Toti musos set to release single

The next superstar band could well hail from Toti, if three young musos have anything to say about it.

Andre Duma (19), a grade 12 pupil at Kingsway, Dillon van Heerden (17), a grade 11 pupil at Kuswag, and Remo Baeza (18), Toti High matriculant make up Kingship, who are on the cusp of releasing their first single ‘Colourful World’.

Remo, who plays acoustic guitar and sings, and Andre, a kick drum fundie, percussionist and bass guitarist, have been friends for a while, and formed a band when they were asked to jam for a wedding in March 2012.

At a Sylo church event later in the year, they met Dillon and soon recruited the lead guitarist and keyboard player.

Remo writes the band’s songs and lyrics. “I write a simple melody and then we all put ideas together. We now have 10 completed songs.”

“Our sound is very unique; a mixture of genres. I would describe it as indie rock and folk.”

‘Colourful World’ will be available for free download on Soundcloud and Facebook on 1 December and Andre said there are plans to shoot a music video.

“We would love to get the song on local radio stations and even overseas. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

The band tries to jam at least once a week, but that has been difficult lately with the two older musos writing their final exams.

“We have no plans after school. My parents are pro-band, so it depends on how our first single does,” said Remo.

“My mom encouraged me to take a gap year and see if this works out,” said Andre.

“We want to take it to the top,” said Dillon. “This is our dream and we want to make it a full-time career. We are doing what we love.”

Although all three are church-goers, not all their songs are Christian-based.

“I wrote songs about what makes me happy. Some songs can be quite emotional.

We are not a Christian band, we are a band of Christians,” said Remo.

“‘Colourful World’ is about beautiful South Africa,” said Andre. “The world is full of colour, but people only think about the bad.”

Dillon said although they enjoyed their time in the studio with Toti producer, Tyrin Hale, they love being in front of a crowd.

“We haven’t yet had an opportunity to play in front of a large crowd. We opened for the Gus Brown Band at Ollies, which was cool. We find it more intimate to play in front of a crowd.”

Toti music lovers will have an opportunity to catch Kingship live when they play at Factory Cafe in Durban from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on Saturday, 15 November, and at The View in December.

For more information on their gigs and music, like their Facebook page ‘With Kingship’.