To survive and thrive as a rock band in South Africa for two decades, is a feat that I’m sure any member of Fokofpolisiekar will tell you is not the easiest to achieve. So the fact that Die Bende’s fifth album, Dans Deur Die Donker, manages to hit classic punk-rooted notes that will appease their hardcore fan base, while still incorporating new elements and relevant themes, is nothing short of impressive.
The closing guitar riff in opener “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” smacks so much of early Fokof, I can almost smell the branna en kots on that Klein Libertas floor, while the opening notes of “Word wakker word groot” is a lekker tip of the hat to a classic (“Brand Suid-Afrika”) while rooted in rolling, powerful drumming from Jaco “Snakehead” Venter.
“I feel like ‘Word wakker word groot’ embodies the technophobia theme of the album the best,” guitarist and lyricist, Hunter Kenndy, told me when I interrupted him mid-tour to ask which track he was the most proud of on this album. “Accompanied by the uncanny-valley style AI-generated images, I feel it’s a good representation of the album as a whole.”
“Also I am proud of the fact that I successfully worked a classic metal gallop into Fokof’s repertoire,” he chirped with a bit of laugh. It’s incidentally also the best song Fokof has written since “Komma” off Selfmedikasie (2017), and I’m here for the moshing that will be done to this track.
Lyrically, I’m pleased to tell you that this album scratches all the right itches. Hunter Kennedy’s pen is like Johnny de Ridder’s face–both ageing like fine wine. With an average of 2:37 minutes per track, it takes max 30 seconds for Francois Van Coke to get to the crux of every matter and he doesn’t mince his words.
A core attribute to Fokof’s legacy is the willingness to tackle uncomfortable subjects, which they do with ease on tracks like “Die Goeie Ou Dae”, a biting take on South Africans who long for the “good old days”. I also kept coming back to the blink-182-esque “Breindrein” and “Goue Drol” that has one of those catchy choruses that you’ll appreciate after a long-year like this one (“ek het nie tyd vir hierdie kak nie”).
Fokof knows that their strength lies in their numbers. In their community. You don’t have to look far to see that–their crowdfunding campaign netted over R262 350 in profit and literally made this album.
I bumped into an old UCT chom of mine last week and as a diehard Fokof fan, he confessed he was worried about this album, worried that it wouldn’t hit as hard. And he made me worry. We all know that the new wave of hard rock bands in this country is pretty much non-existent, and if we don’t have Fokof what the fuck do we have?? We were both overreacting. This album slaps, and as long as that community stays active and Wynand Myburgh’s high kicks stay slaying, don’t be surprised if Fokof goes another 20 years.
To accompany the album Fokof is dropping an updated version of Fokofpolisiekar {Woorde 2003 – 2023} in a poetry collection format that can be pre-ordered from fokof.store.
