Shadowclub’s rootsy, bluesy rock is purposely fuss free and the dozen songs on their debut, ‘Guns & Money’, were recorded live with no backing track. Like the classic rock acts that inspire them, Johannesburg based Shadowclub are about powerful songs performed with a passion that explodes from the speakers and, live, can be felt at full force by their fans.“From the start, this was a back-to-basics band,” explains singer Jacques Moolman. “It had to be a three-piece so we could keep it simple. We wanted to make short, fast, banging tracks. Basically, music that was fun to play live and easy for a crowd to connect with.”
With ‘Guns & Money’, Shadowclub have succeeded in doing just that. The album’s title track is a furiously-paced, feel-good rocker, driven by an insistent, funk-fuelled bassline, cacophonous drums and a hip-shaking groove. You’ll hear shades of The Doors and The Ramones, snarled, seductive vocals and woo-hoos that cry out to be chanted back. Shadowclub’s desire to make stripped down songs stems partly from the bands they were listening to when they formed at the end of 2007. “We were big White Stripes fans,” says drummer Isaac Klawansky. “We liked The Kings Of Leon who, back then, were still quite tough and bluesy and a bit underground. Wolfmother had just come out and we adored The Black Keys. Throw in the old blues that Jacques grew up with – Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson – and that combination became the basis of our sound.”
Moolman and Klawansky formed Shadowclub after the demise of their former band, Airship Orange, but the band first got serious in early 2009 when, after a brief breakup, Klawansky’s long time friend, Louis Roux, replaced the band’s original bassist. The new Shadowclub line-up picked up a following in Jo’burg and Durban by playing clubs and handing out CDs of a set of demos they had recorded in a day. Soon after, they signed to South African indie label, Just Music, and got to work on a new batch of songs. Recorded in 2011 ‘Guns & Money’ contains both reworked songs from those early demos and new tracks, mostly written by Moolman. “I write all of the lyrics and a lot of the music,” says Moolman. “I come up with the basic riffs, then we all turn them in to a song. As soon as a new song is written, we play it live. It’s important for us to take songs out of the rehearsal room. Only in front of an audience can we tell how well they work.”
By: Elizabeth Stene | Beat-Play Ambassador South Africa | @LizMWL | Music Without Labels & Beat-Play, LLC
