We check in on several musos in the area, how they started, their style, and what inspires them to keep on jamming.
Tim Maddock
How did your music career start?
High school was a challenging time for me, so I picked up the guitar as means of escape. Weeks passed and I just couldn’t put the thing down. I fell in love. I studied the music of the classic rock era – Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Doors and the like. I wanted to honour this paradigm by doing what those guys did. And so the musician that is Tim was born! I’ve been playing the guitar for seven years now. When I’m up there on stage, blinded by eccentric lights, I strum the first chord and I am home. Playing for an enthusiastic audience is pure euphoria for me. I plan to do this until the day I die.
What is your musical style?
After studying multiple bands and genres throughout the years, there was always one commonality to the varying sounds: the blues. The blues was the golden thread that hooked me to a musical sound. As Jimi Hendrix noted, “The blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.” I have endeavoured to communicate a palpable feeling to those who watch and listen to my music. I always aim to give the audience what they want, whether it be reggae, pop or country, but after every performance, it is evident that I am but one thing: a blues man.
Do you have any albums, or would you like to produce one?
My music career is very much in its infancy. I have been playing the live music scene for just over one year and have written a handful of releasable songs. I plan to incrementally release them and work towards my first album. However, I am of the philosophy that once a new song has been written, it must be extensively tested on the stage. In this way, I get to practice it, edit it, and also gauge how it is received by the audience. It takes time, but every second is worth it.
What inspires you as a musician?
I have always loved watching live music and do so as much as physically possible. Every now and again, you will witness something so passionate that it won’t feel anything but inspired. While I do aim to create music in real time, I aim to be a performer and entertainer. In my daily life, I have live concerts playing constantly on YouTube. This way, I study musical persona and what makes an enigmatic stage performer.
What are your goals for the future?
I want to continue to perform at gigs as if each one were my last, whether it be a fancy, low-lit theatre or a hole-in-the-wall dive bar. I plan to release my first-ever single this year and am inching closer to this goal every day. I recently played at Splashy Fen and Music & Machines Easter Festival in Ladysmith. Playing two festivals in two days is absolutely surreal and transcends a dream come true for me.
I have come to understand that the best way to improve is to teach, so I have been rubbing shoulders with some formidable musicians who have helped me get a foot in the door when it comes to teaching. I have assumed the mentality of a lifetime student and learner. When it comes to music, there is no end.
What We Are
How did your band start? Who are the members?
The journey of What We Are began in Johannesburg at the start of 2017. Our guitarist at the time, Sean Darroll, was a member of our previous band and decided to stay on for the new project. After a few years, and right before the March 2020 lockdown, Natalie Baxter (singer, songwriter and ukulele player) and Nic Lansdell (percussionist and The Dream Tank maker), made the decision to leave the big city for a more peaceful life in the Midlands.
Shortly after we had settled in, word spread that Quintin Song, a talented multi-instrumentalist, and his partner, Jacqueline, had moved to the area. A few jam sessions and many belly laughs later, What We Are had a new band member (who currently plays bass and guitar, at the same time!). The rest, as they say, is history.
What is your musical style?
Soulful, acoustic and, at times, ambient, with distinct influences of folk and reggae. Our style, however, does vary from song to song, and our material is mostly made up of originals. We try to stick to conscious messaging and love a bit of lyrical activism.
Do you have any albums, or would you like to produce one?
We are currently recording our first single, ‘Tears’, which was released at the end of April, and plan to release an album by the end of the year.
Why did you choose your specific band name?
We wanted a name that was simple, inclusive, and somewhat allows for change. What We Are is basically what we are at this moment in time, and our music becomes the answer.
What inspires you as a band?
Most musicians will find inspiration through some sort of sacred sensation. When something just feels good or right. But like most creatives, we find a lot of inspiration from how we see the world around us.
All artists have their own filters and use these to create something that will honour their visions. We find tons of inspiration in nature, and our community is so jam-packed with talented artists, it’s hard not to feel inspired by it all.
What are your goals for the future?
To keep sharing, get deep into recording, make some music videos, travel the country a bit (or beyond), and, most importantly, just keep having fun! It’s called ‘playing’ music, after all.
MaliZulu
How did your music career start?
MaliZulu Band started with an idea to just meet and have a jam session back in 2015.
I (Malibongwe) met Skippy, who worked at Marshall Music in Pietermaritzburg, and it was just magic. We started something not knowing what it will be but just to enjoy music and have fun.
We then wanted to elevate our performances and sound, so we looked for an additional member. Jav came to mind as a friend from church, but we wanted to make sure the magic didn’t die, so we had a jam session. We immediately bonded and he took our performances to another level that we never anticipated in 2018.
What is your musical style?
We are a pop-folk band that’s always adding a South African vibe to what we do or how we perform.
Do you have any albums, or would you like to produce one?
We released a self-titled EP (MaliZulu EP) late last year that’s available on all streaming platforms.
Why did you choose your specific band name?
The band name choice has always been a question we’ve been asked, as it’s my nickname. I was on SA Idols season 14 and made it to the top 31. We then chose to ride that wave so that we didn’t have to establish a following from scratch.
What inspires you as a band?
We are inspired by real connections, impacting lives in a positive way. We are inspired by the hope that tomorrow is going to be a better day than yesterday. Our music is inspired by our everyday lives, the friends we meet, and the things we go through as a band.
What are your goals for the future?
We would like to tour the country and do a few international tours as well. Ultimately, our dream is to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, but until then we want to keep making real, heartfelt music and bring more love and happiness to the world.
Blackbird
How did your band start? Who are the members?
We (Tanya Nicolson and Charles Webster) were both looking for a new musical project in about 2018/2019. Tanya, having been in the acting and music world professionally since the age of eight, had performed all over the country. That includes genres ranging from cabaret to serious theatre with a fair amount of physical theatre, local and international film, and TV in the mix, too.
Charles started playing classical guitar at the age of 11 and has been performing for years now. He’s a baritone with a fairly distinctive folk-rock rhythm style and feels like a part of the furniture of the KZN Midlands music scene – especially as a founder of MiTH (Music in the Hills – a music club that meets in Hilton every second Wednesday).
What is your musical style?
We are a poignant-yet-uplifting vocal acoustic duo. Our repertoire is diverse and covers sultry jazz, upbeat folk, rearranged pop, rock and indie styles with soul, and twists on contemporary classics. We have a deep-rooted friendship which gives our duo a somewhat tangible stage dynamic.
Why did you choose your specific band name?
Blackbird is named after The Beatles’s tune of the same name. It is also one of our signature cover songs.
What inspires you as a band?
Taking songs we love and putting a unique spin on them – like our gentle, heartfelt version of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best”, our jazz version of Britney Spears’s “Toxic”, or our blues version of the Beatles’s “With a Little Help From My Friends”.
What are your goals for the future?
We’d like to continue building on what has become a strong fanbase and see where the journey takes us. We haven’t set ourselves any particular limits, though we have families and children so a world tour is unlikely at this point! We’re kidding – we have our feet firmly on the ground.
Photos: Keren Stanley & Kavo R Photography