Interview with Ashtray Electric

Photo: beat - vreemdeling.blogspot.com 

Can you elaborate about the birth of Ashtray Electric? 

Regardt : We played together in a friends' garage after work for enjoyment.  Three months later Rudi accidently booked a show for us and we needed to find songs and a band name to go with it.    

Your debut-alum, “Bonjour”, was positively accepted by critics and fans. Do you think that your latest EP, “WTF”, will get the same positive attention? How much did the music evolve?

Regardt : I guess only time will tell.  I feel proud of what we achieved with 'WTF' - It was spotaneous and a bit of an experiment.  The approach was different than before.  We didn't allow ourselves to sink into so much. 

How can people get the new EP? 

Regardt: It's pretty easy. Just go to our site (http://www.ashtrayelectric.co.za), put your email address in the box and we will send the download link to you.  Did I mention we are putting this one out on the house? 

Can you tell us the story behind Rudi’s stolen guitar? 

Rudi: It got stolen out of my car when I was out drinking one night. On the Monday morning when I got back in the office I just mailed everyone I could. Social Media also seemed to take off around the whole event. Before I knew it, I got a call form the manager of Cash Crusaders in Wynberg saying some guys tried to sell it there, but he confiscated it. The rest really is history!

How did you find the whole 5GumExperience and opening for Two Door Cinema Club?

Andre: Definitely a highlight for us as a band. Everything about that show was great. The venue, the production and just the general campaign around the event. Obviously opening up for TDCC was awesome. But I just think the energy and expectation in that place when we were playing was so thick and rich and it is how I’ve always wanted playing big stages to feel like. 

Are there any other International/local bands you would like to share the stage with?

Andre: There are tons, both here and abroad. I think thats the thing you really start to appreciate as a musician as you do it for longer. Meeting new people. At first you are haregat and just wanna do your thing but now adays i love watching bands we are playing with and generally getting bait trashed backstage with them and sharing stories. Unless they are assholes of course.  

You guys already have a few music videos out, even one with Gazelle; do you have a personal favourite?

Andre: The most recent one done by Adriaan Louw actually at the 5Gum show is probably my favorite. Its a black n white one shot video but it speaks so loud about who we are as a group and why we do what we do. 

Regardt : I would have to say 'The Swing'. I like the plain and stripped down vibe. 

Kurt Darren or Nicholas Louw? 

Regardt: Kurt Darren is the grand master in my opinion.

Andre: Kurt definitely.   

Rudi: I fucking hate Nicholas Louw.

Photo: Miss Hepburn Photography - 'WTF' EP cover

From where are the members of Ashtray Electric? How did the environment you grew up in influence your own music and your music taste? 

Regardt :  My dad played a lot of Queen and Eric Clapton in the house. Luckily for me it wasn't such a bad choice to start off with. It could have turned out a lot different if he was a Culture Club fan.

Andre: I grew up in Wellington where rare alternative stuff was not easy to come by so I think while all my friends were listening to Metallica, for me finding bands like Nine inch Nails and Angels of Light made music special to me.   

Rudi: I listened to a lot of Silverchair and Rage Against the Machine as a teenager. Before that it was just Boney M Christmas Albums with the family.

What was your most memorable performance and why? 

Regardt: My very drunk and clumsy friend managed to get on top of a well guarded and fenced Assembly stage at our Measured in Falls album launch. To this day I still don't know how he got there.  He got off by jumping into the crowd as fast and horizontal as humanly possible.  The crowd did not respond with the same enthusiasm and needless to say, one guy ended up being his stage dive buddy. 

Rudi: Definitely the 5Gum Experience.

Andre: There’s a few. Kirstenbosch, 5Gum, Measured in falls album launch. But I do remember a show we did in Pretoria at Lentedag. It was the first day festival that we headlined. There was an article I read after where a girl referring to us said "and then arrogance took the stage". Even though it was not meant to be a compliment I thought it was great because it was true in a good sense. I think we finally felt we belonged at a headlining slot, we knew what we were doing and we knew we did it fucking well. She went on to say "after the first song I knew why they exude such confidence." So for me playing a sunset in Pretoria to about 3000 people while being at the top of your game is a pretty special moment.

What makes you feel liberated? 

Regardt: A surf at Muizenberg usually does the trick.

Andre: Releasing material of any kind, (music, video, interview). Liberation/freedom are normally heightened or coupled with fear and I think opening a piece of yourself up for the world to judge is both a scary but profoundly liberating experience.  

Photo: http://christelleduvenage.com/

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Ashtray Electric - Here Comes The Rain Again

Video by: Adriaan Louw

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