That 70’s Fest is a celebration of all things 1970s and psychedelic – it is a small boutique festival hosted every year at Tweefontein Melkery in Kempton Park, Johannesburg. Before you spot the stretch tent and paisley-adorned festival goers, you have to drive on a dirt road in between fields of white and pink wildflowers – it is something between Midsommar and Woodstock (in a purely aesthetic way).
I rocked up at the festival grounds hungover from the warm-up party the night before. The previous night’s line-up was a knockout of heavy-hitting post-punk bands. It included The Klubs, Sold Ash and Tough Guy who also played the festival stage (more on them in a bit).
The Klubs are a no-nonsense post punk band from Pretoria. Someone explained to me that, “The Klubs are like Viagra Boys if Viagra Boys were angrier.” This is a pretty apt description of The Klubs if you know of the Swedish outfit that they’re being compared to. They make the type of music you wish you found when you were at the peak of teenage angst. It has nothing but disdain for the status quo, it’s outsider music.
The warm-up show was a collaborative effort between That 70’s Fest organisers Boogie Central and Cape Town’s Revival Co. It was the perfect start to the weekend even if I was in disrepair the next morning.
I have been wanting to go to That 70’s Fest for a while, it has only been around for five years but already has earned a reputation as one of the mainstay events of the SA festival circuit. Jethro Lock of The Tazers and Boogie Central, the festival’s host, sums up the appeal of the festival: “it’s not really a fest, it’s just all the homies.”
The intimacy of the small-scale event enhances this feeling of community. It is hard not to find being at this type of event inspiring when so many events were recently cancelled and postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions. This is the second That 70’s Fest since the beginning of the pandemic and nothing seems to be slowing this humble event down.
Double Sun was the first band I caught in the early afternoon. They’re relatively new but these lads know how to make an impression. Singer and guitarist James Cloete leads the five-piece psych rockers who together are vibrant and super fun to watch – at one point synth player Wessel Moller jumped into the crowd to start a mosh pit himself. They are definitely not to be slept on, go check out Love Myself.
New-comers Painted Flowers delivered one of the smoothest sets of the festival. They mounted the stage looking the part – dressed to impress and bedazzled. The sleek laissez-faire vocals of Elio Moavero are backed up perfectly by the vocal harmonising of the band’s rhythm section. Anika Reinecke’s vocals and keys often give the tracks the texture and dynamic that fleshes out the band’s sound.
The recently expanded Sold Ash line-up delivered a performance that was equal parts atmospheric and haunting. Singer Ruan Vos’s vocals are shouted through telephone warped by reverb. The instrumental backing goes from slow and menacing to full-on high energy shoegaze, a wall of fuzz thanks to two bass guitars. The dynamic is impressive. The stark difference between busy experimental tracks and stripped back numbers like “(iteration)” which Ruan harmonises Leonerd Cohen-style with guitarist and back-up vocalist Chelsea Peter.
The two-piece garage fuzz-rock band Mouse ushered the crowd into an all together darker realm. It’s incredible to hear just how much sound these two guys make together – they’re like a King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard with far less members. The dynamic ranges from melodic guitar pieces, to wild, looping layers that form the backdrop to guitar freak outs a la frontman Damon Miles.
The next act was winners of the 2019 Afropunk Battle of the Bands, Shameless. They took the stage full force with the trio’s brand of high energy afro rock. Finding a singular description of their sound is difficult, they call their music “Soweto tribal rock,” or “Zulu metal.” Descriptors like “mbaqanga punk” can be found elsewhere. Simply speaking, their sound ranges from melodic to bluesy and heavy. Have a listen to the recently released “4×4.”
Tough Guy, on their first tour North, didn’t let their mind-blowing performance from the previous night stop them from giving the festival crowd anything less. Drummer Ryan Oliver’s dead stops, stick bleeds and low rumbling break into driving basslines from frontman Sihle Mkhize (Runaway Nuns, Loose Ends). Sihle’s vocals combine with Desmond Kannemayer’s (Runaway Nuns, Retro Dizzy) back-up growls and result in a powerful command to move one’s body. In a heartfelt moment, Sihle dedicated their set to late photographer Henry Engelbrecht who passed away last year.
Early on Sunday morning the clouds broke and a heavy downpour caused many campers to pack it up and head home. But the rain couldn’t put a damper on my glow from the previous day’s sonic feast.
All pics courtesy of ByeEvanCaptures.
