s will be available - a reissue of the 2003 classic As Jy Met Vuur Speel Sal Jy Brand EP as well as the new 2018 EP titled Droom Hoog. Johannesburg based noise rock quartet Zoo Lake will release the highly anticipated ZONK right after their Cape Town debut at Endless Daze Festival. Experimental jazz maestro Carlo Mombelli’s album Angels and Demons will also be committed to 180g wax. INFO: www.permanenetrecord.co.za

Herschel Supply Herschel Supply introduces the Look Forward campaign for 2018. Celebrating the optimistic and future-focused youth of today, 13 young adults with diverse creative interests share their personal stories, passions and outlooks through a thoughtfully produced video series. Among the Look Forward personalities is teenage rock band Calpurnia, a ballerina, skateboarder, motocross rider and clothing designer are also part of the dynamic youth culture represented in this campaign. INFO: www.herschel.com

PUMA / Polaroid Sneaker Pack The PUMA x Polaroid sneaker pack includes two sneakers. The RS-0 Polaroid sneaker is inspired by the game-changing Polaroid OneStep instant camera with a premium white leather upper, micro perf vents, 6mm flat, reflective laces and the iconic Polaroid Colour Spectrum graphic on the sneaker tongue. Expect classic Polaroid hues in colour-blocked style in suede and leather overlays, plus the iconic Polaroid Colour Spectrum graphic rainbow colours on the outsole. INFO: www.puma.com 06

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NEWS adidas Originals / Prophere Adidas Originals captures the unwavering spirit of Prophere. Known for their laidback, off-beat rhythms and homegrown energy, rising stars of the west coast rap scene SOB x RBE are featured in the series of images which encapsulate the outsider mentality that underpins the Prophere model. Photographed on their home turf of Vallejo, California and in the group’s natural environment – brings this element to the forefront with a ‘from the inside’ perspective of the group. INFO: www.adidas.com

BCUC

The Internet

AFROPUNK / JOBURG 2018 AFROPUNK Joburg is back for a second year to CONSTITUTION HILL on 30 AND 31 DECEMBER 2018. Come to AFROPUNK Joburg to feel the music, free your mind, and join the movement, whilst enjoying another incredible lineup of iconic artists and emerging talents at what is sure to be the party of the year. This year’s theme is THE PEOPLE RESIST, a call to action against racism, patriarchy and any form of hate. AFROPUNK takes place annually in London, Paris, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Johannesburg. INFO: www.afropunkfest.com/johannesburg

Jack Daniel’s® / DOUBLE GLASS PACK Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is mellowed drop-bydrop through 10-feet of sugar maple charcoal, then matured in handcrafted barrels. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey doesn’t follow a calendar, it’s only ready when the tasters say it is. It’s how Jack himself did things over a century ago. And how it’s still done today. This gift pack includes a 750ml bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and two Jack Daniel’s rocks whiskey glasses. INFO: www.jackdaniels.com

Ben Sherman / Heart of Soul Ben Sherman - Heart of Soul explores industrious British northern towns of the 1970’s at a time when living for the weekend was truly a way of life. This season we draw inspiration from Northern Soul, an iconic subculture made cool by the rare imported soul 45’s and the British youth that gave their all when dancing to them. A passionate exploit fueled by their love of the distinctive signature two-step dance moves and an uplifting soundtrack curated by devoted record collectors. INFO: www.bensherman.com 08

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T h i n k . M e e t . Wo r k . A n y w h e r e w w w.w o r k a n d c o . c o . z a /n ov a

NOVA by Work & Co : a self-sufficient, fully connected mobile office pod. Created to inspire thought, we aim to equip the modern nomad. Enabling you to think, meet, work, anywhere. Book your NOVA Experience or come say hello at our collaborative workspace, 7 Bree Street, Cape Town, South Africa.

NEWS Now Now Just Now / JULIA ROBERT It’s vinyl number 7 for Now Now Just Now and they’ve decided to celebrate the lucky number by slapping Cape Town’s most fortunate sons and daughters, Julia Robert, on to some wax. The Mother City’s only band of glitter punks have two brand new previously unreleased tracks on this vinyl: The disco-banger P.O.W. and the brooding Eavesdrop. The release follows the classic A-side-B-side dichotomy of old 7” singles, with each track showcasing a different side to the band. INFO: www.nownowjustnow.com

Lomo’Instant Wide The Lomo’Instant Wide features not only manual exposure settings for the free-thinkers out there, but also comes equipped with a Fully Programmatic Shutter that lets you lean back and enjoy the ease of the instant. Long exposures, multiple exposures and color-flashed exposures—this camera gives you everything you need to explore your creativity. No matter if you want to capture the two sophisticated lens attachments will let you see the world from the right perspective. INFO: www.exposuregallery.co.za

HALCYON Halcyon is an emerging clothing brand from Cape Town, South Africa. This tiny collection is limited to a beautiful, 100% cotton, slim-fit button down shirt with curved hem (available in 3 colour ways: Blue, burgundy and black), and a denim jacket with 100% cotton inner lining and the Halcyon symbol embroidered by hand on the left chest pocket, as well as the production number embroidered on the right cuff, making each piece unique. INFO: @halcyoncapetown

CONVERSE X CARHARTT WIP The Converse X Carhartt WIP sneaker merges functionality with a contemporary perspective, in the creation of three new iterations of the One Star silhouette. The two brands have built on their shared background that speaks to varied subcultures as a result of their distinct yet versatile aesthetic. Inspired by military detailing, the collection highlights the overlap between workwear and streetwear that has always existed, enforcing how a signature style can evolve and remain relevant. INFO: www.converse.com 10

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Great alone, better together ADIDAS ORIGINALS RELEASES A NEW P.O.D. SYSTEM adidas Originals presents the latest iteration of the P.O.D. System together with a locally produced image series featuring Yannick Ilunga and Rochelle ‘RhaRha’ Nembhard, who embody the campaign’s ethos of ‘Great alone, better together’.

Yannick and RhaRha, the creative force behind the Noirwave movement, personify the spirit of P.O.D System in a celebration of creative unity. Set in an open-air urban environment, the campaign images bring the power of the Noirwave collective to life and translate the combination of nostalgia and progression that underpins the P.O.D. System into a clear visual context. The laid-back nature of the images places a firm focus on the fluidity and freedom of movement that characterises the P.O.D-S3.1 silhouette and Kaval apparel collection. Imagery in the campaign feature the release of the P.O.D-S3.1 model. The silhouette boasts a unique podular construction that unites three heritage technologies in one - The P.O.D-S3.1’s outsole features a Boost™ unit in the heel, a high-rebound EVA forefoot, and a Torsion™-inspired Point of Deflection bridge that unites the three components. We sat down with RhaRha to talk Noirwave and its affinity to the P.O.D System campaign: P.O.D. System unites archival elements with the latest technology to usher in a new era of purposeful design. How does your past influence the way you create for the future? I view the past as a fundamental part of the foundation for the future. Whether we wish to acknowl-

edge it or not the past influences our current reality and our current reality, which is forever in the process of becoming the past, influences our future. When creating for the future, I use the past as a point of origination from which to start but never as the final destination. Much like Noirwave, P.O.D. System is built from collective memories to create something entirely new. A disruption of linear process, rooted in past, present and future. How has the Noirwave movement evolved since its inception? Noirwave started out with its roots in music. It then grew into a visual identity, that like the sound of Noirwave, combined ancient and future influences to create something completely new. It has since organically evolved into a movement with its vision fixed firmly on the creative future. Noirwave has become a borderless philosophy for creative immigrants globally. It offers followers a citizenship that rejoices in movement physically and creatively. You and Yannick exist as individual forces but in coming together you break boundaries and create something completely new. Talk to us about the unique alchemy of your partnership, THE LAKE

which is a testimony to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Yannick and I have been working together for the past seven years. We both have very distinct talents - his in music and mine in visual arts. By combining our skills, we leverage off each other to create something we could not have created alone. Our power lies in combining our creative skills to build a Noirwave future. We’re seeing the meteoric rise of the collective community. Why do you think creative collaboration is gaining such momentum? The era of the individual and doing it alone is finally coming to an end. Our generation is much more invested in building together. The old ways have failed us and it’s up to us to learn from the past when inventing the future. Collaboration allows us to build the best future possible. By combining our skills and talents we are put in a much better position to build the future we envision. We have so much to learn from each other and instead of creating in silos, we are investing in the power of the collective and by doing this, our growth expands tenfold.

INFO: www.adidas.co.za. INFO: @adidasZA #PODSystem 13

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> WORDS - LANI SPICE

PHOTOGRAPHY - RUDI GEYSER

stalker RUDI GEYSER “HOW BORING WOULD PHOTOGRAPHY BE WITHOUT SURPRISES? I relish them. Don’t get me wrong, I plan as much as I can for any shoot, but it’s impossible to conceive exactly what an image is going to look like before you’ve taken it, even digitally.” TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF, WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? I grew up roaming the southern suburbs of Cape Town. As soon as I finished school I traveled to the UK where I lived for seven years. I achieved a BA in photography at Falmouth University in Cornwall, after which I assisted in London and eventually found my way back home a few years ago. WHEN DID PHOTOGRAPHY BEGIN FOR YOU? Photography started for me the day I saw the magic of a pin-hole camera in school…I was mesmerized. There have been many new “beginnings” within photography since then - from learning critical theory in uni to hyper-tech lighting whilst assisting, from deciding what I wanted my work to say to trying to make a living from taking photographs. You photograph predominantly on film. Has this always been your preference? Do you ever shoot creative work on digital? I shoot on film because of the fact that it’s expensive and time-consuming. It makes me consider my project and frame long before I even pull the trigger, thereby forcing me to take better pictures.

What is your camera of choice that you currently shoot on? And what would be your dream one? I shoot on a Pentax 67. I still have my first ever camera which is a little 35mm Pentax K1000 which I rarely use. I need a Mamiya RZ67 in my life ASAP. Last year you released a zine called ‘The Dance’, themed around masculinity, which showcased not only your photography, but also your poetry.Could you tell us more about that? The Dance was a project that took me about two years to complete (I’m currently doing a follow-on to the project). It was an exploration of many things; in general terms the project explores a sexualized, fluid masculinity and weaves around ambiguous gender representation. For me however, The Dance doesn’t represent a general narrative, but rather a personal one, which is why the poetry was an integral part. Writing is absolutely not my forte - I tell stories through images not words; however for some reason I was compelled to have writing with this work and much prefer to explain the work through poetry than some cold critical review.

HIGH FIVES DEFTONES

pixies

nick cave

johnny cash

WHITE PONY

doolittle

push the sky away

american recordings

dillinger escape plan

2000

1989

2013

1994

2002

Maverick Records

4AD

Bad Seed Ltd

American Recordings

Epitaph

irony is a dead scene

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Your images result in a rich and very beautiful aesthetic. When preparing for these shoots on film, do you still experience that element of surprise that can come with analogue? Do you experience any frustrations? How boring would photography be without surprises? I relish them. Don’t get me wrong, I plan as much as I can for any shoot, but it’s impossible to conceive exactly what an image is going to look like before you’ve taken it, even digitally. This is obviously extrapolated with film as you can’t change the direction of a shoot after doing the first few shots… because you obviously can’t see them during the process. This results in a much more organic development of an idea. You recently exhibited, amongst 24 other upcoming international photographers, in New York with Red Hook Labs, which “explored contemporary cultural aesthetics, and presented provocative image making”.

Can you tell us more about this show and the body of work you exhibited in it? This show was a big deal for me - showing in a big gallery in New York with some of the most exciting new artists was an honor. The work was a project Gavin and I did where we cast a variety of people off Grindr and asked them to express themselves in ways in which they felt comfortable. The aim was to compile a body of work that represented an honest and diverse cast of people that occupy the sexually tabooed, often misunderstood space of Grindr. It was interesting to use the platform in this way, experiencing the juxtaposition between the Grindr avatars and the real people behind them. What else have you been up to lately, any exciting shoots you would like to share? All top secret I’m afraid :) THE LAKE

What or who are your biggest inspirations? This question comes up quite a bit and I have to be honest, I purposely try not to look at too much photography. I just feel that it can really cloud my thinking and influence ideas too much. I do really admire the work of the late Ren Hang – probably my favourite work of any artist in recent years. Lastly, anything we can look forward to in the pipeline? I have a few fashion editorials that should launch soon, a couple of personal projects I’m working on as well as some travel projects on the go. Keep your eyes peeled!

INFO: www.rudigeyser.com INFO: www.instagram.com/rudi.geyser 19

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> WORDS - jacqueline flint

PHOTOGRAPHY - jaco s. venter

Grey Matters Bonolo Kavula

“All my comics were dramas about white people. I felt sad for myself when I saw this and I started drawing myself as I was.”

Other than your prodigious drawing skills, what made you pursue a career as an artist? How has your perspective of yourself as artist changed over the time you have been practicing? I won a painting competition when I was 17 and because of that a lot of people said I should study art and I thought, “Sure, why not? That’s not a bad idea.” I originally wanted to become a forensic anthropologist. Now I spend my free time watching crime documentaries on Netflix. I was filled with self-doubt while I was studying. Actually I still am, but now I have a strong belief that being an artist is part of my destiny and that fate has brought me here. When I started studying art I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a professional artist. Today I understand the importance of creating cultural artefacts. I feel proud to be making history in the present because that for me is the definition of what artists do: they are makers and preservers of history. Your practice is multi-pronged, with aspects of drawing, printmaking, video and performance, and a recent addition of stand-up comedy. How do they all come together for you? If I’m meant to be making prints I’ll be thinking about the next thing to draw and if I’m drawing, I’ll be eager to put together a performance because I got a strong urge to poke fun at someone. I just don’t know how to hold a thought. I can tell a good story - I just take a while to get to the point because of all the detours I take. So when I’m creating, what you see are detours – I go off on a tangent in the form of drawing, videos and even comics. Ideas are always coming and going in my head and they demand to take on the forms that I have used so far. In this case,

having a wandering mind hasn’t turned out to be a bad thing. What is the role of laughter in your work? And how does the satire of your performative persona connect with your printmaking practice? The laughter you see in my work comes from having made a decision long ago to be tickled by my art. Laughter first came into my work after some very good advice I received in my first year of studies from my favourite painting lecturer, Justin Brett. He explained that I could make work about cupcakes and use colour and enjoy the process while I’m at it and still be able to tell my story if I wish. That really freed me because until then I thought expression was only honest if it was angry or had a hint of hurt. My performative persona, Priscilla Ndlovu, was born out of a need to say things about the art scene that might not be palatable especially coming from a black woman. It’s easier to forgive bad art than it is to forgive people. But making prints is

as much a performance as me standing in front of a camera lens and singing. The entire making of a print is a work in and of itself so from the moment you carve your line into the lino block you have started performing. Performance also requires planning and rehearsal no matter how silly the video may appear to be. I allow mistakes to be part of the final video works that I present and it is the same in printmaking. What has been your most successful experiment in print, and what your most bizarre? (I realise these might be the same...) My most successful and bizarre experiment started with a hilarious and quite vulgar idiom my great grandmother used to express a threat towards my cousin who had obviously finally gotten on her nerves. The expression in Setswana is “o tla nyela boboa o sa ja tlakwane”. The literal translation is, “I will make you shit fur irrespective of whether you have eaten sheep/ cow hooves or not.” In other words, don’t mess with me.

HIGH FIVES Coco Jones

Stefflon Don

the Carters

H.E.R.

Melii

Just my luck

Real Ting

Everything Is Love

I Used To Know Her: The Prelude

Sh*t Talk

2018

2016

2018

Apple Music

54 London

Parkwood / Sony

RCA Records

Interscope

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Bonolo Kavula - If Only for a Moment 2018 / Linocut on Canvas - 160 x 143 cm

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“Abstraction is me making work in print that goes against what I, as a black female artist, am expected to make.”

Left / Bonolo Kavula - “Untitled” 2014 / Paper Discs on Styrofoam Board Right / Bonolo Kavula - “It is Real“ 2018 / Paper Discs & String - 60 x 43 cm

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Bonolo Kavula “My Own” 2018 / Woodblock Print on Canvas - 350 x 150 cm

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“The laughter you see in my work comes from having made a decision long ago to be tickled by my art.”

Left / Bonolo Kavula “Grey Matters” 2014 / Woodblock Print on paper Middle / Bonolo Kavula “The Big and Final Work” 2018 / Canvas Discs and String - 83 x 61 cm Right / Bonolo Kavula “Likeness” 2014 / Woodblock Print on paper

It made me think of language and culture and how cultures influence language. In my culture, when an animal is slaughtered no part is left unused. So the feet are eaten too but the hairs must be shaved off before cooking. There is a method in doing this and that’s where my investigation for making an artwork began. I bought some sheep hooves to clean and cook myself but I failed dismally. The journey from there was arduous, but eventually I struck an idea: I made prints with fine lines carved into lino that were as short as the hair on the hoof. I printed them in ‘pretty” colours to attract the viewer to a work of art about an African delicacy that most might not find delicious.

stories. But the comics I was introduced to were Archie comics, and that became my visual reference as a child. So that meant that all my comic characters were white. I didn’t see myself in Archie and therefore didn’t see a need really to insert myself. When I got to Cape Town I stopped making comics for a while, and it was when I was in my 4th year that I decided to revisit my old hobby and I couldn’t put pen to paper. It only hit me then that I wasn’t drawing characters that looked like me or that I could relate to. All my comics were dramas about white people. I felt sad for myself when I saw this and I started drawing myself as I was. In my videos I take full control of how I want to be represented.

then using colour and then making art not as a means of survival, but of expression. This is not to say that amazing artists like Azaria Mbatha and Cyprian Shilakoe didn’t have any kind of authority or freedom of expression, but where was the one artist in that class who didn’t follow the status quo? I imagine that it would be me. Abstraction is me making work in print that goes against what I, as a black female artist, am expected to make.

As a black female artist, representation is an important part of your practice on many levels. Can you unpack that a bit for us?

Tell us a bit about your relationship with abstraction...

Just don’t be an asshole at a time when it is very important to think before you speak and consider your actions with care. Be aware of what it means to be who you are today in this world.

I live and breathe representation. From about the age of 8, I was really into making comic book

I imagine myself being a student in Rorke’s Drift in 1975 and being taught printmaking and going against every expected artistic move and choice: starting with not making a picture and THE LAKE

What does it mean to be politically aware in the current climate – political, economic, cultural?

INFO: www.facebook.com/public/ Bonolo-Kavula 25

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FRIENDSHIP â&#x20AC;&#x153;Show me who your friends are and I will tell you what you areâ&#x20AC;? is a quote I believe we are all too familiar with. Whether it was said by our grandmother, mother or even teacher we all met at a dead end with this wise saying when we peaked in our youth. It was interesting to discover that Vladimir Lenin, a well-known Russian politician, was the man behind this phrase. I am sure it got passed down without people realizing who the direct source was. Being one of the most influential and controversial political figures of his time, he was bound to have encountered several people from all walks of life. It actually makes sense that a politician would say this because letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just say birds of a feather tend to flock together. The past, present and future have all merged and become one; the focus on the past being centered around Generation X and the focus on the future being centered on Generation Z. Then there is the main focus on the present being Generation Y, the Millennials. How fitting Generation Y, Y me? Y us? This series of photos is a subtle representation of the realities of a millennial. A generation often frowned upon for we seem to have no sense of direction. From the images one could assume millennials live a life draped in the cloaks of the past with visions of the future. Millennials are seen as the most entitled generation with the surge of technological advancements creating opportunities for them. Older millennials saw the world at a time the economy was booming, but younger millennials encountered an economic slump. Things that were once within reach seem to be a mirage, with the stagnation in the economy due to the accumulation of debt, we are drowning. Coming of age during the recession seems to have haunted this generation, because even with the constant pressure from society we still seem to look back, then forward, then at ourselves, and not know where our place in society is because of the constant what ifs we plague our minds with. Millennials go through the ebbs and flows of life experiencing the same problems yet as individuals they feel isolated, but what about your friends? Yes, what about them? The same people who you hang out

with, often travelling in packs layering the pain away, are the same people stuck in limbo.The physical presence of the individual is felt but their being is distant. It comes in stages; somebody needs to offer themselves for the outpour to create a rippling effect, but with the walls people have built to protect themselves it becomes challenging for millennials to face life and deal with it. We have become a pathetically empathetic generation, capable of bearing the weight of our woes, but not actively finding solutions. The sympathy we receive is half-hearted and our need to be empathetic misunderstood. To mask the pain we sit up and pretend we are alright, with the only support offered coming from a backrest. We stand tall with our heads down and our backs slouched. As a community we have developed a nonchalant attitude, but we care, we really do. Our pain is overlooked because to an outsider we seem to have been handed the world and let it drop to our feet, but the truth is it rests on our shoulders. Millennials are just daring with their eyes wide shut. All we have done is create a new term for depression and named it sleep. A new term for pressure and named it procrastination. A new term for anxiety and named it coffee. A new term for certainty and named it Y, and it is our generation.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Hylton Boucher at One League / Hair and makeup: Michelle Moolman / Produced and styled by: Mikhailia Petersen Models: Terence Masamuna, Jeremy Pelser, Shakes Mbolekwana, Rowan Peterson, Kim Dawson / Production assistant: Alex Paterimos Clothing: Never new store, Babette Clothing and Better half / Words: Naserian Koikai ** Special thanks to The Raptor Room for the venue THE LAKE

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> WORDS - DAN CHARLES

PHOTOGRAPHY - OLIVER KRUGER CONCEPT / STYLING - LUKE DOMAN

Pandemonium STIFF PAP

“It’s not like we’re trying to be kwaito artists or whatever. People just tried to box us and make sense out of the chaos that we released because Dlala was a really chaotic song. My raps were basically trap raps, the percussions that came in were kwaito percussions and the horn section was like something out of a punk song in the ’80s. Everything was crazy but people have this thing of trying to, in chaos, find patterns in order to box something. If they want to call us anything, it should be post-kwaito. We are genre-less.” On the first page of Esinako Ndabani and Sihle Mthembu’s pivotal collection of essays about the music of kwaito, Born To Kwaito, Ndabani dissects the politicization of kwaito with brief reference to former president Thabo Mbeki’s infamous statement that the genre was merely a “distraction from real issues”. Although there are arguments to be made on both sides of that statement (arguments that Ndabeni examines thoroughly in the book’s opening chapter), one could also argue that the term kwaito itself currently serves as another “distraction” in today’s marketing-savvy music industry that, locally, is besotted with the arrival of a new wave of kwaito artists such as Mx Blouse, Darkie Fiction and Bougie Pantsula - the distraction from the innovations of young artists trying to break the mould of the genre. It’s a distraction that Stiff Pap - the formidable sonic unison of producer Jakinda (Mshindi Boya) and rapper AyemaProbllem (Ayema Qampi) must find themselves wrestling with. What started as a collaborative experiment between two UCT students who were mutual admirers of each other’s work, soon became a powerhouse amalgamation of elements including trap, gqom, hip hop, kwaito and contemporary electronic, that led to the birth of Stiff Pap’s distinctly South African sound.

categories as their contemporaries, without proper mention being given to their immensely innovative style that has played a significant part in generating this “wave” - particularly with regard to Jakinda’s production style, which has seen him credited on a lot of the tracks that have benchmarked this neo-kwaito wave (such as Darkie Fiction’s Selula and Mx Blouse’s Is’phukuphuku). “I find it kind of weird because I don’t feel like anyone else was really like pushing that sound before us. I’m not saying that they’re not doing their thing but I think that a lot of articles neglect to mention that there’s a link to all these different artists that have been clumped together and are being seen as this new-wave kwaito sound. It’s not just like this wave of people that want to do kwaito - it’s me and Ayema talking to each other and saying that this is what we want, then me having these ideas and then other people asking us for them. I don’t have anything against them for doing that - that’s my sound and if people want to work with that sound then I’m cool.”

Despite the similarities that can be drawn with certain aspects of their more radio-friendly contemporaries, the core of Stiff Pap’s sound is rooted in the sheer rawness of the delivery of their songs, which takes cues from the likes of pre-mainstream gqom influences such as DJ Lag and Rudeboyz, as well as the more monstrous genre-mashing tracks of pre-MAGA-hat Kanye West. Rather than bouncing on radio waves, Stiff Pap tracks were made to bludgeon stages - something that Ayema is well aware of. “When you listen to our thing, it’s hard-hitting and it’s raw. You’re going to feel like you’re at a rock concert and you’re going to feel like this is chaos. Kwaito was literally like rock for black kids who couldn’t afford anything. That’s where Amapantsula came from; guys literally took their workman’s clothes and found ways to dress properly and how to fuck up the fashion scene. And that’s literally us, we’re just trying to take what we have and what we know and fuck the industry up and use it to the best advantage that we know.”

HIGH FIVES Christian Tiger School

Big Nuz

Fever Trails

Okmalumkoolkat

Kanye West

Undisputed

Wax Bridge

Mlazi Milano

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2015

2009

2016

2010

Tommy Boy Entertainment

Universal Music Group

Quit Safari

Universal Music Group

Def Jam

Chrome Tapes

This sound has taken Jakinda and Ayema from the launch of their debut EP Based on a Qho Story (featuring their breakout hit Dlala) in 2017, to shattering lineup times on some of the prestigious stages and festivals in the country - including the illustrious Afropunk Festival in Johannesburg, after conquering the Battle of the Bands events in the lead-up to the festival. But despite the group’s growing accolades and eminence in originating an ultra-modern South African sound, Stiff Pap still find the media lumping them within the same

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“We’re so reluctant to call ourselves kwaito artists because we listen to the music that we’re making now and it’s so far removed from any initial idea of what kwaito is.”

With a new EP in the works entitled Stiff Pap Radio, Jakinda and Ayema are looking to further envelop the industry and their listeners into the Stiff Pap universe with a more introspective take on the music, following on from the party-fuelled Based on a Qho Story, which continues to push the boundaries of what is expected of a young kwaito-influenced group. “We’re so reluctant to call ourselves kwaito artists because we listen to the music that we’re making now and it’s so far removed from any initial idea of what kwaito is,” Jakinda says. “Even with the first EP, the basis was in kwaito but we were still trying to move away from the traditional idea of that and take that sound further on this new EP. There are still remnants of the previous sound but it’s so much more mature.” There is certainly an element of uncertainty that must come with pioneering a new wave within music and culture, but Stiff Pap’s relentless confidence in their craft has proven to be the key to their rampantly growing influence and success; it is a confidence that seems to be unshakable and at this rate, will remain unshaken. Stiff Pap is forever. “We are very alternative so if people are going to get into our music, they’re going to need to believe in us which means that we need to believe in ourselves. So when we get on stage, I always tell Jakinda (and he knows this) that we are basically like Gods. We control the crowd and, whatever we want the crowd to do, the crowd is going to do. Because why? Because we believe in ourselves and we believe in our craft and the crowd respects that so much and the crowd is going to go with us whichever way.”

DISCOGRAPHY Stiff Pap Dlala (Maramza Remix) - Single (remix)

2018 Kwaai Fi Stiff Pap Amagroovist (Gina Jeanz Remix)- Single (remix)

2017 Kwaai Fi Stiff Pap Amagroovist (Baby Girl) - Singl

2017 Soundcloud Stiff Pap Based On a Qho Story - EP 2017 Red Bull Studios - CT Stiff Pap Dlala (single) 2016 Red Bull Studios - CT

INFO: www.soundcloud.com/stiff-pap INFO: www.facebook.com/StiffPap THE LAKE

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> WORDS - Jabulani Dhlamini

PHOTOGRAPHY - Jabulani Dhlamini

ABERRATION Jabulani Dhlamini

Jabulani Dhlamini was born in Warden, Free State in 1983. In 2012, Dhlamini held his first solo exhibition at the Market Photo Workshop Gallery in Johannesburg and the following year, his first commercial exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town. Prior to that, in 2009, Dhlamini received a National Diploma in Photography from the Vaal University of Technology. He is the recipient of numerous awards in photography, including two Profoto Awards, in 2008 and 2009, a Fujifilm Southern Africa Photographic Award and Edward Ruiz Mentorship for 2011 - 2012. Dhlamini’s subtle documenting of South Africa’s post-traumatic collective memory is in many ways an extension of the quiet approach taken by the late David Goldblatt. Dhlamini was recently selected by the Financial Times as one of nine photographers to watch and was the only photographer selected from the African continent. For the series he produced for the FT, Dhlamini documented the impact of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s death and the undervaluing of women in South Africa’s liberation narrative. He lives and works in Johannesburg.

www.goodman-gallery.com

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Vans UltraRange 3D An Evolution of Versatility and Comfort

An evolution of the original UltraRange, Vans brings the UltraRange 3D to market, a new franchise style grounded on Vans’ signature co-molded UltraCush™ Lite 3D outsole, the brand’s latest innovation for superior comfort and grip all in one.

Designed to be versatile and elevate comfort, the UltraRange 3D is engineered with a new three-density outsole, fusing Vans’ UltraCush™ Lite foam and original waffle rubber compound to reinforce a soft, cushioned fit that lasts longer throughout your adventures. The UltraRange 3D’s precise calibration features a sophisticated yet breathable upper construction, highlighting Vans’ new durable reverse lug rubber waffle tread and engineered radial heel design to increase stability and provide seamless heel strike. Vans’ LuxLiner™ bootie construction completes the formula, offering elevated fit and ease of entry to cap off one of the most versatile shoes in the Vans repertoire. The Vans UltraRange franchise sustains its reputation as Vans’ most progressive line to date. Available now at Vans retail stores across South Africa, the UltraRange and its latest style evolutions provides creatives, sports enthusiasts, and inspiring people on-the-go with the enhanced comfort they need to chase their adventures.

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INFO: www.vans.com

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> WORDS - Melissa Williams

PHOTOGRAPHY - jacqui van staden

rink rash The Cape Town Rollergirls

Roller Derby is one seriously unconventional sport. It’s a full-contact, female-dominated, team sport played by woman on quad skates, working strategically to beat the opposition using their hips, booties and shoulders. But of course there is much more to it than that. Roller Derby is big on fun and quirkiness, and the forces of sisterhood within the teams are intensely strong. Founded in America in the mid-1930s as an endurance race, which then developed into the contact-heavy sport popularized by Whip It, Roller Derby is a fairly new sport to South Africa. The Cape Town Rollergirls league in Cape Town was founded as recently as 2012. We caught up with the Business & Admin. Chair of the league Tamsyn Johannisen, aka Medusa Cruise, to find out more.

What is the Roller Derby scene like in the rest of the country?

If I understand correctly, Cape Town Rollergirls is a Roller Derby league that is made up of different teams. Can you tell us a bit about the teams and how many skaters are currently part of the league?

What kind of shift would that be?

Our current league membership is just under 50 members across 4 skills levels. Each skater starts off as Fresh Meat, progresses to Rookie, then to level B and finally level A. Once skaters reach level B they become eligible to be placed on one of our 3 home teams known as the Rev’ettes, the Storm Riders and the Scrim Reapers. Our All-Star team is known as the Iron Meisies.

There are currently 3 active leagues including Golden City Rollers (Johannesburg), Durban Derby (Durban) and Cape Town Rollergirls. It’s actually an interesting time for you to be doing this interview as Roller Derby is undergoing a pretty major shift across the country. I think you could look at it as growing pains.

When it first started in South Africa there was a massive surge in numbers, more for the punk rock culture and the idea of being athletes with a difference. Over time the sport has become recognized in the sporting industry with the formation and implementation of WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association) standards. Expectations and commitment from skaters have put strain on the numbers with some skaters admitting that they want derby to be “fun” again. Derby is still about the joy and empowerment but in order for us to compete on an international level we need to up our skill and dedication.

HIGH FIVES Daft Punk

Peaches

Ram Jam

The Prodigy

AC/DC

Discovery

Impeach My Bush

Ram Jam

The Day Is My Enemy

The Razors Edge

2001

2006

1977

2015

1990

Virgin

Epic Records

Warner Bros

Atco Records

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How often are you guys having Roller Derby events and competitions? We have approximately 12 events throughout the year, sometimes more depending on opportunities to collaborate or promote the league in more social events such as The Cape Town Motor Show. We have something called Friday Night Derby which is usually themed and can be quite cheesy but this is more about having fun and allowing newer skaters to gain their confidence. At the end of the year we have what’s called Home Season where the 3 home teams compete against each other across four games until one team is awarded the winning title in the form of The Golden Boot trophy. Are any teams travelling overseas to compete? Yes! There is an international Roller Derby World Cup where countries from across the world send their Derby finest to represent. Our international team is Team ZA (recognizable by the lion logo) and is comprised of the top skaters from South Africa’s active leagues. 52

National Derby Fest is the annual gathering of competing teams from across SA to play against each other for the national title. Each year a different city hosts the Fest and the build-up to the day starts from about the middle of the year. It’s one of the biggest dates on our calendar and this year it will be taking place on the 17th of November in Cape Town at the Sunningdale Sports Complex.

further broken down into short segments called Jams. One jam lasts 2 minutes and can be shorter when a Lead Jammer calls off the jam. Each team fields 5 skaters per jam. Four of these skaters are called Blockers and one is called the Jammer. The Jammer is the point scorer and will break through the opposing blockers to score points legally by getting past their hips every time she laps them on the track. The blockers’ objective is to hold the opposing Jammer back while letting their own Jammer through. The game is very rules-heavy and many penalties can be called on illegal contact, so you definitely can’t punch or clothes-line anyone. Skaters train hard and long to hone their foot work, agility, stamina and strength to be able to receive and give powerful hits using legal blocking techniques. The sport may be entertaining to watch but it is played by women who are truly working hard to become Roller Derby athletes.

Please give us a brief run-down of how the Roller Derby game works.

How often do you guys practice and what would a typical practice entail?

A roller derby game is called a Bout. It has two halves called Period 1 and Period 2. The periods are then

Practice takes place twice a week for all skill levels and a normal practice comprises of timed laps for

This year Team ZA flew off to Manchester and played against some of the biggest names in the Derby sphere. During the WC we usually have gatherings at various league members’ houses to live-stream these games and the running commentary on our various social media is often where the love of the sport truly shows itself. What is National Derby Fest?

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Fresh Meat and Rookies to wall formations, footwork, agility, stamina and strategy for the higher skill levels. Coaches always try to bring new drills to the league and this is quite an interesting aspect of Roller Derby because every trick in the book hasn’t been tried and tested yet. There are constant updates on rules and strategy and the sport allows for very “creative” tactics. To an outsider, Roller Derby seems fairly aggressive. I feel that there is a place in the female make-up for a balance. I think that society generally wants to put females in one box or the other. What are your thoughts on these ideas, in light of what you’ve experienced through Roller Derby? I think that the naturally competitive nature of women is overlooked for the simple reason that it is only truly noticed in scenarios where the objective is to be competitive. Competition is as natural to women as it is to men and now we’ve got a space where we can compete on an intensely physically level. Gender expectations are shifting and many female stereotypes are fading. Roller Derby is is quite a left-field sort of thing, with the quirky names and outfits. There also seems to be quite a strong sense of team and sisterhood that could really have a powerfully positive effect on someone who generally feels like an outsider in their lives. The names and personas are an important aspect of the sport because of their transformative ability. Some skaters step onto the track knowing who they are and others find the strong athlete within them on a journey to give an identity to the Derby name. This persona is an extension of who they are. Many of our skaters admit to never being the sporty type but also recognize in themselves a desire to embrace their strength and physicality. Because of the structure and strategy of the game there is no “typical build” or “physical type” and this opens up the game to every woman. Some skaters are there for the love of the sport while others stay for the love of the community and the “gees”. There are the intense highs of success and the intense lows of the failures, not to mention the physical pain that comes with it. Would you say that you’ve seen special bonds and friendships form in your teams through Roller Derby? Definitely! Some skaters would die by their team with their bond being built on their joint experiences as a team. And when the friendships become

quite close skaters will often become what is known as derby wives. This is quite a nuanced tradition and with the sport becoming more focused on the athleticism as opposed to the culture, a lot of these nuances are falling away. But these friendships still blossom and are strengthened by enduring injuries, comparing bruises, telling each other when their gear smells bad, encouraging each other on track and sometimes even playing as opponents. Do you guys get a lot of girls who come and go? tryING it out because they like to skate and they want to get fit and be a part of a team, but then the physical contact ends up being too much for them? There is a special kind of tenacity that long-time skaters have. Many women come and go for numerous reasons. With Sunningdale being our only practice space, distance can sometimes become a discouraging factor. Psychological strength often outweighs physical strength. Knowing your capabilities and limits is what allows many of us to discover what type of tactics and skills work best for us. It’s a tough sport, not because of the physicality but because of the emotional effort it takes to keep telling yourself to get up and push onwards. In Roller Derby there seems to be lots of falling and bumping that require a person to roll with the punches. Do you think that these experiences carry over into people’s lives and give them a confidence and resilience in the world that they might not have had if they hadn’t experienced these things physically? So many skaters have said that Roller Derby changed them outside of the sport. There’s a smug confidence that comes with sitting at work knowing that you managed to “bliksem” somebody (legally) while your colleagues may not know about the fierce person you are. Roller Derby also puts you in the position of having to make yourself heard in order for the team to work. That in itself is empowering. You start to realize just how capable you are once you start breaking down those personal limitations. “By the skaters, for the skaters” is a Roller Derby ethos that is championed by the Cape Town Rollergirls. Why is this DIY philosophy so important to you guys? This ethos is how Roller Derby as a contact sport started. Imagine a group of women with the drive to get a relatively unknown sport off the ground. The only people who could rally sufficient women THE LAKE

to manage, market, coach and run a functioning league were the skaters themselves. Our league is one of hundreds around the world that believes that the best way this sport can be for the skater is when it is operated by the skater. Roller Derby is a female-dominated sport. One of the few, if not only, full-contact sports that is female-dominated. Is it liberating being able to exist in your own world without having to face any comparison to standards set by men? It is liberating when your destiny is not constantly affected by a specific group. But Roller Derby is different in that male skaters are not held to a female standard the same way female soccer players are held to male standards. This is another way in which Roller Derby challenges the status quo in the sporting world. There has been a huge amount of progress made for woman of late; especially this year, it feels like woman are being empowered more than ever. Have you seen a growth in interest? The sport is different and it is entertaining to watch. Skaters are often seen as these badass women who are kicking ass and taking names and it just takes that split second where you think to yourself, “I want to be like that. I could actually do this.”Women are more empowered. Our capabilities are being hindered less and less. So yes, more women feel like they’re absolutely brave enough to do something they didn’t think they would be able to do. On a very practical level, where are people able to buy roller skates? Is there a local supplier or do they have to be imported? Ok, before anybody is thinking of buying skate, please reach out to people who already have skates or consider renting skates to get a better idea of what is comfortable, safe and healthy for you. There is nothing worse than buying the most expensive set of skates just to realize they are completely wrong for you, or buying affordable skates that are completely wrong for the game. But once someone feels ready to invest in skates they have the option of buying from Mel’s Skate shop (online/ Joburg) and Origin Skates (online/Joburg). Definitely have a look on the Facebook group called Roller Derby Recyclables where you are guaranteed to find someone trying to find a new home for their barely used gear. INFO: www.capetownrollergirls.com. 53

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> WORDS - Sean O’Toole

PHOTOGRAPHY - JACO S VENTER

ZANDER BLOM Portrait of a Rock ‘n Roll Painter A couple of years ago, around the time he was making new work for his 2014 exhibition New Paintings at Stevenson, artist Zander Blom self-released another of his weirdo albums. Titled DrukDit, which loosely translated from Afrikaans is a mantra constipated people use while on the toilet, the album forms part of a wild discography of primal rock ‘n roll. Well, mostly. Blom, who grew up in Pretoria, announced himself as a musician in 2007 with an album of oblique bedroom electronics. Its scratchy edges and improvised melodies were on a par with his early blackand-white graphics. But it is the rock idiom where this inventive artist’s modernist-infused brand of tropical gothic is most at home. Among the tracks on Druk Dit, a feedback-rich album in the stripped-down style of the White Stripes, is a song titled Kuns Moffie. “I am an art fag,” sings Blom in a mix of English and Afrikaans. The song is both a provocation and a manifesto. In it Blom imagines himself as a Pretoria bro confronting an artist, the titular art fag: he shouts his plans to teach this artist a lesson by peeing on him. At the same time, in the same voice, Blom offers an unrepentant defence of who he is: he is an art fag, someone who makes small sculptures and paintings. At one point in the song Blom gets shamelessly biographical: “My mom cries the whole day long/ And my dad says, dear Jesus, God, what the fuck is going on with this child of ours/ He’s an art fag.” Remember, though, this is art. Even the most ruthlessly biographical songs are muddied versions of the truth. Take Beyoncé, who said she was drunk in love even though Jay-Z was feeling it with someone else. So how close to the truth are Blom’s lyrics? In an interview with Sinazo Chiya appearing in the new book Nine More Weeks, Blom discusses his family background. He is disarmingly honest.

Papa Blom, however, was not an inflexible rod. He allowed his son to attend Pro Arte Alphen Park, a high school focused specifically on the arts. Painter Jan-Henri Booyens, with whom Blom would later collaborate on the satirical artist collective Avant Car Guard, was a few years ahead. At school Blom was a friend of painter Lionel Smit, even exhibiting with him before dropping out of his graphic design studies and moving to Johannesburg. “Two years into the course I realised I did not aspire to drive an Audi and have a nice flat in Killarney,” says Blom. Instead he moved into a room in a friend’s house in Brixton, Johannesburg, and “started making stuff”. In July 2006, he presented Sounds and Pictures, his debut solo exhibition at the Premises, a now-defunct gallery in Braamfontein. It comprised monochromatic graphics and electronic sound works. The promotion for the exhibition included a black and white poster of Blom photographed by Liam Lynch. The photo was taken at night and shows Blom, back facing the camera, left foot balancing on a tree stump, teetering, about to fall. Appearing beneath

the photograph is the caption: “The Painter of Space Hurls Himself into the Void.” It is a jokey re-enactment of French judo expert and painter Yves Klein’s infamous Leap into the Void (1960), a black and white photograph depicting the artist diving off a suburban wall. Blom’s poster foretold the future. He is now celebrated for his abstract paintings.As a painter Blom is best understood as a pathologist. His paintings, which have explored various forms of abstraction, are autopsies of the dead body of European modernism. Recently he has begun making figure-based paintings. These Frankenstein pictures are composites of works by famous dead painters. In a way, Blom’s move from bedroom electronics, an abstract and immersive form, to narrative-based rock ‘n roll (including a musical collaboration with writer and artist Jaco van Schalkwyk) predicted this shift. In 2014, around the time of his painting exhibition at Stevenson, Blom released the album Jou Artist Statement is ‘n Klomp Kak (Your Artist Statement is a Pile of Crap). It featured a song of the same name. In it Blom

HIGH FIVES Airy Melody

Roger Payne

Stress Reduction for Driving

Songs of the Humpback Whale

Charles M. Bogert

Anton LaVey

Funsters

The Satanic Mass

Music from the Big Top

2016

1970

Airy Melody Music

CRM Records

1998

1968

2015

Smithsonian Folkways

Murgenstrumm

Megatrax Music

Sounds Of North American Frogs

“My father came from quite bad poverty,” he explains. “His parents were both blind, and they had five blind children. They are from Ventersdorp, which is an arch-conservative little town in the middle of nowhere. His father was a piano tuner. For someone from that kind of background it was unimaginable to let their kids study art.” THE LAKE

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“Let’s start with the computer. As I’m typing this, a two-hour free-form music session from earlier tonight is rendering out just behind this window on the screen. On the screen I see purple, green, orange, light-blue, grey and red-brown bars of sound in layers. In the last week I have noticed a similarity between some of the marks on canvas and the arrangements of the recorded sounds. The white bright screen and the various open windows may also correspond with some of the crude white rectangles I’ve been painting”.

Statement is ‘n Klomp Kak (Your Artist Statement is a Pile of Crap). It featured a song of the same name. In it Blom skewered the ridiculous language of the exhibition press. Mockery of the art world’s norms doesn’t mean Blom is exempt from them. His 2014 show included an artist statement. In it he wrote about the Siamese bond between music and painting. “Let’s start with the computer. As I’m typing this, a two-hour free-form music session from earlier tonight is rendering out just behind this window on the screen. On the screen I see purple, green, orange, light-blue, grey and red-brown bars of sound in layers. In the last week I have noticed a similarity between some of the marks on canvas and the arrangements of the recorded sounds. The white bright screen and the various open windows may also correspond with some of the crude white rectangles I’ve been painting”. But this is all really just a preamble. Over the past year I’ve been hanging out at Blom’s Cape Town studio a lot. We didn’t talk about any of the stuff I’ve 58

written about here. Instead we made music. Every other Friday night, we would go into his music room overlooking Hope Street Park and jam. A fraction of the noise we made as The Bad Reviews appears on Blom’s first official musical release, Eina!, published by Bad Paper. Is it any good? That’s not for me to presume. Let me rather say that for the past two decades I’ve been happily playing Tintin the Boy Reporter. It’s an okay shtick, but journalistic dispassion has its limits. Working with Blom on Eina! I got an unexpected insight into an artist I thought I knew, but really didn’t. Here’s a scoop: Blom is a diligent, even compulsive archivist. In another life he would have been a top forensic auditor. He’s also sincere, and remarkably studious, which might spoil how some prefer to think of him, as a rock ‘n roll painter. Here’s the kicker. There are painters aplenty. For many, painting is simply an occupation, a noble one to be sure, but still just a job. For Blom painting is something else, a romantic quest in which the unfulfilled journey is the thing. More than this, painting is also a philosophy. Everything flows THE LAKE

from painting for Blom, including his crazy music, which, for all its dissonance, is about the instinct he learnt as a painter. Trust the first mark. Embrace the off note.

PUBLISHED Zander Blom ALBUM 4 / Edition of 12* 2018 Bad PaPer Found Objects, Grease, Pencil, Oil Pastel, Acrylic paint, Cable Ties, USB drives. 34 MP4s / 31,5 x 31,5 x 2 cm

INFO: www.zanderblom.com INFO: www.stevenson.info INFO: www.badpaper.co.za INFO: www.zanderblom.bandcamp.com/releases

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UNITE Daily Paper

Daily Paperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is an ode to the young black riders of the Namaqua, to the ever curious borderless spirit of a true pioneer, their work celebrates those who are not and who were never celebrated in media and beyond - the black cowboys that never graced our screens as heroic figure. In the vastness of the red, rolling hills, the lifestyle & streetwear label wanted to capture the spirit of a modern day explorer, a true pioneer. The essence of what it is to inhabit a new landscape, a space devoid of obstacles, context and the complexities of society - a new world with infinite possibilities. An alien land where the sense of freedom and hope is almost tangible. A place that promises to be home. Daily Paper see the importance of giving a platform to the voices of this new generation, of connecting the people so that we may all contribute to creating the ultimate collective.

Photography, direction and casting: Gabrielle Kannemeyer (@gabriellekannemeyer) / Art Direction, Casting and Styling: Berivan Cemal Dalgali (@beridalgali) Hair, make up: Neveen Scello (@neveenscello) / Wardrobe assistant: Yonela Makoba (@yonela_makoba) ModelS: Calis Nyarko @calis nCarla Fonseca @carluxa_fonseca / @batukmusica / Siya Andi Biyela @siyaandibiyela /Toyin @thetoyin17 / Azah Mhlana @azah_mhlana Anyon Asola @anyonasola / Tatenda Wekwatenzi @wekwatenzi / Kimberleigh Venty @kimberleigh_venty Litha Magawu @lithamagawu / Nangamso Fonk @victim_the_artist THE LAKE

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> WORDS - FRANTZ BIRKHOLTZ

PHOTOGRAPHY - FRANTZ BIRKHOLTZ PHOTOGRAPHY LIVE - Henry Engelbrecht

MOTH TO A FLAME the moths

“We never expected it to go anywhere. We’re an instrumental band. There’s no message or political agenda here. No feeling of belonging or being part of a scene or shit. There are no lyrics driving it. It’s a very primal response to what’s being pushed through. We feel good about our music and love doing it. If you’re feeling good about what we are playing then we’re doing our fucking jobs right, right?”

A brief history of surf music for those not informed. Surf music is a sub-genre of rock ‘n roll inspired by the surf culture of California and was especially popular in the early 60s. The sound is supposed to evoke the surf scene and imitate the beats and rhythm of the ocean and breaking waves. It has since grown over the years and spread throughout the world. However, it has never reached major mainstream status. There has been somewhat of a rebirth in South Africa over the past couple of years but there is one band (in this genre) that stands out like dog’s balls. They’ve been going for over 8 years. Ladies and germs, meet The Moths. These charming lads don’t surf, heck they don’t even live on the coast. This trio (separately) comes from a background ranging from punk rock, thrash, and metal to rockabilly. Despite coming all the way from inland, Johannesburg, The Moths has dominated the instrumental surf music scene in South Africa. An Italian radio station has described their style as “power surf” which they have since coined and owned up to. Introducing Chris Corbett (bassist), Cale Waddacor (drummer) and Christopher Bolton (guitarist), I would describe their band as a rare beast on the Johannesburg underground scene. They are able to play with any band and have opened for major (and not so major) bands way out of their genre. Even metal bands have asked them to open for them. Despite the fact that they have no vocals, which is rather taboo and still frowned upon by some people, they have changed the perspective of masses and know how to get crowds hot and bothered and create an atmosphere where crowds get down and dirty. For an instrumental band this is rather beautiful to behold. I have not

witnessed many instrumental surf bands whose energy could bleed into the crowd like a bat out of hell and generate a mosh pit of such magnitude. They’ve stuck to their guns and made surf rock their own. I would also add the adjective groundbreaking to these three upstanding young gentlemen, they who have such alluring passion burning inside them. Surf music is still a niche genre. Despite it all The Moths has played in just about every major festival in South Africa. They’re not signed with any record labels. They have been, and still are, raising this beautiful baby bastard on their own. Without trying too hard, selling out or concentrating on marketing themselves, they still won the hearts of people around South Africa. For them it’s solely about the music, their friendship and enjoying the process. The rest came organically. Most recently they combined forces with another instrumental band, The Thirty Eights (Cape Town). In conjunction with the record label, Now Now Just Now, they launched a heavenly 7” split vinyl which you can order online.

Music can unite us and doesn’t necessarily need some profound meaning. It doesn’t have to carry the weight of a powerful message. It doesn’t have to speak a single word. The Moths proved that. They proved that instrumental music can bring large crowds of people together. To make people move. Forget about their problems for a brief period of time and, you know, just enjoy the music. They proved that with instrumental music alone they could break into the music industry and make beautiful waves. They broke the barrier. They’re surfing that wave. Surf rock prevails! If you had the pleasure of meeting these boys you would very quickly learn they’re the most charming, sincere gentlemen. Beautiful to the bone. honest and honourable. I like to call them South Africa’s sweethearts. My sweethearts. INFO: www.facebook.com/themothssurf INFO: www.instagram.com/themothssurf INFO: www.themothssurf.bandcamp.com INFO: www.nownowjustnow.com

HIGH FIVES Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

dick dale and his del-tones

El Ray

The Meteors

Highwave to Hell

Psychobilly

1980

1963

2007

2003

Cherry Red Records

1990

Capitol

Green Cookie Records

People Like You Records

Dojo Records

King of the Surf Guitar

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Laika and the Cosmonauts Surfs You Right

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DISCOGRAPHY the moths Beware of The Moths

2014

the moths Evil, Vile, Live

2015

the moths To Hell with The Moths

2016

The Moths Lightning Coyote / Tornado

2018

** All their music is for FREE download, and available on all major streaming platforms (Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play, Spotify, etc.) THE LAKE

THE LAKE

> WORDS - lady venom

PHOTOGRAPHY - oliver kruger

WAX JUNKIE lady venom When I had (barely) finished high school I started a business, sourcing kung fu movies that were sampled by WuTang, and selling them to hip-hop shops. That’s where I got my DJ name from actually, a kung fu movie called the 5 Lady Venoms. DJs only used vinyl at that time so they all had some dusty space that smelled like sweaty feet housing all their vinyl and gear. I spent a lot of time in those stinky sound caves, they became some of my favorite places on Earth and inside them I learned so much about music. I started collecting and then inevitably had to start DJing in order to fund my little collecting problem. Stevie Wonder Innervisions 1973/ TAMLA

Black Sabbath Paranoid 1970 / VERTIGO

This album was the first time I really got to absorb Stevie’s genius, the artwork, the lyrics, the arrangements, and the sheer level of what the actual fuck playing of all the instruments… I realized with this album that Stevie is not of this world. He’s just here for the pussy.

Nobody screams at the patriarchy like Ozzie does. This album was recorded at a time when his vocal chords were thick and juicy, before they were shriveled by years of saying stupid things out loud to nobody. The anomaly track, “Planet Caravan” is a gorgeous, soulful song that completely contradicts everything else on the album, including the guy on the cover (what is he up to?).

SADE Promise 1985 / CBS RECORDS

Outkast Aquemini 1998 / LAFACE RECORDS

Sade is from the same planet as Stevie. There is no voice like her voice. The story of The Little Mermaid was written about her and at the height of the cold war she was held captive in a soundproof underground lounge by the US Military lest her voice reveal to Gorbachev that everything is fine and why don’t we all just sway gently and ponder love. True facts.

Start. To. Finish. This album is profound. It feels like the magic between these two is fully realized here and I have spent many ADD thought wanders wondering at what the vibe in the studio must have been like. It’s the type of album on which you can listen to the lyrics without fear of them reducing your IQ. “Liberation” in the headphones is the closest this witch gets to praising Jesus.

A Tribe Called Quest People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm 1990 / JIVE RECORDS

Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall reinterpreted by Prince

Bonita Applebum was the very first song I heard at my very first house party with turntables. I had to ask the DJ 37 times what the name of the group was – “A What Called Who Now?!”. He eventually wrote it down for me so that I would go away. At the very moment you are reading this, hip-hop “heads” (read: nerds) are arguing whether or not this was the album that initiated the Golden Era. THE LAKE

This album does not exist because if ever Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Prince found themselves in the same place, a Bermuda Triangle would open up between them and everyone else would fall in. For the safety of mankind they were kept apart (the beef between MJ and Prince was a conspiracy created to hide the unfortunate truth).

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Tomb Tattoo Nicholas Mudskipper “I would say technically my style would be classed as American Traditional tattooing. I love bold lines and strong color, or all in black with bold lines. A tattoo should look strong and stand out for the rest of its journey on the person’s body.” Exploring some of Cape Town’s best tattoo artists who have been inspired by the legendary tattooist Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins and the rum that carries his name Sailor Jerry Rum.

Why and how did you become a tattoo artist? I’ve always been enchanted by people with tattoos, the way people have always marked their bodies and how they wear their stories on them. I’ve always wanted to tattoo, to be able to travel and learn about the world, and have the honour of people wearing my art on themselves. What do you most enjoy about the work? I love being in my tattoo shop; it’s my environment and is filled with art from all over the world, walls covered in various tattoo flash. To be able to tattoo my designs on people and to see how stoked they are to carry the tattoo on themselves proudly. What is your personal style of tattooing? I would say technically my style would be classed as

American Traditional tattooing. I love bold lines and strong color, or all in black with bold lines. A tattoo should look strong and stand out for the rest of its journey on the person’s body. What specific trends have you seen happening in the Cape Town tattooing scene? Mandalas, sacred geometry, handpokes, minimalist line drawings, pintrest classics...... Does Cape Town have a particular style of tattoo artistry? If so, please describe it. Cape Town is a very trendy city and trends roll in and out all the time. A serious collector knows what they want, from style to placement. Cape Town, being a port city, has a strong history of American traditional tattooing. Cape Town has fallen in love with Mandalas, ornamental eastern designs and saTHE LAKE

cred geometry. Traditional tattoos will always look stronger and last longer - as the saying goes, bold will hold! How did Norman Sailor Jerry Collins influence your personal style? His strong designs, his eastern influences, bold lines, bright colors and tough elements! Which of his iconic designs is your personal favourite and why? I’d have to say his classic skull and snake designs, those have always been my favourite to see and also to tattoo.

INFO: @nicholasmudskipper INFO: @tomb_tattoo 75

PRINT RUN REVIEWS - XAVIER NAGEL

SUPPLIED BY - BIBLIOPHILIA

Zanele Muholi

skim

Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness (R1770) is the long-awaited monograph from one of the most powerful visual activists of our time, featuring over ninety of Muholi’s evocative self-portraits that reflect the journey, self-image and possibilities of a black woman in today’s global society. A powerfully arresting collection of work, Muholi’s radical statements of identity, race and resistance are a direct response to contemporary and historical racisms. With more than twenty written contributions from curators, poets and authors, alongside luxurious tritone reproductions of Muholi’s images, this book is as much a manifesto of resistance as it is an autobiographical and artistic statement.

skim is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls’ school in the early ‘90s. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself — possibly because he’s (maybe) gay — the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It’s a weird time to fall in love, but that’s what happens to Skim when she starts meeting secretly with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. Suicide, depression, love, homosexuality, crushes, cliques of popular, manipulative peers — the whole gamut of teen life is explored in Skim (R250) by Mariko Tamaki.

YOU HAVE TO BE GAY TO KNOW GOD

Hostage

“At about 5:20 pm on 31 December 2012, a colleague picked a steak knife from a cutlery tray. He yelled, ‘Angi-gay, mina!’ — I’m not gay! — and came at me with it.” Siya Khumalo grew up in a Durban township where one sermon could whip up a lynch mob against those considered different. Drawing on personal experience - his childhood, life in the army, attending church, and competing in pageants - Khumalo explores being LGBTQI+ in South Africa today. In YOU HAVE TO BE GAY TO KNOW GOD(R255), he takes us on a daring journey, exposing the interrelatedness of religion, politics and sex as the expectations of African cultures mingle with greed and colonial religion.

In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle recounts André’s harrowing experience in HOSTAGE (R365), a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation. Thoughtful, intense and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest moments.

wtf

SEA CHANGE

Only Zapiro can truly capture the craziness and the seriousness of state capture and the Zuma years. WTF (R295) is the award-winning and best-selling cartoonist’s definitive, unique and superbly funny record of this rollercoaster time in our history, in words and more than 400 brilliant cartoons. Zapiro first drew a showerhead on Zuma in 2006 as a comment on his preposterous evidence during his rape trial that he took a shower after sex to reduce the chance of getting AIDS. That showerhead image stuck in the public imagination, and in Zapiro’s cartoons, and has become a nationally known symbol of the former president

SEA CHANGE (R850) takes you on an evocative journey into the secret life of an almost unknown ecosystem; the beautiful kelp forest of Southern Africa. Craig Foster and Ross Frylink spent eight years exploring this sea forest together, diving almost every day. This is the story of what they found in the wild, and how it has transformed their lives.The book contains the most extensive collection of sea forest photography ever published, curated from a library of over 200 000 images. New species were discovered, and many amazing animal behaviours were photographed for the first time.

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PLIMSOLL

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ADIDAS - NMD R1 STLT Parley PK blue spirit / ftwr white / GREY ONE F17 male

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ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 W vapour green / vapour green / GREY ONE F17 female

ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 trace cargo / trace cargo / core black male

ADIDAS - YUNG-96 ftwr white / ftwr white / crystal white male

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PAlLADIUM Hi PLFOX TX U BOOTS - male Earth Red / String

PAlLADIUM PLPhoenix M C U - male Olive Night / Beluga

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PAlLADIUM Axeon Lace - woman Micro Chip / Micro Chip

PAlLADIUM Axeon Lace - woman Rose Dust / Rose Dust

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ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 W ftwr white / ftwr white / core black female

ADIDAS - YUNG-96 clear brown / off white / solar green male

PAlLADIUM SUB EXPL SNOW boots - woman Olive Night / Vetiver / Fawn

WE ARE FOOLISHLY Ambitious

www.thelake.co Photo: Jacqui van Staden

SURFED OUT SURFED OUT COLLECTION BY HURLEY

Hurley, the brand born from water, brings you the Surfed Out Collection. This collection consists of headwear, T-shirts, 4-way stretch boardshorts and women’s swimwear. It’s made for the ones who never wanted a clear board and an all-black wetsuit.