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When it comes to South African Music and the Melodic Hardcore side of things Truth And Its Burden are a band to be reckoned with. Fresh off their American Tour we interview the band about their travels, gigs, parties and what’s in store for 2013. Check it out:
Band Name: Truth And Its Burden
Band Members: Ashley De Beer, Calvin Clayden, Niekie Van Niekerk, Matthew Sletcher
Band Members instruments of choice: Ashley De Beer – Vocals, Calvin Clayden – Guitar, Niekie Van Niekerk – Bass, Matthew Sletcher – Drums
Hometown: Springs, Fourways, Potch & Fourways.
Years playing: +/-5 Years
Party tricks: Changing tyres on the side of the highway while on tour.
How did you guys start Truth and its Burden and what was the driving force behind it?
Simple, we wanted to start a band that would release albums and tour, have a message that has substance and experience great things along the way, learn about ourselves and meet some amazing people on tours and such. Pretty much living out your dreams.
Are you still the original members or have there been changes through the years?
We have dealt with our fair share of line-up changes throughout the years, changed drummers twice and bassists three times and lost our second guitarist early on.
You are currently missing a drummer and using a fill in drummer. How does that effect the band and are you looking for a new permanent drummer?
Yeah, Matthew is filling in for us for now, he is from Red Helen and he’s a ripper behind the kit, not to mention a really nice well rounded lad with a good work ethic. It’s a weird thing to change drummers like this, any member for that matter, we did part of our US tour recently with a fill in drummer and it changes the sound a great deal, it takes a couple shows to get your feel and sound right, but yeah once everyone is settled, its back to grinding haha. Strange to say this, but I kinda feel it’s a good thing to have been placed in such predicaments, its taught us how to deal with things along the touring road, and make things happen. It’s a great feeling to be able to keep the ship afloat when everyone thinks its sinking, if that makes sense at all?
What are you looking for in your new drummer?
Haha, we’d like a guy who pretty much plays well, enjoys the idea of a dirty van and crud sleeping arrangements for long periods of time. Good work ethics are very key and naturally a nice person. It’s not easy been in confined spaces for long periods of time, and it helps when people all get along generally. We want to tour A LOT, so it’s something that really has to be part of the package.
2012 was a big year for you guys touring Europe and America. Tell us which was your favourite gig while playing over there and why?
There were definitely a couple, so here goes. Brutal Assault Festival in Czech Republic was insane, the whole vibe was killer, super professional in terms of planning and event management. Our show at this festival really broke the books for our best show, it was a massive audience, they called for encores and really it was just great sound, killer crowd response and in a place we never even thought about or a killer festival with an amazing line-up. In USA, we played a rad show in Idaho Falls, Idaho. This show was kinda normal in terms of so many things, but for some reason, the stars aligned and we just made sense to the audience in that moment, musically, visually and our message. We had an insane response to almost every single person at the show, it was pretty unreal and definitely rare. That was on a tour we were doing with a punk band called The Sheds, and honestly we had no idea punk kids would be into what we were doing, that show and pretty much that whole tour was really killer.
What city that you’ve toured has the craziest fans and the biggest parties?
Czech Republic at Brutal Assault festival, seriously just google that festival, that whole town was overrun by the festival. Flower shops had turned into overnight merch stalls and beer tents… The entire town was filled with crazy metal heads, in full uniform haha. Was rad to see and be a part of. We arrived at the festival at 7 in the morning and people were still drinking hard in the streets, and trust me beer aint the main deal in places like that, its Vodka and harder haha.
How did the foreigners react to your music?
Really well, we have definitely had a good response each time we played, whether in minority or majority. I really believe that people who attend our kinds of shows can see passion through the haze of generic stuff out there. Our vibe is sincere and I think people see that immediately and appreciate that a great deal.
How would you explain your music?
A positive outlook fuelled by melody and aggression.
You also toured America again in January this year. Tell us about that tour.
We toured with our label mates The Sheds, a great pop punk band. They helped us book the tour dates and really the tour came together beautifully. The shows were all well attended and the response was great. They were such a rad helpful bunch to be touring with. It’s definitely one of the best tours we have done. It ended off a 6 month touring run on a really high note that’s for sure.
Where in the world would you most like to play and at what venue/ festival?
We are definitely keen on working something out for Asia sometime, and Australia & New Zealand is a definite must for us. We gotta work out how that’s gonna piece itself together, but we would like to hook that up. Canada would be rad too, but visa laws and border control is unreal in that place, so we could battle a great deal as South Africans… mind you, Australia aint any easier is it haha. Australia has the Soundwave Festival which would really be amazing to do, who knows, maybe that opportunity comes our way.
Truth And Its Burden “The Decider” Official Music Video
You are planning on writing and recording a new album this year and recording a Music video in America at the end of the year. How is the progress of the new album coming along and what can fans expect from the new album?
With our current drummer situation and Ramfest a couple days away, we pretty much spent all our time working on gearing Matt for Ramfest. It’s been the focus. We are piecing riffs together slowly and I’m writing lyrics all the time basically. I think the album is going to be a very different album from previous efforts. We have had some life changing experiences both good and bad that we have all recently experienced; these are all things we will be factoring into the writing process. I know one thing, it’s going to be lyrically different from the other albums, angry but directed.
What tours are you planning international and locally during 2013?
Plans this year would definitely include a nationwide South African tour; and as you mentioned, we plan on heading to USA to record our album. Once we are done recording, we plan on doing 3/4 months of touring in USA as well which might carry us into 2014. Europe would be great too, but it all really depends on how quickly we can piece the new album together. This year’s work is certainly cut out for us.
