Shortstraw begins this year with a tour
JOBURG - Indie rock band Shortstraw has released their latest offering for fans this year, titled Youthless.
ShortStraw was formed in 2009 and is currently made up of five members including Alastair Thomas, Gad De Combes, Tom Revington, Russel Grant and Jake Rubenstein.
City Buzz was able to ask De Combes a few questions about the band and their upcoming activities for this year.
With the release of Youthless, ShortStraw had wasted no time getting back into the swing of things since their last album was released in 2013 – kicking off this year with a tour.
The tour, which began on 23 January in Durban, will allow the band to visit and perform in Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch and Joburg until mid-February.
When asked about their sound on the new album, De Combes explained, “There’s definitely a bit of the old stuff – we don’t want to alienate ourselves. We had fun making the last album so we’ve kind of kept that spirit, but we’ve all been growing as people and musicians so we kind of wanted to make it more mature. While we call the album Youthless we don’t want to be defined by age itself. It’s where we are.”
Well connected in the industry, ShortStraw has done musical collaborations with Crashcar Burn and The Kiffness, but this year they may be looking at mixing different music genres – perhaps with Goodluck, A.K.A or some of our great local DJs.
Before heading into a meeting with 94.7 Highveld Stereo, De Combes let us in on the fact they will record their Bassline performance in February for a DVD and will also be doing an U18 gig for their younger fans.
The band maintains their own social media platforms and feel that it is very important to personally interact and create relationships with their fans.
“People mustn’t feel scared to talk to us. In Cape Town, people always ask us to buy them a drink. So to whoever’s reading this, you can buy us a drink and we’ll gladly accept.”
