The first annual Brochella Festival is set to take place at Rumours Rock City on 15 April. We caught up with Jasper Dan, one of the many bands performing at Brochella, to talk about the festival and more.
Give us some insight into the band and its members
Hey! We’re Jasper Dan and we’re a little band from Sundowner in Joburg. Jamie fronts the band and we have Daz on the guitars, Paul on the drums and Gerry on the bass.
How would you best explain your sound and genre?
I think we are best described as a Southern Rock band. We do have heavy influences from that genre which I think definitely comes through in our sound.
What have been some of your highlight performances?
We’d have to say our opening slot for Iron Maiden and The Raven Age at Carnival City in May 2016. The sheer magnitude of the event and the honour of the opportunity was just immense, but also because it was such a big learning curve for us as a band and as ourselves as individuals.
We launched our album, A Southern Fling, at Rumours Lounge in November 2016. We will never forget that night purely for the support we got from the people, the bands that played that night, Fred Otto and the Rumours team and all the sponsors. It was just an all-round awesome experience.
We’ve also been very fortunate to open for some really great South African acts recently. The highlights of these being Francois Van Coke in October 2016 and Jack Parow in April this year.
If you could play any show/ gig/ festival in the world, which would it be?
We had a little convo on this one and each member of the band had their own. Daz went for Crossroads, Gerry says he’d love to play Lollapalooza, Paul said Coachella and Glastonbury and Jamie went with The Simple Man Cruise and Download. The fact is that the major festivals are the pinnacle really.
We would love to play some of the local festivals too, particularly Rocking the Daisies, Joburg Day, Park Acoustics and Strab in Mozambique… and of course we really can’t wait for Brochella! Even though this is the first we see a huge future in Brochella and we are with the guys all the way.
Which local band would you like the opportunity to collaborate with?
Again we posed this question to the guys. Daz said Dan Patlansky, Gerry said Josie Field, Paul said he would like to collaborate with Jack Parow’s drummer Jade McKinon, Jamie also went with Dan Patlansky but said it would be awesome to collaborate with Jack Parow due to the differences in our genre’s. As a band we would love to collaborate with Prime Circle.
Where do you get your inspiration?
The inspiration for writing new songs can come from anywhere and it can come at anytime. We have songs that we have really laboured over and we also have songs that we’ve written in a few hours. Those moments when people really get into your music or you catch someone singing along are such a huge compliment to a musician and it drives you to keep going.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Brochella Festival?
Can’t wait! There’s been a big effort put in by all involved and I think it will show. I do see a great future for Brochella and I think the theme of the festival is awesome. Jasper Dan are committed to it and the guys have our full support. We’d want to be part of it for as long as it goes.
Which of the bands on the lineup are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?
We’re looking forward to seeing Lonehill Estate, it’s been a while since we’ve seen them. Also looking forward to seeing The Cosmic Strange, heard so much about them but haven’t managed to see them yet. The Ceramics are always great too.
What can fans expect from you at Brochella?
A bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
What would be your main reason not to miss Brochella?
Mike Pocock has promised me that there will be a margarita bar. We are going to call it “Jasper Dan’s Margaritaville”. It’s definitely going to be a huge highlight and a reason in itself not to miss Brochella [laughs]. High five Mike.
Any shout-outs?
A huge shout out as always to Grant Fouche and Fouche Custom Guitars for always looking after all our things with strings. Also to our continued support from our friends at Press Play Films, Petrol Clothing and Kustom Ink Tattoos.
Come join us on social media, Facebook at JasperDanSA, Instagram at Jasper_Dan_SA and Twitter @jasperdansa and please go get yourself a copy of our album – A Southern Fling.
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