26 FEB. FARRYL ROTH
Farryl Roth on vocals, guitar and a touch of keys
Jonathon Rubain on bass and Keith de Bruyn on drums
All songs by Farryl Roth, except two.

Who is Farryl?
Farryl is from Joburg. He has a band with the unlikely but fantastic name of the Junior Musicians Yacht Club. As the Yacht Club, they scored the TV drama Hard Copy, as well as Mzansi.

Farryl is a peculiar thing, a short, nervous physiotherapist from Jozie who is not actually nervous, it's just that next to his much taller wife he always looks nervous. He looks like one of those cool hip hop Jews from Brooklyn, but is exactly not what you expect.

He is a good writer of pop songs, very good. In fact his songwriting ability is better than his voice: other people really should be singing his songs. 

What did we want to achieve?

We've been talking with Farryl about creating a project for some time now, and this created the opportunity. Farryl agreed to use the gig fee for a flight down and to hire two Cape Town musicians. He entrusted the choice of those musicians to us. We chose Jonathon Rubain on the bass, he's 21 and quite brilliant. He came through the mentoring of Mac McKenzie, so he comes with a strong angle and a keen sense of what he wants musically. On drums we brought in Keith de Bruyn, who is a great funk drummer. He has worked admirably with the Khoi Khollektif as well as the Goema Captains, featuring on their 2003 album Healing Destination.

Farryl flew in on the Friday, the trio spent Saturday and Sunday rehearsing before playing the gig on Sunday night. Now we have a Junior Musicians Yacht Club in Cape Town.

We wanted a songbook, in a sense, of Farryl Roth, so that we have a good overview of what is doable. The combination of players worked really well, but needs the embellishment of more rehearsal, as well as backing singers.