The phenomenon known has SARON GAS has shaken this country like a relentless storm. They are currently on the brink of conquering America, if not the entire world. We got hold of front man Shaun Welgemoed and probed him for answers to the questions that are on the tip of everyone’s tongues:

There are already various rumours surrounding the deal you guys have secured. What’s the truth?
We’ve been signed to Wind-up records for 7 albums (approx. 10 years or so) and the first album will be released in the US early next year. The album will be available in South Africa, and Fragile is now considered a collector’s item.

Are you planning to relocate to America and if so, where will you relocate to?
Essentially, we’ll have to relocate because it makes good business sense. If we’re gonna be touring in the USA and working with a label there, it means we’ll have to be there too. So yes, we’re looking to relocate to New York city, or somewhere outside New York, that’s quite accessible. (editor – SARON GAS have since left – the rock ‘n roll adventure begins).

How did the deal come about – what events led to your current success?
Our manager sent a copy of Fragile to a contact of hers at Sony Music in Germany (he didn’t sign us himself because all German record companies are only signing German bands) who was impressed enough to pass it on to Steve Lerner at Wind-Up records. Steve Lerner then got hold of Ingrid and they flew us to New York for a weekend to showcase our live performance. After our performance they told us that they wanted to sign us and we received the final contract at the end of August. We’ve now been signed to Wind-up with an exclusive 7 album deal, with the first coming out early next year.

You have evolved and improved immensely in the short time that you’ve been together. Are you planning on maintaining your current sound or are their plans to experiment with other styles?
I think we’ll always have our sound as it is now, with it perhaps maturing in years to come. The sound we have now is such because we play songs we’d enjoy listening to, and if we don’t like the way a particular song sounds we don’t play it again. We don’t believe in analyzing our songs too much, because that makes them clinical. Most of our songs are the result of jam sessions in the studio, or in sound-checks.

How much of the material on Fragile will be reproduced?
The new album will have some of the tracks from Fragile with the remainder of the album comprising of new material. We really don’t know at this point which songs will be there.

I believe that there is talk of a name change owing to another American band also called Saron Gas. Are you guys changing your name (which was such a cool one!) and if so, to what?
Yeah, we might have to change our name, but nothing is finalized yet. That’s another aspect we’ll have to wait and see about. I think we’ll first concentrate on the musical side and then cross the other bridges in our way. [ED: They settled for STONE FLY but it eventually became SEETHER ]

The securing of this deal is absolutely massive – I’m sure you have given so much hope to aspiring South African bands. Basically you guys will be venturing over there as ambassadors of South African music. How involved do think you will be in promoting South African music in America? Do you plan on taking any demo’s over?
One of our main goals over there is to promote SA bands. We’ll do it in any way possible, to the best of our abilities. We’re thinking of inviting bands over to join us on tours once we’ve earned a fan base, we ultimately would like to expose them through Wind-up. All these things will take a lot of time though, so we don’t know when any of them will happen. We do, however, see this as a very big opportunity for ourselves obviously, and for the rest of South African music and South African bands.

You guys began garnering a huge, loyal fan base here in South Africa from the moment you began touring. Can we still expect to see you guys gigging in South Africa in the future?
We’re always going to be as loyal to our fans as they are to us, so we’ll definitely be back in South Africa to play shows, whenever we can.

What has been your best gig ever in South Africa? Any other special moments or highlights you’d like to share with your fans?
I used to think some gigs were better than others but every one of them is cool. There are so many awesome experiences and memories, that it’s hard to distinguish them from each other. One highlight was a show where we had a little blonde 5-year-old girl dancing right in front of the stage. That was pretty profound.

What’s the deal with ‘Beer’?
“Beer” is about child abuse, and molestation. It’s very personal to me, so I don’t really like to explain the lyrics. For that you’ll have to ask the person who did what he did. (Sorry!)

Thank you Shaun. All of us SARON GAS fans wish you guys the very best! 

by Bubbles

NME gave MUSE the Best New Artist Award. Melody Maker elevated them to “the future of intelligent guitar music”.

There’s joy in the pain of the guitar; the sadness in their anger, the anger in their sadness. Showbiz is like experiencing a musical dream under a black sky. Our invitation is a piano spiraling into the dry vocal “come waste your millions here”. Yes, no one can deny the Radiohead influence (well … maybe the band themselves) but this is no child. Instrumentally and psychologically, they can look Radiohead in the eye. Lyrically, they’re superior e.g. “She had something to confess to but you don’t have a time zone, so look the other way” (‘Muscle Museum’) and “falling down and 15 000 people scream, begging for your dream” (‘Falling Down’).

Turn the sun off. Lie down. Push PLAY. Taste…