Written by Ian Henderson | 06 May 2009

I rehearsed my new trio last night for a little gig we're putting on at the launch of my new music video. Cool Cape Town cats Graham Beyer on bass and Sean Ou Tim on drums. Graham plays just about everything - horns, bass, piano, guitar, and Sean is well known also as a bass player and producer, so it's a very musically solid group. And you know, less can definitely be more. There's so much space to move around and allow dynamic flow and movement. Don't get me wrong, big groups are really fun - I love hammond organ and trumpets as much as the next guy. But this compact little combo just feels so natural and easy. And makes the music sound good... but just a little different too. And it got me thinking - how often do we clutter up our lives and take away the space to really breathe? I look around my apartment at all kinds of senseless crap I've built up over the years and wonder if I wouldn't have been better off not buying it and spending the money on new experiences - or hiring more beautiful musicians to play great gigs with me. A consultant friend of mine loves adventure but worries that buying toys to have adventures with just enslaves him to working more hours and enduring more stress to pay for it. He's probably right - there's very little we need to live fully and have lots of fun.

Written by Ian Henderson | 20 April 2009

The new video for Angel Town is in the can and will be released on the 7th of May. We had a real blast making it - Shanna was behind the lens again, the lovely Henda Scott was in front of it, together with a starring performance from the city. I think you're going to like it - it's nothing if not conventional, and I think it really brings the feeling behind the song to life. It's in stop motion - 9,500 still images and a looooooooooong time in the edit suite, but it sure was worth it. Keep ya eyes peeled!

Written by Ian Henderson | 13 April 2009

So we crossed the country, and oh my god what a beautiful country this is! We saw mythical places, like Pofadder and The Verneuk Pan, and we go lost on goat tracks in Lesotho. And everywhere we went we asked people what makes them happy... and it's the simple things. The sky, the rain, chocolate, looking into the eyes of your loved ones. Perhaps we just overcomplicate things most of the time. Tom and I ended up several nights, drunk, asking each other what happiness really is all about. It's something to do with being glad to be who you are, where you are, in this world, right now. Keep and eye out for the film... coming (hopefully) soon(ish)...

Written by Ian Henderson | 28 February 2009

In a very strangely unprecedented act of music promotion, Tom the Mad Englishman and I will be spending the second half of March riding big, greasy, noisy motorbikes across the country from the most westerly to the most easterly point, from sea to the highest road in the country (well, in Lesotho, actually) and back to the sea again. Without setting foot... or wheel on tar road. Or that's the plan at least. This is the route - from Alexander Bay on the border of Namibia, to Kosi Bay on the border of Mozambique. Along the way we will be making a film about ourselves... falling off bikes, skinny dipping in the ocean at each end, falling off the bikes, trying to break the land speed record on the Verneukpan, getting lost, eating a LOT of dust, and generally behaving like idiots. And we'll also be filming the people we come across in the backwaters and byways of this beautiful country telling us what makes them happy. It's going to make a beautiful little film, and - you guessed it - the soundtrack is already finished. I've been told I make road tripping music. Well, I guess this is the ultimate "we'll see about that!!!!"

Written by Ian Henderson | 11 February 2009

It's ridiculous... I've been under the whip from a creaking, grating, grumpy back for the last three months. I think it was triggered by picking up my Roland RD-150 board to play a gig at Long Street's Zula bar, so I flogged the damn thing and got a new stage piano. Maybe it was too much kitesurfing... maybe it was too much sitting at this keyboard typing... so I took advice and headed off to Patrick the surfing chiropractor. He'd understand! Well, he took one look, banged my knee with a rubber mallet and told me the disk between vertebrae 4 and 5 is inflamed. But his voodoo magic did nothin! So I've prescribed myself morning laps in the pool and signed up for Tammy's pilates class. I feel like a girl - today we were even told to stretch up to the point of our bra straps!!! And it means getting up at 6 on a Friday morning to balance on oversized beach balls and lift one foot in the air. Very strange. But it means coffee and the best chocolate croissants (godamn no that's not pronounced "croy-sant") in Cape Town afterwards at Jardine. That little hole in the wall where all shapes and kinds of early-birds come for their caffeine fix. Including the sad-looking little hairy sausage dog with a beard that touches the ground. Today it was coolness after our recent 40 degree heat, and the light was that shade of nice, and everything just felt right. I'm just glad to do what I love!

Written by Ian Henderson | 31 January 2009

Spoke to a friend this evening who'd just returned from a NA meeting and was talking about the daily choice not to use drugs or alcohol to escape the hardships of life. And I immediately felt this thought brewing up that we probably, all of us, have our (in some way destructive) escape drugs which hold us back from the fullest experience of life... be they drugs, or careers, or families, relationships... too much playstation. I'm talking about the place we go to push away thoughts we'd rather not think, or that numb zone where we can just exist, go through the motions, allow the years to tick by without stopping long enough to look up and see if we're going the right way. Or even if we're moving at all. I guess it was particularly pertinent cause I had a quiet Sunday afternoon and was having a - quite serious - conversation with myself over a Carlucci's salad, down on the corner, about what I REALLY want from life right now. For me - and I suspect many - it's a harder question to answer than it seems at first. Because for all the first answers I found myself asking - is that what you REALLY DO want? Because the inevitable next question is, what of the other things on your list am I prepared to give up for the things at the top of the list. I've been stripping a bit of the fat out of my life recently, and you know what? It's a good feeling. It creates space for newness.

Written by Ian Henderson | 18 January 2009

I think it's taken me 19 days to wake up properly this year. Don't know about all of you in the north, but down here the world seems to go to sleep over new year, and I wasn't any different. Perhaps I really needed a break... So the year ended well with a coastal tour to Durban with Jedd. A highlight was the Lunar Lounge gig - thanks Debbie and Narene! I had an awesome break after that on the Wild Coast, probably my favourite place in the world, and then it was back to Cape Town in time for the festivities. The new year has got off to a bang with a mail from Ian Bredenkamp, the programming manager at KFM to tell me that The Angel Town, the new single, has just been playlisted for daytime radio! Great news that, cause KFM and her sister station Highveld are the biggest radio stations in the country, despite the fact that they're regional. On the up...! (And partly as a result of a degenerate poker game - but that's another story.) Keep humming!

Written by Ian Henderson | 20 December 2008

So… I just had the coolest interview since I started promoting Superglue with East Coast Radio’s Cutest Loudmouth Jane Linley-Thomas. Seriously, most interviewers in this country are plain damn boring, but I think Jane eats boring with her morning porridge, cause she’s anything but. Very well cool, and I had a lot of fun. And in the spirit of that I’m going to interview HER! Keep ya posted… Last time I brought out a record East Coast Radio were anything but exciting about it, but this time, like most other radio stations in the country they’ve been great. An added surprise was finding Jackie from the playlist committee pitching up to check out my gig at Luna Lounge. Fancy that! A radio station with staff who actually check out live music!!!! ECR may just be turning into my favourite station… Luna have got a curious little institution going – a garden gig in a gazebo at Nareen Stevens’ place in Kloof which is possibly the best live venue in Durban. A stunning evening with some little cameos by my good mate Nibs van der Spuy, and Freefall producer Angus Kerr who pitched in for a bit of a jam. A big shout out to Debbbie and Shawn – you guys throw a really nice party – thanks so much! Well, that’s my year pretty much over and out – a much needed chill on the Wild Coast coming up. Happy Christmas! Ciao, Ian