If you needed a theme song to kick 2020 the hell out of here; Soul Hoover, a proudly South African band, has got the perfect song for us all.
The Karoo, South Africa (24 November 2020) – Soul Hoover, a South African band in the Karoo have written a song for 2020, telling the year exactly where it can go. We caught up with Arther Collier, one of the band members, to find out what inspired the Proudly South African anthem of 2020.
It all started in the desert landscape of the Karoo in July over pints of homebrewed pineapple beer in a remote farmhouse. Leif Petersen suggested to fellow band member Arthur Collier that the ultimate motherlode for any musician was to write a song about what a k*k year 2020 has been for everyone.
The two lines that they struck upon were ‘2020 can go f*** off and die’ and ‘Kill it with fire’.
“It was decided that only the best talent available could do justice to this anthem, we decided to enlist some of the members of our previous ‘State of the Nation’ Township album project; enter Simmah Mahlanyana and Albida McMillan to perform vocal duties along with the prodigious Lucas Jones to play drums.”
For the next few months, lyrics and musical ideas were traded via WhatsApp and email between the five members of the project (because of the lockdown, it was impossible to meet up). After a few false starts, they settled on the idea of creating an anthem in the theme of Disco, because sending-off 2020 needs to be done in style!
“Recording the vocals and instruments whilst observing social distancing presented a huge challenge, but after listening to a rough mix, we knew we were on to something good.”
The next step was filming a promo video for the song, Arthur (Bass and vocals) learned that his mother in the UK had become very ill the day before the video shoot was due to take place. He decided to film his parts at home before he flew out to visit her, leaving the rest of the members to finish the project without him.
Under the expert direction of Kayla Petersen, the rest of the band filmed the remaining performances (along with the ceremonial burning of a mirror ball).
“The development of the song has taught us all that great art can come from the most adverse conditions, but it also reflects a typical South African determination to ‘make a plan’ despite the circumstances. No new years eve is complete without this addition to your playlist – let’s put this lousy year behind us and kill it with fire!”
So as you prepare to send off 2020 in the next month, get to know this Proudly South African gem and sing it loud and proud! PS: there are a few choice words that may not be safe for work or young ears.
Take a look at the video below.
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