MaxNormal.tv - "CONCEIVE, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE"

What is MaxNormal.tv? I hear you ask. Many of you will be familiar with the live hip hop act Max Normal from the early 00’s and their wildly charismatic front man Waddy Jones. They burst onto the South African music scene in 2001 with their debut and only album, Songs From The Mall. This received varied reviews but was a seminal record that did wonders for grounding the SA hip hop scene.

In the 6 years that followed Max Normal morphed into a variety of ensembles with varying success; The Constuctus Corporation were the next logical step, they released a beautifully designed and packaged ‘cyber fairytale’ album called The Ziggurat. A collaboration with Sibot, formally of Max Normal, under the name Watkin Tudor Jones Feat DJ F*ck witnessed the release of the hugely popular dance floor draw card Super Evil Me and in 2005 The Fantastic Kill, which featured DJ’s Neon Demon, Jakobson and Mr Sakitumi, as well as fellow rapper Spoek Mathambo, hit the well trodden streets of Cape Town with its electronic hip hop. Now, in 2007, as the electro indie scene invades every bar and club in the city Waddy launches MaxNormal.tv.

Upon visiting www.maxnormal.tv you might feel like you’ve stumbled across a real life South African soap opera as opposed to a bands website. This is exactly what you’re supposed to think. The whole site has a corporate air to it; the bands profiles and the MaxNormal.tv story are written candidly with tongue firmly in cheek. Each member of the “world famous hip-hop crew” has his/her own character, back story and, to some degree, issues. Waddy has always told stories through his music, but with this latest incarnation he’s creating characters, scenarios and a world in which they can perform.

“When MaxNormal and his dynamic team aren't flying around the globe educating and entertaining the masses, you will find them hard at work inside Maxcorp headquarters, preparing the next phase of their mission.”

Max is described as a ‘deeply religious man…as a leader and a guide’. He has helped many people with his motivational and inspirational music but he can’t seem to help his own wife. It transpires that all the members of Maxcorp have intertwining intricate lives and we’re given glimpses of each of these in their music. Max has marriage problems, Yolandi has a jealous boyfriend, Justin feels there is an ominous force building inside of him and is very worried what might happen if it’s released, Jakob is an insecure ladies man who still lives with his mother and Brad is on a mission from God.

By creating such interesting characters another dimension is added to both their live performance and the band as a concept and music making entity. In today’s fiercely contested music scene it’s important to create the right amount of hype for when you hit the clubs. In using the already established moniker of Max Normal one could view .tv as a bit of a copout and blame Waddy for riding the wave of his prior successes. In an interview on their website entitled ‘Return of the King a feature by Waddy Jones on Max Normal’ Waddy explains his reasons for using the name: "How's it going with Max Normal?" someone asked for the nine hundred and sixty-seven thousandth time. It was only then that I received the light. Maybe I should call myself Max Normal again. Cause, no matter what Waddy Jones does, he'll never be as large as Max Normal.”

There is a certain amount of irony in MaxNormal.tv, Waddy seems to have approached this project in a business like manor, with specific ideas and plans to grab people’s attention, to shock the audience and make sure they pay attention. His conscious decision to use the established name of Max Normal is testament to this. The outcome is a hip hop parody of a corporate power point presentation that’s enthralling to watch and audibly stimulating.

The Armchair Theatre was jam packed, and this performance, their second, was eagerly anticipated. Dj’s Drop The Chop (Armchair) and Fletcher (African Dope) were spinning a combination of electro beats, dance hall and hip hop and by the time MaxNormal.tv hit the stage the dance floor was bubbling. Justin DeNobrega and Jakob Basson create the beats and Yolandi Visser operates the power point presentation that accompanies the lyrics. Waddy’s personal, no holds barred, approach affords his performance a very endearing element, his particular and peculiar brand of hip hop gives him a wonderful opportunity to engage his audience like few of his contemporaries can. The MaxNormal.tv show takes this to the next level the band arrives on stage dressed in suits, wearing serious corporate faces and moving with intent and composure. The scene that ensues could easily be confused with a board meeting or business presentation; black draped tables adorned with laptops, bottled water, glasses and a projection screen with the MaxNormal.tv crest broadcast onto it.

Their motto or mantra; "CONCEIVE, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE" plays as an anchor for the “high-energy hip-hop power point presentation” performance. Accompanied by his faithful assistant Yolandi, Max and his colleagues bust into an electro hip hop ménage of motivational speakeresq rap. Waddy plays this role exceptionally well, commanding everyone’s attention and rapping with eloquence and poise. As the show progresses the audience are drawn into the production, which creates a similar effect to that of interactive theatre. MaxNormal cleverly manipulates his audience into feeling like they actually work for Maxcorp. His father-like story telling is very engaging and gives him the platform to convey his message; a counter-culture lecture on social pressures and the need for originality.

‘Always expect the unexpected’ isn’t a bad adage to live your life by and on Saturday night it was particularly pertinent. Moving swiftly from the sing-a-long power point projections, courtesy of Miss Visser, we were greeted with Destructo, MaxNormal’s self professed rave band. The stage lights blacked out, a familiar hiss of the smoke machine broke the silence and a surging electronic beat filled the room. The whole band donned black hoody’s and the strobe lights lit up the stage with epileptic eeriness. The music itself was a vast departure from MaxNormal.tv; high tempo trance like licks reminiscent of Joy Division and Cape Town’s very own fledgling electro indie kids, She.Man:Lion.

The contrast between MaxNormal.tv and Destructo was quite something and it certainly had novelty value, but if they’re to continue pulling big crowds they are going to need a few hits or board rooms of variation… something which I don’t think Waddy will have trouble finding.

Words & Photographs: Alexander Wilson

Armchair Obs Fest '06

I wrote a group email last year when I was in Barcelona describing a crazy few weeks in my life. I employed a 'one word can emcompass the mood' descriptive technique. Hopefully the photographs will tell a few tales as well, I was asked to document the graffiti/art and the party, I think i did!
Here we go again... its 'KEY WORDS' time:

"11.30am, cricinfo.com, food, camera, lenses, money, glasses, suncream, keys, car, wrensch rd, lower main road, armchair, sunshine. spray paint, bars, mohito's, balcony, views, polka dots, reflections, playlists, stairs, ryan, jess, photos, lexi, bridget, gil, jenna, alison, timmy, humanizer. dream soda, bergies, dancing, sparse, stalls, smells, ian, colours, fire, pizza, beats, photos, breaks, cracks, cans. damien, reggae, ross, wrist bands, joe, progression, black, pink, blue, green, stencils, yellow, red, gas masks, fletcher, records, scratching, selling, cans, windhoek, ladders, sofas, foozball, dancing, haircuts. kath, pete, leah, windhoek draught, down, walk, madness, hustle & bustle, slow, fast, kids, punks, goths, hippies, fogies, hipsters, cool kids, rockers, metal heads, tourists, maps, mordor, black label, hogs, african sky, dylan, pumping, bouncing, surging, bopping, hopping. sunset, photos, balcony, jamming, ian, death cab, sofa, disco braai, ivan, photos, andrew, laz, troyden, gil, kevin, beer, alison, arnie, angela, madness, sweat, laughter, food, mix n' blend, panchos, queue, coolie, nachos, yummy, butterflies, jager bombs, queues, toilet, foozball, shorts, talls, photots, drunken mayhem, stories, missions, mike, ash, andrew, jess, funny, ross, drunk, shout, laugh, slur and mumble. 2am, cricket, obz cafe, 50/2 (yesssss), mike, drinks, dance, len, hamma, jump & fall, camera, photos, caitlin, odd names, hip hop, death, canon, nikon, streets, sand, ian, walk-home, ash, drew, mike, ross, crazy 'nature bedroom', cats, reflections, toast, tea, jess, stir fry, ryan, wrensch... bed... sleep!

Crystal Pools

It was with slight apprehension that we set off on our temerarious trek up to the main pools in the Steenbras Reserve. The storm clouds seemed to follow us from Somerset West to and spirits amongst the group weren't too high. On entering the ravine we were greeted by a small family of baboons and an off-duty cop. This scantily clad, gun wielding law enforcer kindly offered to stand guard with his 'piece', as all 14 of us skirted past a large, aggressive male baboon. Shorty after our encounter with the baboons the sky opened up and pea sized droplets began to fall. 11 of us rambled on and Jenna, Mark and Sam turned back fearing that the rain was there to stay. Treve, John, Ryan and myself were taking the lead with Jess, Ash, Gil, Nicky, Andrew, Joao and Jess bringing up the rear. After 15 minutes of rain, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, the dark clouds subsided and gave way to clear blue skies.

Climbing up the ravine is quite a scramble, over rocks, through bushes and you have to cross the river at various points. Just before reaching the main pool we walked through a cool grove full of old tangled fig trees and moss covered cave walls that were dripping with moisture... breaking into the sunlight we were greeted with an incredible view. We stood atop a waterfall with a large pool on either side. Dark brown water flanked by towering gorge walls and topped with a bright blue sky, it was idyllic.

Treve went off to explore higher and headed for the main falls, a bunch of us went for swim and John, Ryan and myself scrambled up one of the smaller waterfalls. Much to our delight Jenna, Mark and Sam arrived a little later, they had seen the change in weather and made their way up to the pools. Shortly after Tofa and Timmy rocked up.

There was lots of talk about where to jump from and how high the spots were... John was the first to take the plunge... He flung himself off the cliff with no warning and came up smiling. Myself, Ryan, Tofa, Treve, Jess, Ash, Andrew and Joao all followed, it was awesome, the cliff must have been about 12 meters; I was amazed at how long it took to hit the water!

It was around 3pm and the pools were growing busier, 3 guys decided they wanted to do the bigger jump (which I later found out was 18 meters) and Tofa thought he'd give it a go as well. The 3 instigators managed the jump without a problem... Tofa's turn came and we were all cheering him on; he leaped fourth and hit the water with an almighty splash, everyone winced as he made quite a slap! He surfaced and looked fine, a little winded, but fine. He swam slowly to shore and lay down on a rock, we gathered our things for the hike back and went down to meet him.

Ryan and I were the first to arrive, Toff didn't look well, he was having real trouble breathing and was in a lot of pain. He could move all of his limbs, fingers and toes and there was no blood so we assumed it was just a serious winding and some muscle damage. Timmy and everyone else arrived and we re-assesed the situation. He was certainly a little concussed and definitely in shock. Desperate to lie down, he found a flat-ish rock. We waited a while and then decided it was going be to difficult for Tofa to try and walk out of the ravine and we really weren't sure if he had some serious internal damage. Because there was no cell phone reception, the only option was to head back to where the cars were parked and get advice or help. Ryan and I decided to run back to the Sunbird Resort (where we got our permits from) and see what could be done. After a grueling 20 minute run we reached Sunbird, explained what happened and were told to phone Mountain Rescue. They knew exactly where Tofa was and said they'd alert the troops. Now we just had to wait...

Ryan and I waited at the entrance to the reserve, we were joined by Jess and Ash and shortly after by a rather sunburnt Jenna and tired Nicky (they managed to get lost on their way back, Nicky lead Jenna up the 'wrong' mountain). The Mountain Rescue bakkie arrived, we told them where they were and what had happened and they called in the helicopter. The sun was setting and in the depths of Crystal Pools Andrew and Timmy had set about building a stretcher. They had no idea Ryan and I had contacted mountain rescue and that a helicopter was on its way so combining Timmy's Boy Scout skills and Andrew's architectural/engineering abilities they produced, what is alleged to be, a 'damn fine stretcher' using branches, bags, belts and even shoe laces.

It only took about 10 minutes for the Helicopter to pick up Tofa. The whirling blades sliced the thick evening air and the chopper touched down in front of a truely sensational sunset. Tofa was helped out and checked over by a doctor, he was told to get to a hospital as soon as possible. I think it's very important to point out that the Mountain Rescue was 100% free and incredibly efficient. The mountaineers and doctors are all volunteers and they really did a sterling job. A few of the mountaineers went back up the ravine to meet with Timmy, Joao, Andrew, Jess, John, Gil and Treve to guide them down as the sun was pretty much set and navigating in the dark can be quite tricky.














Tofa relaxed in the back of Andrew's bakkie and we were lucky enough to witness a positively electric (quite literally) sunset. The serene False Bay sunset was spiced up by massive bolts of lightning that made for one of the most memorable sunsets I've ever witnessed.














Timmy took Tof to the hospital and he was seen by a specialist the following day. He has compacted his T10 vertebrae by a whopping 45%... no surgery is needed but Tof won't be doing any cliff diving for a couple of months.

A sunday afternoon walk turned into an epic saga. Enjoy the photos.

Tranquility Crags

On Saturday 11th of November Andrew, Jess, Ryan and I set out to find the Tranquility Crags. Our bags were packed with provisions, our walking shoes, hats and suncream were donned and we started our hike in Camps Bay. We followed the Pipe Line path that traverses the 12 Apostles. The going was pretty easy, stopping every now then to take some photographs... we reached Woody Ravine and Andrew was pretty sure we had to continue to find the right path up. Luckily we bumped into a couple having lunch and asked for directions. A moustached, shiny black pants wearing, pipe smoking man knew exactly where we were headed and gave us pretty good directions.

We started our ascent with a bounce in our step...
except maybe for Jenna, Andrew's staffie, she was struggling a little and was afforded the luxury of being carried every now and then. After a grueling 45 minutes or so we reached the top and were greeted with a chilly wind. A brief stop for a drink, to catch our breath and take in the view... we could clearly see Muizenberg Beach, we were off again in search of the elusive crags. Ryan, Jess and I went one way and Andrew another. We all had our own idea of where the crags lay but no-one was sure. Ryan, Jess and I were scrambling around some nasty fynbos. Jess was rather anxious for one of us to look inside a rather dodgy looking coolerbox hidden under a rock. There was talk of mountain folk who inhabit the crags, people following us and the utter futility of even trying to find these damed crags. To our delight and suprise Andrew seemed to be making some headway with Jenna. He called and we followed his voice...

The crags are large fissures  at the top of one of the 12 Apostles, they are a labyrinth of fairytale like alcoves, crevices and tunnels. Yellow Wood trees grow straight up and their branches advance at right angles searching for the sunlight, the walls are covered in green moss and although the wind was blowing a gale outside in the, aptly named, Tranquility Crags there's not a breath of wind. It truly is a magical place.

Tranquility Crags - Jess, Andrew, Ryan and I ... Saturday 11th November 2006.

Twakkie - The Most Amazing Show & Felix Laband all taken at the Armchair Theatre.

Tafelberg Tavern

This is a photograph of Zolani Mohola from Freshlyground. I took this at the Tafelberg Tavern on June 16th this year. It was a splendid evening and the first time I'd seen Freshlyground perform in more than a year (as i'd been overseas). I had just recently purchased my new camera, a Nikon D70 and was experimenting with using the lenses from my old Nikon F2 with the new body. It was a cold night, Andrew and I shivered as we drank beer on the balcony. Joao and Yoirgo were at the door selling merchandise, that is where I left my camera case. Halfway through the gig I went to the door to change my lense, I attched my 105mm Telephoto and rushed back into the auditorium. I lifted the view-finder to my eye only to be greeted with a haze of moisture obscuring my view. I pondered this for a second and then realised the change in temperature from the chilly entrance hall to sweaty interior has caused my lens to mist up. This is when I learnt my lesson about keeping one's lenses and camera in the same temperate environment, a lesson well learned I might add.

Abstract

I like this photograph. I called it Abstract. It was taken in my friend Jon's car, on a road called the N7 in the Western Cape, South Africa. We were on our way to a very small town called Nieuwoudtville in order for Jon to write an article and for me to take photographs, explore the wilderness and see some truly incredible sights. It was a crazy weekend, packed with activity, interesting people, places, smells and strange experiences.

I like to take photographs and plan to post as many as i can on this 'blog space' with a little explanation of each one. Ok. That's that for now.