I have been dying to see Private Republic since they started gigging, but somehow life has conspired against me and I keep missing them. Imagine my delight when I checked my little social calendar and saw that for once, there was nothing to stand in the way of seeing them last night. No sisters swanning in from Ireland, no chest infections gluing me to the couch, no big bands luring me to JHB. Yippee. Ok so my friends all appeared to be glued to their couches, but I am nothing if not an intrepid solo gig viewer. Off I went to check out a venue I hadn’t been to before and two bands I hadn’t seen before. What more could a girl ask for.
Private Republic are made up of a lot of really talented musicians who have played in bands like Fruit Fly Navigators and Unstable Youth, and their years of experience really showed on stage. They have not played that many gigs, and this was their first ever full acoustic set. All I can say is that without being told, no one would ever have begun to guess that. Theirs was a tight and polished performance, and although this was yet another of those sit down kind of gigs that I do so well with, the audience seemed to hang on their every word. Frontman Craig Jenkins was full of witty quips as their set progressed, and he seemed entirely comfortable on stage. There is a natural affinity between the members of this band, probably because they have all been in bands together in various combinations and because Craig and Lauren (guitars) just happen to be married. This chemistry between band members allows the audience to feel as if they are part of something intimate and special, and it just gave the gig that little bit of extra shine. Gareth (drums & vocals) convinced his significant other Annien van der Linde to join them on stage to play violin for most of the set, which added a huge amount of depth to what are already well constructed, beautiful songs. If they could just find something for Steff’s girlfriend to do on stage, they could have a modern day, really cool von Trapp family thing going on. But seriously, it is quite hard to pinpoint the sound of this band. There is a hint of the old Fruit Fly sound, and a smattering of Stone Temple Pilots in there, but all in all this band has a fresh sound that is all their own. I was expecting pretty songs and a chilled out vibe, though I’m not sure why. And yes, there was some of that, but they are also grungy and manage to create a wall of sound that breaks over the audience like a tidal wave, leaving you breathless and gasping for more. I expected to like them, but I did not expect to discover my new favourite Durban band and that’s exactly what happened.
The second band to take to the stage in what seemed to be a themed evening was Gonzo Republic. This band is very funky in a Jamiroquai kind of way, but I just didn’t enjoy them. Half way through the first song I started to get a niggly feeling that I was going to have to be negative about them in this review, which I really try and avoid. As one of my exes once said, I have a pathological optimism when it comes to South African music. I think he meant that as an insult, bless him, but being me, I took it as a compliment. I try really hard to find the good in every band I watch, and I could see that other people were really enjoying these guys, I just wasn’t. To give them credit, they are technically good, and they got one or two wine swillers up and bopping (though I suspect these were friends of the band). Maybe it was just that the frontman was incredibly twitchy on stage and made it hard to concentrate on the music, or maybe funk is just not my shot of sours. Either way, I wouldn’t put much effort into going to watch them again any time soon, and ended up leaving as they were finishing their set.
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