Ezequiel
Senior Member
Zebra & Giraffe, a Alternative Rock band from South Africa, has its roots in Johannesburg. Greg Carlin, who grew up in Midrand (a suburb outside Johannesburg), started composing music in high school and woeked at the record label Just Music, where he handled the digital side of the business. He approached the head of the label, Karl Anderson, with a demo of his work and was offered a record deal.
Collected Memories (2008)
Carlin produced the band's debut album, Collected Memories, with Darryl Torr from Dear Reader. The album was released on May 5, 2008. Nils van der Linden of Iafrica.com described the album as "the kind of slick but dark electro rock you'd expect a fan of New Order and Joy Division to make".
"The Knife" was chosen as the album's first single, and Carlin enlisted South African cinematographer Rob Malpage and producer Warwick Allan to make the music video. Warwick had a concept for the video, but had not heard the song; they soon got together and adapted the concept to suit the song. The Knife was #1 for 3 weeks on the Hi5@5 on 5FM and was also #1 for 5 weeks on the PUKFM charts. It went to #1 on other South African campus stations. The video was #1 for a couple of weeks on the MK Top10 music videos in South Africa. The release of the album and the national success of "The Knife" meant the band were "causing quite a stir" according to Music Industry Online.
At this point, Carlin needed to find additional members in order to enable the band to perform live. Though he was reluctant to assemble a touring group, he recruited Alan Shenton (guitar), Andrew Maskell (bass), Rob Davidson (keyboards) and Darren Leader (drums). "Arm Yourself", the second single from Collected Memories, as well as its music video (again directed by Allan) was released in August 2008. The third single released by Z&G is the hit "Oxymoron," for which an HD stop motion video was shot by the bands still photographer, Marcus Maschwitz and directed & edited by band members, Greg Carlin and Alan Shenton. In January 2009 they released "Running Faster," followed by "In My Eyes," "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and "Pariahs." In total, 'Collected Memories' produced 7 Top 10 singles and achieved numerous # 1’s on the biggest National and College Radio stations around South Africa.
The Knife EP (2010)
In May 2010, Zebra & Giraffe launched their first International release – a 5 Track EP called ‘The Knife’. The EP, which features selected tracks from their debut ‘Collected Memories’, was mixed in London at Metropolis Studios by the acclaimed producer / mixer Cenzo Townshend. Townshend is famous for his work with bands like Editors, Florence and The Machine, Snow Patrol and U2. ‘The Knife’ EP includes the singles – ‘Oxymoron’, (mixed by Ken Lewis) ‘The Knife’, ‘In My Eyes’, ‘Arm Yourself’ and ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’, and will be released internationally in May 2010.
The Inside (2010)
Zebra & Giraffe released their 2nd long player in South Africa on the 27th September 2010. Production began on this album in May of the same year. The majority of the album was recorded at RBF Studios in Johannesburg. The album was once again produced by Darryl Torr, and this time around mixed by Cenzo Townshend. Three different versions of the album will be released on the same date. A standard edition, a deluxe edition with a DVD documentary on the 'making of The Inside' album & video, and a 3rd edition with the Knife EP attached, also mixed by Cenzo Townshend. The album was written by Greg Carlin, Alan Shenton, and Darren Leader. Once again, Warwick Allan was recruited to direct & edit a video for the title track "The Inside."
The band will be supporting the release of "The Inside" around South Africa in October 2010. They will be visiting: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Bloemfontein, East London, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Knysna, Stellenbosch, and finishing up in Cape Town on the 30th October at the 3 Arts Theatre.
My picks to share with you:
My favourite!!!
