A Quick chat with Zebra & Giraffe

Great News! Zebra & Giraffe`s new EP “Slow Motion” was released on last week Friday. This amazing band is known as one of SA`s finest rock acts. They’ve won 2 SAMA’s and have more than 15 radio hits under their belt over the past 7 years.

The band’s passion to move beyond what they’re known for musically is evident in the unpredictability of each new release. If you want to find what they’ve got up their sleeve: the EP is now available for pre-order on iTunes, so make sure that you get your copy.

Two weeks ago Zebra & Giraffe released a brand new music video for the the first single off the EP, “It’s All The Same”. This song is already available for download on iTunes. The music video for the song is a collaboration by Director / DOP Trevor Calverly (who also shot the band’s “Sons” music video in 2013), visual artist and photographer Elsa Bleda and Zebra & Girafe lead singer Greg Carlin. The video was produced by Carlin and Alan Shenton for Hoodlum Music and stars actor Adam Heyns alongside Bleda. Additional scenes were shot and directed by Tristan Holmes. The video was edited and graded by Carlin.

The music video is truly a work of art, check it out below:

I have to say that this has to be one of the best SA Music Videos of 2015. It’s a pity that MK doesn’t exist as a music video channel anymore, because this would totally be on rotation, if it still did.

I recently had a chat with Alan Shenton of Zebra & Giraffe. We talked about their new EP, the state of SA Music and their new music video. This is what he had to say…

You recorded the new Zebra and Giraffe EP in San Fransisco, did you get a chance to sample the local music scene and what was your experience of it?

We unfortunately didn’t get much of a chance to check out the local scene. San Francisco is a big place, and we were predominantly in the studio for our entire duration there. We did however get to watch Steel Panther, at their residency at The House of Blues which is a really iconic venue in Hollywood. They’re the craziest band I have ever seen, incredibly funny, crude, disgusting and damn tight!

You recently played a show Arcade Empire’s Halloween party in glam rock outfits, what tips do you offer for bands / artists that think about doing this in the near future?

Haha, make sure it’s comfortable and that you can wear it for the whole show:) To be honest, we don’t ever do this…we’re quite set in our own stage style, and keep that theme going throughout tours. Halloween at Arcade is another kind of monster though, and we thought it’d be really fun.

After watching Steel Panther in LA, we thought we’d run with the 80’s Hair Metal theme! It could be very confusing to your first-time fans, but playing in Pretoria at one of our favourite venues with our strongest fan base – made it a lot of fun for everyone!

What was the biggest challenge you faced with creation of the music video for “It’s All the Same” ?

The greatest challenge of the video, was also it’s greatest strength… shooting on a train wasn’t easy for anyone involved. The spaces are confined, and the constant swaying is more hectic than you’d think.

All the crew, and actors had to sleep in the cabin on the way to Matjiesfontein as well as shoot a variety of different scenes before the end of the journey, all of which relied on the right natural light coming through the cabin windows. The movement, and natural light in the train ended up being one of my favourite elements of the video.

What are your thoughts on the current state of SA Music?

Describing the state of the SA Music scene is always a challenge. There are a number of factors at play, which make it slightly different than pretty much all other territories on earth. I feel like the best thing that could happen to SA Music would be for artists to seriously start breaking out of it.

That has nothing to do with an artist wanting to disown, or leave the territory but rather to expose the rest of the world to our musicians, whether they are particularly representative of the territory or not. At the end of the day, local artists touring and grinding overseas, will grow our industry exponentially and challenge the standards we’ve come to accept.

Can we expect a full album from Zebra and Giraffe in the near future, and if there’s one in the pipeline, how soon?

The truth is, we love to do full length albums… I love to listen to full length albums myself – I love the context they provide. People however, aren’t really consuming music in that way anymore. Streaming services have really challenged the way music was traditionally consumed & enjoyed, and nowadays huge emphasis is placed on bite size snippets of great content.

I like to think that after a while, the demand for longer form content will return (just as the demand for vinyl came back) and we’d definitely take it up… however for now, there will be no full length album from Zebra & Giraffe in the near future.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Zebra & Giraffe for taking time to answer my questions. I wish them all of the best with their future endeavors. You can catch them live at one of these venues in December:

• • 2nd December – Pop Art Theatre (Maboneng, JHB) Acoustic (with Ruby Gill)
  • 3rd December – Pop Art Theatre (Maboneng, JHB) Acoustic (with Ruby Gill)
  • 4th December – Rumours (West Rand, JHB)
  • 5th December – Sundowners (Alberton, JHB)

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music and Interviews category on Running Wolf’s Rant.

PS: Official Photoshoot photo by Keagan Kingsley Green.