Bandwagoned: Shortstraw
Close your eyes and picture your typical South African all-guy band. Now picture the complete opposite of what you first envisioned - enter Shortstraw. The Jo'burg based indie-pop band took Talent, married it off to Edge and through ambitious fornication managed to produce music as thrilling as an early morning orgasm. The band currently consists of: Alastair Thomas (lead vocals and guitar) Tom Revington (lead guitar) Gad De Combes (keyboard and backing vocals) Russell Grant (bass guitar) Jake Rubinstein (Drums) Shortstraw has produced three full-length albums, won numerous mK Awards and has had a song feature on a Nissan TV advert back in 2012. Even more impressive is their ability to encourage raucous parties and induce a youthfull and somewhat rampant euphoria. Armed with only my already-questionable sanity and the distinct aftertaste of cheap rum in my mouth I braved the unknown and got chatting to Shortstraw about their music, their fans and their superpowers.
Credit: Hanro Havenga
It took me listening to 'Good Morning, Sunshine' once to become a die-hard fan. Which one of your songs would you choose to preserve in a time capsule for future generations of music lovers? Hmm. Probably the first song we ever wrote, LYSAGFY. It pretty much sums up our attitude as a band, which is “don’t take yourself too seriously”. Because if you aren’t having fun, what’s the point, right? Comparisons a harsh reality in the music industry. Which international act would you most closely compare yourself to? Sound-wise, maybe Vampire Weekend. Attitude-wise, probably Blink 182. Alastair is the only remaining member of the original line-up. Is it difficult to keep the momentum going with band members changing rather drastically over the span of a couple of years? It’s quite a strange situation actually. Al is technically the only original member, but it started out as a two-piece jam band who were just messing around for shits and giggles. Over the years the band has grown and ultimately become a business. Only one member has been replaced since we gained any commercial success, so the current Shortstraw is basically the only Shortstraw that’s existed in the public’s eye. So momentum is pretty easy to maintain. I bet there is a pretty awesome story behind the name 'Shortstraw'. Care to share it with our readers? When Al was a kid he used to get beaten up a whole bunch at school by this bunch of girls. Don’t judge. One time, when he was getting pummelled on the playground floor, he saw this short straw lying in the dust out the corner of his eye. He focused on that straw while he got the shit beaten out of him, just thinking about how that straw was able to take liquid from one point and transport it to another. This straw gave him hope, that one day he would be able to transport something… someONE to another time and place. When the chance came around to start making music, that was the only goal for Al - to transport the listener to a better time and place. Five good looking guys who sing songs known to get parties started are bound to attract a fair amount of female attention. Have any of you had any awkward run-ins with fans lately? You see, you say that, but we literally haven’t got a single story to mention. Our fans are super well behaved. We’ve never had any stalker attacks, never been flashed any boobage, only had one bra thrown at us, and that was addressed to Gad’s dog… and we’re all in committed relationships. How has Shortstraw evolved as a band since the release of 'You’re Underfed, I’m Wonderful' back 2011? Well this’ll take us back to that question about changing members. The Underfed album was written by 4 different people to who wrote Youthless. And it had virtually zero commercial success, which is why we hardly play any of the songs off that album - because people don’t really want to hear them! That’s something we’ve had to come to terms with. But what makes that easier is the fact that 90% of the songs we do play now were written by everyone who is playing them. So it’s not a situation where someone is playing someone else’s songs. But in terms of progression, I think we’ve come a long way in terms of songwriting ability. We kinda know how to write a decent hook now (not every time) and we’ve been playing around with song structures enough now to know what works. We’ve also got different members of the band who offer different things. Al and Tom are pretty all over the place just trying to come up with novel ideas in terms of guitar riffs and vocal melodies, while Russ and Gad keep the rhythm and structure in place. They’ll always make sure there’s a 4-chord progression and will change it up between verse, chorus and middle 8, which holds down the fort interns of structure. Tom has the flashy guitar riffs that get stuck in your head and Al generally thinks up a rude line that might get people talking. All while Jakey ties it together with as eccentric a drumbeat as he can muster up. He’s a great drummer to work with, in that he never settles for an average beat - he’ll always try and mix it up. So there are a few different angles involved in the songwriting process, which helps keep it fresh. We also get everyone’s opinions thrown in, which helps diversify it a bit. There is a definite theme of 'growing up' prevailing throughout your third full-length album 'Youthless'. Is Shortstraw growing up or will you as a band keep your edgy, 'party till we die' personas alive as long as your fans demand it? Yeah, that was the whole idea of the album. We’re still useless, but we’re getting older. Look, we’re technically grown ups here… we all have jobs and pay our bills and stuff, but our hearts are in the band. When we get on stage, it’s when we’re happiest. And most of the time we don’t know where our car keys are and we totally forgot about that one meeting we had. So yes, we’re happy to continue doing this until everyone gets bored of us. What do you guys have planned for the rest of the year? Any exciting gigs coming up? We’ve got a busy rest of the year planned. We’re playing in Zambia for the first time, opening for Milky Chance, going back to Japan in October, then doing an extensive tour of our fine country through December. There may even be a private jet involved. Fun! All musicians have super powers. What are yours? I wish we had the ability to make warm beer cold. Gad has really stretchy skin and a third nipple. Tom has magical hair. Russ dances really well. Jake is very handsome. And Al is good at spelling.
Credit: Hanro Havenga
