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Van Coke Kartel are releasing their brand new album entitled Bloed, Sweet & Trane, an album that is pure rock ‘n roll and is also wilder than any of their previous albums. We caught up with Francois van Coke to chat about the new album, what SA music fans can expect from it and what it means to the band.
Give us some insight into your new album “Bloed, Sweet & Trane” and what can fans expect from it?
Bloed, sweet & trane is a rock album, but we wrote and recorded the songs over a long period of time so there is a lot of variety within the genre. There are elements of progressive rock, punk and metal influences on the album. It is definitely wilder than anything we have done in the past, looser structures, bigger drums, fills and guitar solos. We tried to capture the energy by jamming live in the studio and we tried to write songs the way we would like to play them live. Lyric wise it is very personal and introspective. The collection of songs made me realise that love, friendship and playing music make you a part of something even if you don’t mean all that much in the greater scheme of things.
How long have you been working in the new album?
About a year and a half.
What are some of the crazy memories you have during the making of the new album?
In studio nothing really crazy happens, but Theo Crous our producer had kidney stones while we were working on the album and ended up in hospital in the final weeks of mixing. He mixed some of the album while he was in serious pain.
What tracks do you think are going to be fan favourites?
Here man has worked really well in the live environment and we have only played two shows with the new material in the set. It is a great sing along. People already know Môregloed, cause we released a video for it a couple of weeks ago. So, those two are going down well so far.
What tracks mean the most to you and why?
Fuck, this is always a difficult one to answer. I wrote the lyrics and like I said it is pretty personal. Let’s go with In die agtergrond, Niemand is meer heilig nie & Môregloed about the lyrical content. Sweef, cause it is the heaviest and wildest song that we have done to date.
In 5 words, describe the new VCK album?
It’s just rock ‘n roll.
You are on a nationwide “Bloed, Sweet & Trane” tour to promote the album. What are you looking forward to most about this tour?
It is always exciting playing new songs live for the first time. That is why I started playing music, so that you can create songs and play it to your friends. Now we are just playing it to more people.
What new VCK aspects can fans expect on this tour?
I think our live show is pretty much the same, there won’t be any new pyrotechnics or twerking happening, we are adding 5 new songs to our set and that is probably a thing for fans to look forward too.
If we were a fly on the wall during your tour, what would we experience?
Absolute boredom during the day and a rock ‘n roll party every night!
Which city or venue do you think is going to rock the hardest when VCK comes to town?
Potch was our second show on the tour and it was insane. There was a big crowd and great energy. The stage was pretty shit, me and Wynand fell through the stage during the show. I guess that is part of the game and it makes for a memorable show. We love playing in Pretoria and are looking forward to Arcade Empire and Rhapsody’s in Centurion and obviously when we head home to Cape Town to play at Mercury. Also we are excited to play Live in Durban, just because it is such a great venue.
Are you going to be taking some chill time off after the tour or have you got gigs lined up during the festive season?
In November we are chilling a bit, but we will be playing here and there. Check out vancokekartel.co.za to see the dates and in December we will be touring again, up the garden route all the way to J-Bay on New Year’s Eve.
“Bloed, Sweet & Trane” tour details here.
Loooove the answer: It’s just rock ‘n roll…because that is what life is all about 🙂
Thanx for yet another awesome album chaps!!!
Saw them at RamFest earlier this year and they were phenomenal! Just as good as the international acts, if not better. Always worth seeing live if you have the chance. Can’t wait to hear the new album!
This albums sounds amazing, but, then again, what else would one expect from VCK? Hope to have this one in my music collection soon.
Just seem to be getting better and better.