Pambula Beach is a long way from Southern Africa and the mighty Kalahari desert, but we were making sounds in The Shed one day and decided that they were a bit on the African side. We liked that, so from there on we decided to stick with our interpretation of 'African', and name the song Kalahari (have a listen).
Perhaps part of the background to this is the fact that Graham has, since his early teens, been drawn to Latin and Afro Cuban rhythms, particularly the percussive sounds of congas and bongos. You see Graham has African roots and as a kid loved the raw energy of African music including as presented by bands like Santana and Osibisa. All good fodder for a song like Kalahari !!
Inspired, Graham bought his first set of congas when he was 16. Still has 'em !
Graham says "The mid 1970’s was a great time for music in Cape Town where I grew up. Weekends were spent jamming in local hotels and at outdoor concerts, and we used to hang at a surf break called Victoria Bay (half way between Cape Town and Jeffrey’s) ...….camping out on local farms with boards, bongos, guitars, harps and a commitment to having total fun. This was the era of Jethro Tull, Bowie, Hendrix, Audience, Yes, Steely Dan, Caravan, Rare Earth etc etc.
As you can hear, there is quite a bit going on in this song. There are layers (upon layers, upon layers) so this is far from the songs we often punch out 'live'.
We started with three grooves on the drum kit. Added bass lines. Threw in a dash of guitar here and there. Put down some percussion pieces. Spiced things up with some piano lines from our Fender Rhodes. Added some salty sax. A tad more guitar and various other instruments (including karimba, bouzouki, Hammond organ) via midi.
All in all we figure this might well be the most layered song to ever emerge from The PBGB Shed !!
It's been a while coming but we're pretty pleased with the result and hope it evokes Africa in the minds of listeners.
Neil Porter did all the production work and played guitar and keyboards
Graham Brown played the sax and percussion parts
Louise Nadin played the bass
Neil Burnham played the Fender Rhodes piano
Pete played the drums
