Kempton Unleashes Rockers...of sorts

Medium2Rare
Wynandt Marais Community Centre
26 January 2008
3pm – late
Entrance fee: R30
Boerewors rolls: R15
Spending the first sunny day in 2 weeks... indoors drinking cheap beer:Priceless
By Loony Lolly

Medium2rare is a very new and very fresh music event. Take one venue resembling your old school hall (suppression of traumatic high school memories imperative) add the displaced youth of Kempton and stir in the best in rock/alternative/metal that Kempton has to offer. The result is like watching MK89 with a bunch of stoners (minus the hysterical laughter). The MC was entertaining! (a rarity these days)
The venue is a community centre, where the old fogies can practice ballroom dancing, enjoy a quiz evening or work on their Tae Kwon Do (I kid you not). It all looked so innocent but my senses told me there was probably cheap booze inside. I was right. I didn’t expect the aliens, ICU escapee and creature from the black lagoon. (I’m not making this shit up – there were no prizes for “worst best freaky costume” that night. Well, none that actually won.)

Judging by the many lost and confused expressions, these kids don’t have much other than the ice-skating rink in Festival Mall (No, wait! There’s a Boogaloos as well!) Lighting and sound were top notch, manned by the oldest balding fan in the area. And so on the first sunny afternoon in 2 weeks, I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon... indoors. Drinking.

Pink Prinsessie could be classified as Boere punk. The riffs are fast, the vocals are nice, the songs have a sing-along likeability to them. If only they had the stage presence and energy to go with it. The potential is there, they just need to understand that stage fright is not tolerated by a crowd.

The Guest band were looking for a lead singer and advertised this open post by lighting maybe 20 candles around a mic and playing 80’s hair metal instrumentals. As great an idea that may seem, it was entertaining for about 10 minutes. Then the music became monotonous, pieces from well-known metal songs became clear within the music and the female bassist began losing her nerve and played to the wings on her left. (Do not try this with your first band. Please.)

MK89 were involved as well, highlighting the most entertaining group of beer boeps with guitars this century, Duskant Ombliksum. There’s nothing exceptional about their music, other than the dismembering of Enrique’s ‘Hero’ into ‘Ek kan nie jou Batman wees nie’. (Highly entertaining) They play what’s familiar, sticking to a good mix of ‘good’ songs and entertaining stage performance. Yet again proving that it’s not always what you say, but how memorable you name is. It worked for Fokofpolisiekar, it’s working for them.

Bands performing that night as well:
Norwood (pretty good folky rock)// Die Maverick (good stage presence, nothing original except quote: ”Rocker chicks rock!” nuff said)// Fragmented Children (Aggro-ish thrash metal, lead singer reminds me of Pilsbury dough-man – if he sang screamed for a thrash metal group that is)//HeShaBurn // Relapse Hero