 These guys had an absolutely brilliant gig at Chiltern on Saturday night, despite the “Hula Boogie"? dress-up part of the evening being a bit poorly represented. In retrospect, maybe it was a bit silly to throw a Hawaiian beachwear dress-up on a freezing night in Durban. The most we could manage was a few laurels around the neck and a floral shirt or two... and who could blame us?
The party itself was awesome; Chiltern pushed it up a notch by providing a bigger stage and some rad sound (thanks to Steve from Passenger), and the place was packed full with the dedicated locals as well as many newbies.
The Mizers put on the highly entertaining show that we all expected. Their old skool rock 'n roll tunes are swing and punk thrown together; a great mix of old and new, appealing to any age group despite the fact they're still the lighties of the music scene.
 They have the elusive element of crowd interaction that I always talk about. You really feel them from the audience, the happiness in the tunes is catchy and the beats addictive. By the end of their set, everyone was dancing, and half the crowd was up on stage; you could hardly make out a Mizer amoungst the fans all jamming and jumping around.
I'm listening to their full length album, “Lights Out"?, right now. It's great, if maybe a bit short, coming in at just over 30 minutes. It was a reviewer on another music site that initially said the lead singer needs to project more in the recorded form of their songs. I tend to agree; when you hear him live he sings with such passion and energy, which goes astray when he strives for more technical accuracy in the recording studio. This is merely a speck of coal in the diamond mine though, as every other aspect of the album is fantastically well produced.
 Chiltern is the place to be these days. Come round to support the players from the balcony, play a game of foozball, watch live big screen sport or even just drink an ice cold brewski (at R7 a pop, who can refuse?).
Apologies to The Rising End who played a bit earlier – I missed you guys – next time!
Check out the link to Durban's beach rock 'n roll boys on the left. It's currently asking me for a password to access the website... hopefully they're just doing brief maintainance!
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Their drummer is hot!
Hot as in talented; or hot as in you'd take him to bed right now?
Hot as in Id take him to bed right now! :-)
Multi talented then...?
Well he's good on the drums... the other stuff... I'll take your word for it.
shows that durban is bigger than you all make it out to be...u mention people and places i havent heard of...where is this venue?
Its in Westville - In Pitlochery Road. The Chiltern Football club.
They have been having some amazing live gigs recently
It's a bit of an arb venue, but the gig was good I admit... We'll have to see how the new burn turns out to be !?
I think that's part of the charm - sometimes an arb 'underground' kinda place is more fun. The gigs are definitely a lot more personal which I love too.
New burn is going to be rocking! Can't wait for that.
Yeah, I hope burn is going to still focus on live music, but I have a feeling its going to be changing its style quite drastically.
Hope not!
Chiltern is really arb when you think about it, but the gigs always have such a cool vibe that you just want to go back!
They should offer a taxi service to Durban though!
You think it's gonna change style? Like better or worse?
If anything I hope they start booking a greater variety of bands, not just the heavy stuff. I can see that happening already, Cassette will be playing on the opening night which is going to be cool. They're not heavy at all.
Thats rad! Who else is playing opening night? I know they re-doing the Korn tribute.
I hope its changing for the better, but Im a little worried! I have heard that it is big with lots of different areas, including a merch room????, and Im just hoping the "vibe" doesnt change if people are spread out etc - know what I mean? I am a big burn supporter though, so Im sure Ill still have fun - and agree with you 100% on the live bands...Im over heavy stuff every weekend.
It's not on the burn website, but according to ZA@PLAY, which is the Mail & Guardian gig guide:
BURN, corner of Umbilo and Clark roads. Durban’s hard-rocking haven of the underground has moved to its brand-new premises on the other side of town and inaugurates the new venue on Saturday June 15 with a live performance by Cassette. Described as “so indie, so cool, so now
Yup, I noticed the incorrect date! I guess we all just have to wait and see (I am not keen to stand in a queue all night like the closing party, but it will probably be worth it.) I am stoked because its moved to my side of town (2 min from home).
As long as they keep the focus on good music & cool vibes it will keep on winning I reckon.
Hmm... Blunt magazine gig guide has:
Title: Cassette
Date:
From 8 July 2006 at 21:00
To 8 July 2006 at 0:00
Location: Burn, 112 Umbilo Road
Durban
Details:
Something is fishy here...
HAHA... Burn website has:
Saturday 15 July
CASSETTE
Entry R30
I think Dave needs to sort this out!!
Its a relief - good ol burn - still as confused as ever!
And...I do know for sure that the Korn tribute is happening on the opening night... I wonder if they will have more than one band?
Not sure thats the best option for opening night?
The Korn tribute will be cool. Ja obviously Cassette won't be playing on the opening night... there's a mix-up somewhere.
do you guys know if the new venue for burn is bigger than the old one? if its modern and clean i might actually see what the whole burn thing is all about.
It's modern, clean, much bigger and better. There are three floors I think, and there's a roof area which apparently has a wicked view and will be like a beer garden.
The stage is bigger, apparently new lighting ... so ya, I would say definitely check it out!
Just got confirmation from Dave.
Cassette are playing July 15th at burn.
The Mizer website is under maintenance currently, but the new and improved site will be up and running soon.
Cool. Glad it's all sorted ... cassette will be wicked.
...and now....
Burn is not opening on saturday anymore, so who knows if the band line up will stay the same.
Yeah, I just found out. That really sucks. Apparently they don't have enough time to set up properly or something.
Hmm... who told you that? This is what Dave said on the dbnalternative forum:
The problem is as a result of an application made to get special consent to operate in a zone that is zoned as light industrial. One road up is zoned as general business and 3 clubs are within stone throwing distance of the club.
The special consent is no big deal and they are issued regulalry but town council are not really ready to bend over backwards to help out nightclubs because of the stigma attached to them. They have brought up the issue that the roads surrounding the club are not designed to handle the traffic that will result in Burn opening there. They have said that if we had in-house parking this would be less of an issue which I think is really just an excuse for some civil servant to show off some sort of power play.
We told them that no club in Durban has in-house parking and other clubs are already operating in the area. He told us up front that we should have got the special consent before we signed the lease but contridicted himself by saying that in order to apply for all licences we needed to have a lease in place.
We are still optomistic as he is doing a site inspection on Monday. If he was going to turn it down outright he would have done it already. I have a sneaky suspicion that I may be asked for some sort of donation to make this problem go away.
One way or another the club will open we just don't know the exact date yet.
I heard very much through the grapevine, so my source is obviously very unreliable (That's the last time I listen to the car-guard outside Joe Kools).