Die Heuwels Fantasties Interview

Photo Credit: Liam Lynch

Die Heuwels Fantasties. “It represents more than a band name… it’s almost like a mythical place. We wanted something that is open and inviting and didn’t offend anyone before they listened to any of the music” he then says laughingly “ag yah, we had a couple of margarita’s and it seemed like a good idea at the time!”

The three knew each other “from school! We’ve been friends forever me [Pierre] and old Kenny and Johnebo.” Hunter and Pierre have been writing songs together since a very young age but, “We never finished any songs way back when and mostly just gave advice to each other on the songs we were making for our respective bands at the time (New World Inside and Time Spent)…these are the first full on songs we wrote together…interestingly enough Sonrotse was the first…that was about 2 years ago…we wrote most of the songs even before Hunter joined aKING…we wanted to move away from the type of music we made respectively until now, which was mainly guitar-driven…”

Hunter and Pierre own the label Supra Familias. “Supra Familias is the collective noun for everyone who feels the vibe and does something about it.” They released Die Heuwels Fantasties debut, self titled album under their label. They’d like to “develop as much talent as we can” and “do as much as we can” with regards to the music industry.

Die Heuwels Fantasties album had Johnny de Ridder in charge of the production. And artists like Francois Van Coke, Laudo Liebenberg of aKING and Adriaan Brand of Springbok Nude Girls all contributing to the album.

Their album has elements of many genres, from hip-hop beats, flat out dance beats, to rap and rock sounds. They pushed the creative boundaries but “the only plan from the start was to write a record on guitar and try to make a record with as little as possible guitar on it in the end” he says reflectively “In a way we succeeded, I guess and in a way we didn’t!”

Recording the album was “long, tedious and amazing, it involved lots of instruments and friends…” The off the wall antics whilst in studio included “recording a vocal piece by playing back a take into Johnny’s old court yard in the waterfront to get a real (and natural) reverb. There is a seagull pandemic there (as everybody knows) so we got some seagulls in the background on “Leja.”

Some fun facts about album include “Hunter singing a little low part on most of the tracks (as layered backings) and him probably singing the most on Klein Tambotieboom as at the end he is alone on vocals…”The verses for the song “Die Vraagstuk” were written by Jack Parow and Pierre and Hunter wrote the chorus. The way ‘Noorderlig’ came together on the album was unexpected and amazing. Pierre’s favourite line from the album is “die aardbol respireer die oseaan.”

Their performance at the Coke Zero Fest saw Hunter on bass guitar, Johnny with the electric guitar and a drummer on set. The drummers name is “Frederick den Hartog and he use to play drums for DeltaBlue but more recently lead guitar for Die Helde and now Thieve. Philip Erasmus from Thieve also helps on the drums as a session when he can. He laughingly says “it’s a family affair. Supra!” as Thieve are signed to their label…

When playing live “Johnny does everything, both the beat and the chorus at the same time!” as Johnny plays both the electronic and guitar. He says with finality “Johnny is a genius.”

The new single that’s being released is “Sonrotse, the video was shot in Mozambique and everybody was there- it was bliss!” The video will premier on MK, on the 24th of Aug.

The band is laid back; nobody really takes a long time to get ready before a gig as its “Ready. Steady. Go”. When Hunter ‘becomes Kenny’ he can talk a fair amount of rubbish…but that goes for everybody, and messy just doesn’t exist on tour!”