De Wallen takes its name from the infamous red light district in Amsterdam (famous for that whole sex, drugs and rock & roll thang). Their music is influenced by a huge variety of genres and they incorporate it all to form their signature sound. Their tunes are fast-paced, dirty and loud as hell. They are also quickly gaining a reputation for their energetic live shows that leave you feeling rocked out and craving more rock ‘n roll.
De Wallen hail from Stellenbosch in the Western Cape and the band’s members are Pieter Bekker (on guitar), Thomas Knoesen (on guitar), Ashley Hilton Jacobs (on bass), Dawid Bosman (on drums) and Jeandré Swanepoel (on vocals). I saw their set at Oppikoppi this year and I have to admit that I was blown away by their energy.
I recently had a quick chat to Pieter from De Wallen, this is what he had to say:
You are currently touring Gauteng, what can audiences expect at your shows?
This is a hard question to answer as we don’t always know what to expect ourselves. Some crazy shit has gone down at our shows. What we can say is that people can expect to have a fucking ball of a time. We highly recommend that you leave your morals and inhibitions at home. We like it that way…
Besides the tour, what are you currently working on?
We are working on a new single called “Loveless”, which we’re also planning a music video for. We are really excited about this song. We can’t wait to see people’s reaction to this track. We are also planning on doing another tour to Joburg next year. We are aiming for some time around May, but we will keep people updated on developments.
If someone asks you to describe your musical style, what do you tell them?
Imagine a massive orgy inside a supermassive black hole made from meth. Now imagine the soundtrack to that and you’ve got it.
Who’s more rock ‘n roll? Gene Simmonds or Robert Plant and why?
Actually Lemmy Kilmister is more rock and roll. I mean, c’mon. Everything turned to 10? That’s as fucking rock ‘n roll as you’re gonna get. Also, some dumbass from a Motorhead tribute band tried to live like Lemmy. He didn’t even last a month. His band is called Soberhead now, in memory of him. Tell me something that’s more rock ‘n roll than that?
If you could colab with an SA artist / band that you have not worked with before, who would that be an why?
Juanita du Plessis’s daughter. We saw on the cover of Huisgenoot that she doesn’t want to ride on her mother’s name, but ours is free to ride. We think a colab cover of Motörhead’s Jailbait would sound killer, don’t you?
I’d like to thank Pieter and De Wallen for this interview and I wish them all of them best with their future musical endeavors. Catch them live at The Good Luck Bar in Johannesburg on the 30th of September and at Aandklas Hatfield on the 1st of October.
Check out their Live Music Video for their song “What If” below:
Watch this space for regular updates in the Music and Interviews categories on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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