She’s not one to shout her own name from the rooftops – though if she did so from the St Aidan’s tower and projected, you’d hear her in Bathurst – but Andra live in this particular space is something very special. Indeed, Andra remains a shamefully underrated exponent of that instrument, which is only forgivable because her blockbuster vocals often thrust themselves into the limelight. Her guitar does exactly what she expects it to, which is a tall order given the many genres she tackles. The shade of Janis Joplin is evident – Patti Smith is another possible touchpoint – as Andra buries herself in her art, creating her own unique, almost shamanic persona without anything feeling like it’s manufactured for effect.Įqually unaffected is the precision of her act.
She switches from quiet folk to an epic Spanish ballad from left-field pop to roaring, thrilling blues and from gospel to bluegrass. It’s a big enough sound to cut effortlessly through the inane hubbub of a noisy club, but in the huge, vaulted silence of a church, it’s emotionally good.Īndra’s range over the course of her hour-long set is incredible. Such a move means that while Tennyson identifies with the woman singer, inhabits the innermost reaches of her consciousness, claiming her heightened. Keeping mostly still bar a few rhythmic movements and the occasional widening of her expressive eyes, Andra generates spectacular dynamics for a solo singer and guitarist – so much so that a man halfway back is moved to raise his hand, evangelic church style, during one particularly impressive passage. The next (“We’re in a church, after all”) was a gritty version of John The Revelator, and the last is a tribute to an obvious influence on Andra, Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz. The first is a brittle, melancholic take on Save The Last Dance For Me, its usual pop sheen stripped away and its core – she explained that it was a love song written by a crippled man for his wife-to-be – exposed like a raw wound. The place is an inspired choice for relatively intimate shows, its high wooden ceilings making for sublime acoustics and its architectural splendour giving each artist a canvas on which to create a memorable production.Īndra is a shy person, not given to frivolous banter, and it’s just her and a scarf-adorned mic stand in the middle of the stage in terms of her “rig”, but her big dreadnought guitar and bigger, soul-lifting voice are more than enough to fill the room.Īware that as a first-timer in Grahamstown, her audience may have no idea regarding her original material, Andra included a trio of interpretations in her set. Released July 30, 1996, Sublime sold more than six million copies, spawning massive radio hits including “What I Got,” “Santeria” and “Wrong Way.” The band will be celebrating the album’s 25th anniversary this year with several projects, including a graphic novel from Z2 Comics and a covers and remixes LP helmed by Blink 182’s Travis Barker.Andra Cilliers made her National Arts Festival debut at St Aidan’s, a magnificent de-commissioned (you could tell because there was a bar set up in the corner) church set up as a music venue for the duration of the event, on Tuesday 9 July. It’s gonna go.’ So then they realized that they really did want to put it out, and they put it out a month later.” “We had talked with them seriously several times, like ‘You guys gotta listen to this. “So they were eager for us to complete the goals and the mission at hand, but we just couldn’t do it,” the drummer continued. “We had a hard date in June and we were heading over to Europe for the first time right when that happened.” “They were talking about canning the release, because it was supposed to be released actually in June,” Gaugh explained. As a result, the album almost didn’t see the light of day. Nowell’s fatal heroin overdose occurred on May 25, 1996, just days before the band’s self-titled LP was originally set for release. “Go eff yourself,” the drummer recalled saying. Unsurprisingly, Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson immediately shot down the idea.
I swear to God, two weeks from now you guys are gonna be out there playing stadiums. You guys are getting back out on the bus.
“They wanted to set up interviews and tryouts for the new Sublime singer,” the drummer revealed, before echoing what he was told: “The show must go on. More than 25 years after the death of frontman Bradley Nowell, Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh has revealed that the band was almost immediately told to hire a new singer.ĭuring a recent interview with radio host Stryker for the show Out of Order, Gaugh recalled the record label’s response following Nowell’s untimely passing.
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