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Dans Dans Lisa is the acoustic/ folk/ pop answer to the South African Music scene. The band is releasing their brand new album called Pyl & Boog this week so we caught up with DDL and chatted to them about the new album, the band and the music. Check out what they had to say:
Tell us about Dans Dans Lisa and how the two of you from Straatligkinders and Glaskas came together to create this act?
DDL is an acoustic/ folk/ pop band, we started when we became friends at University. We both have always wanted to write music where you are limited by instruments. Its easy in rock music to rely on distorted guitars or drums to make a song pumping, but with acoustic music it’s a lot more interesting to create those moments. There was not an folk/ acoustic act in the Afrikaans scene when we started so we thought it would be cool to be one of the first, luckily the scene has grown a lot and you have bands like Spoegwolf and Gevoel van Veiligheid also on the up rise. DDL is all about having fun and getting our stories out and we are not trying to take over the music scene or change the world. We just want to bring our voice to the table.
How does the music differ from your other bands?
It’s a lot more stripped down. We only have 1 guitar, 1 piano and a kick drum and the mighty tambourine, so it’s a lot more “less is more” – we try to use our vocals/ harmonies to play a major role in our live shows. Our music is a lot more friendlier in a sense and I think an older generation might even like us, not just students and school kids.
What does it feel like changing over between the bands? Are there any pros and cons?
No it’s not a weird feeling or concept at all. There is plenty of room and space for both. We have the same fan base in a sense and you have those who only like 1 of our projects. Our country is small and you hit the roof very fast. It took Parlotones, Prime Circle and Fokofpolisiekar less than 10 years to hit the roof, meaning, you have played every festival 5 times, every club 9 times and every city 12 times. Then you can’t really go further or bigger than that, that is why everyone does side projects, because you start over, but with new music. It’s a way of surviving creatively and financially. You don’t see bands doing major side projects in other countries as much as we get them here, and that’s only because we are that small and you can only do so much here. So we see different projects as our children. Every child needs and deserves different kind of approach and attention so that you can raise them as hard working people. Haha, I hope that makes sense.
You are about to release your new album “Pyl & Boog”, how long have you been recording it for?
We actually recorded it the first week in December for 5 days in our house. (we also live together). We wrote and recorded everything in 5 days working through the nights pretty much. Francois de Klerk our producer moved his whole studio into our home. It was a great experience and everything came out as we planned it even though one would think 5 days is rushing it but we really made everything simple. 1 guitar track, 1 piano track, and then kick and tambourines and claps, and that’s it. We wanted to go for the raw stripped down approach, wanted to capture the human element with the new album.
What can fans expect from your new Album?
A lot of catchy sing along anthems, more knee slapping, toe tapping dance parts and stories you can relate to.
How does the new album differ from your first album?
This album is 27 times better than the previous one. The previous one we just came together and recorded, we didn’t think about the songs or think out a plan for the stories. We really made sure this time that each note and part fitted perfectly with what we are trying to do. The new album has got a kick drum and piano in it, where the previous one was just 2 guitars and a glockenspiel. We grew a lot as songwriters and we can really tell from each other’s songs that we really worked hard at learning to write better songs and stories.
How did you get the name of the album?
Its Afrikaans for “bow and arrow”. Its an ancient weapon but very revolutionary at its time. The bow is not effective without the arrow and vice versa. So with our songwriting we found that we really compliment each other’s songs and we bring awesome flavours to each other’s songs. So in a very deep philosophical metaphor you can say me and Deon are the bow and arrow. Haha cheesy, but kind of true.
What song took the longest to write and perfect?
To be honest we wrote and recorded it all in 5 days, so we gave each song about 4/5 hours to track and lay down. So they all got the same time and attention.
What is your ‘stand out’ song on the album?
I definitely think “Kom Ons Sing” – it’s our first music video and we got 12 000 views in 2 days and that never happened to us because acoustic music is so small and we don’t get a lot of radio attention, so it was very cool for us. It’s a strong folk song with a powerful story.
Dans Dans Lisa – Kom Ons Sing
How can fans get hold of the album?
It will be on iTunes and in all major music store outlets. Just search “the best band in the universe” then our album will pop up next to Bon Jovi’s latest album. Haha – yeah right.
What plans does Dans Dans Lisa have for 2013?
We’re planning a Western Cape tour this April from the 18th to go and do some PR stuff and make sure the Cape Town friends get their chance to sing along with us and hear our new songs first. Then we have a few other tours in the pipeline but all the info will be up on our Twitter and FB pages soon.
Follow Dans Dans Lisa of Facebook and Twitter and keep updated with their upcoming tours and gigs.
