For those of you who did not know, Willim Welsyn aka William Welfare is a South African Afrikaans rock singer/songwriter and podcaster originally from Ladismith in the Western Cape. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for the Afrikaans Rock band, Willim Welsyn en die Sunrise Toffies and as former photographer, features writer and podcast host for the South African Rolling Stone magazine.
After Rolling Stone South Africa magazine closed its doors in 2014, Welsyn started a weekly Afrikaans podcast show called ‘WAT Met Willim Welsyn’. Released on Thursdays, the show features interviews with fellow musicians and legendary South African artists, writers and comedians. Â On the 8th of April 2016, after releasing 51 episodes, WAT Met Willim Welsyn became the first Afrikaans podcast show to reach the number 1 position on iTunes South Africa’s podcast charts in the Performing Arts category.
To date Welsyn has released 1 EP and 6 studio albums (3 solo albums as Willim Welsyn, 1 as William Welfare and 2 with the Sunrise Toffies). I was particularly impressed by his English album, Shunt (which was released in 2014) and was pretty damn excited when he was announced for Oppikoppi this year.
I recently had a chat to Willim Welsyn about Oppikoppi and a few other things. This is what he had to say.
When you think of Oppikoppi, what comes to mind?
The most legendary music festival in South Africa that I’ve been longing to play at since I’ve been a teenager.
What have you been up to lately?
This past year I’ve been raising a child, grafting hard in my day job, playing gigs on weekends and interviewing artists, musicians, bands, actors, writers and comedians in my garage for my weekly podcast show. I’ve also been writing a lot of new songs.
What is the funniest thing you’ve experienced at a festival?
The first thing that comes to mind was this naked guy who gate crashed The Black Cat Bones’ set at Up The Creek 2012. Luckily I filmed it, check it out below:
What do you think of the current state of SA Music?
I don’t know. What do YOU think of the current state of SA Music?
What can audiences expect from your set at Oppikoppi this year?
They can expect a carefully curated, high-energy rock ‘n roll set with a few English songs off my latest album Shunt, a lot of songs from Smeer Die Weerlig, a few old songs from the Willim Welsyn en die Sunrise Toffies’ back catalogue and two fresh songs that was written about two weeks ago.
I’d like to thank Willim Welsyn for this interview and I wish him all of the best with his set at Oppikoppi this year. I’m making a knot in my ear so I’ll remember to check out his set this year and you should too.
General Admission tickets for Oppikoppi cost R850. Get yours now or you’ll be paying R950 for a late ticket.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Music and Interviews categories on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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