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Best Afrikaans band in the universe?
Their name has an exclamation mark because they claim to be the best Afrikaans band in the universe. SABRINA DEAN finds out if there’s any truth to that statement
THEY may not look like your typical Afrikaners, but Francois Blom and Theo Crous from Kobus! have certainly managed to do delicious things with the “taal”.
They have just released their third album Swaarmetaal, and with Kobus!, there is one thing you can be sure of – they remain predictable in their unpredictability.
DRINKING-BUDDIES-TURNED-BAND
Blom and Crous say they started out as drinking buddies, and while discussing the state of Afrikaans music, realised that they didn’t listen to any of the offerings available in their mother tongue.
“We had a problem that none of us really listened to Afrikaans music,” says Blom, “and this led us to naturally make some-thing we could listen to ourselves, some-thing out of the ordinary purely for our own entertainment.”
And so Kobus! was born, from the slang name they used for each other.
SUITABLE LANGUAGE
The new album puts Kobus! on the map as the first band to do heavy (I mean real heavy) metal in Afrikaans.
Talking about the language, Blom says the harsh guttural sound of Afrikaans suits the genre. Crous agrees, saying, “The sound of the language works well with heavy metal.”
Another thing about Afrikaans is the special type of poetry possible with the language, and while Blom says it’s not about Afrikaans being better, his intelligent lyrics speak volumes.
“What I like about Francois’ lyrics is that he doesn’t use a lot of swearing unnecessarily, or blaspheme unnecessarily,” says Crous, giving full credit to Blom for the lyrical quality of the music.
OBSERVATIONS, NOT COMMENTARY
The titles and content of tracks like Witman and Doodstraf are likely to resonate in our current society, but Blom is adamant that he is merely trying to convey his own observations.
“It’s not social commentary,” he says, “it’s social observations.”
He emphasises that there is a big difference between the two.
I asked them what their thoughts were on Bok van Blerk’s De La Rey, and how they would feel if one of their tracks was taken up with the same fervour. First reactions from both were “No opinion”!
Crous went on to say, however, that he didn’t believe Van Blerk had created the song as an anthem for Afrikaner solidarity in the first place, and neither did they intend anything similar for their tracks.
Blom reiterates that many of his songs are about what he sees going on, “so if someone takes it and uses it as an anthem, I’m not going to tell them what their opinion should be.”
SELF-ASSURED
“People can say I’m vain, but we’re brilliant, we kick ass,” says Blom, without an ounce of humble pie anywhere in sight.
Crous seconds this emphatically, adding, “Compared to others in SA, we’re unique.”
The two say they are very serious about the band, despite both having plenty of other things they would still like to do, this is where they are focused now.
“Either do it all the way (wholeheartedly) or not at all. If you do it half-ass you’re going to be forgotten.”
Swaarmetaal is somewhat different to the earlier releases that resounded among the Afrikaans listenership, and asked if they thought fans would like this heavy offering they said: “You lose some, you gain some – but we would like most of our old fans to listen to the music for the same reasons we do.”
The two point out that the band is always ever-changing, saying “we always try to surprise each other musically.”
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