The Ragdolls

Howard Roark and The Ragdolls kept everyone dancing at Mercury Live on Friday (18 January). Both quite different bands but both highly enjoyable. First up was Howard Roark, a four piece indie-rock band consisting of Nigel Moore as vocalist, James Boonzaier on guitar, Patrick Skuce on bass guitar and Chris Slabber on drums. They are a relatively new band launched only in August 2007. They are a typical indie-rock boy band with the messy hair, skinny boy jeans, catchy beats and intense energy. Their sound being a mix somewhere between Kings of Leon, The Strokes and The Dirty Skirts.

The name Howard Roark is apparently based on a fictional character from the novel The Fountainhead, “that has strong beliefs on individualism and functionality within our modern society” and has nothing to do with what the band is all about. So what is the band all about then? Well if their gig at Mercury Live is anything to go by, they are about putting on an intense energy-filled show with lots of catchy songs that are easy to dance to. Nigel Moore has a strong gravelly voice and one can really see and feel the emotion when he’s belting it out. Patrick Skuce, the newest band member replaced Ruan Vermeulen who was previously on bass, brings some serious intensity to the band and at times looks almost as if he’s in a trance with his eyes rolled back into his head; very interesting to watch.

All in all Howard Roark are an enjoyable band to watch and listen to. My main criticism would be that there is not that much crowd interaction and the band seems too serious most of the time.

In contrast Sarah Pope vocalist from The Ragdolls does interact with the crowd and seems to have built up quite a strong fan base. The Ragdolls formerly known as Just Sarah consist of Sarah Pope as vocalist, Steven Jacobson on drums, Damian Upton on bass guitar and Giulio Brandi on lead guitar. Their style of music is a classic rock and roll with a slight twist in that the lead singer is a girl which is not often seen in the more traditional rock and roll bands.

One of the great things about The Ragdolls is that each of the four members of the band seems so different from each other and each brings their own element to the group. Sarah, the main component of the band, has a strong voice and lots of energy and brings some cheekiness and raunchy lyrics to the band. Damian Upton fulfils the pretty boy, eye candy element (performing with an open shirt at Mercury, he seems quite aware of this). Giulio Brandi, lead guitarist, is perhaps the most laid back musician I’ve seen. He seems so calm and unflappable and seriously focused on skilfully playing his guitar. Steven Jacobsen like most drummers is somewhat overshadowed by the other members of the band but seems to bring some fun and humour to the group. Altogether they make up a solid, strong sounding band. - BizEBlog

The Vontaines

When the band from Somerset West started, I thought they were quite good and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, but a little later, as I turned around, the crowd had disappeared. The best for me was when they only used the instruments. Not that the guy has a bad voice, but the sound was more confident like that. This is only my opinion though. Go check them out for yourself.

The Ragdolls
If I can some this up in 4 words, it would be: A is for awesome!!!
With wild eyes staring over the crowd, Sarah Pope, belts out this voice I can only describe as a mix between Courtney Love and The Distillers!!
Going from one song into the next, they don’t give the club downstairs a chance to disturb the Ragdolls vibe. The crowd that disappeared before suddenly popped up again and sung along, danced and definitely had a great time.
With the help of three fantastic artists, Damian (Bass), Steven (Drums) and Giulio (Lead Guitar), Sarah (Vocals/Guitar) got herself a band that’s gonna go all the way to the top.
They have the power when they’re on stage, I mean, who else can get two people to break dance for a belt buckle? And Sarah isn’t just limited to the stage, she even jumps into the crowd and gets fans to sing with her.
I think everyone was impressed with their performance Saturday night at Zula and I for one can’t wait for them to record an album, but in the meantime, I’m going to go to every show. Hope to see you all there.
www.myspace.com/theragdollsrazzle - Boudoir Live Productions

The Ragdolls and MacGyver Knife played at Mercury last night, Friday the 16th May. What a combination, good music and then something for the girls and the girls. Continue reading to see some photos and video clips and you may even get to hear a Ragdoll song. The opening set was played by MacGyver Knife, who describe themselves as an Alternative/Rock band. The band is made up of Zaheer- drums and percussion, Mishal- vocals, Maahir- guitar, backing vocals and Zaahier - bass.

This was my first MacGyver Knife experience and it was a good introduction to an excitting and visually pleasing band. No matter how good a band is, if they don't have a good stage act and presence they definitely loose points. Mishal, the vocalist had the girls screeming for more when they weren't singing the chorusus to all of the songs. The band has a lot of energy and something for the girls to perve at, with shouts of sexy legs and other similar comments usually reserved for guys letching over gorgeous female performers. screemed from behind me. You can visit them on Facebook or MySpace to listen to some of their tracks. Here are a few photos of them and I have a little video clip which is down below the photos, check it out.

take a look at their full photo gallery

Next up were the Ragdolls, they started out as Just Sarah and recently changed their name and their image and their sound and are focusing on rock 'n roll. The Ragdolls are Sarah on vocals and steel string guitar, Damian on bass, Steve on drums and Giulio on lead guitar, he's a new addition to the band and I can see why they chose him, this boy rocks. You can visit them on Facebook.

This was another first for me, I've seen them many times when they were Just Sarah but not as the Ragdolls. Sarah is a very powerful woman, hot vocalist and a real character and party animal. She defies the stereotype that you have to have curves in all the right places to be gorgeous, she's a queen of rock 'n roll, with a voice that ranges between Linda Perry of 4 Non Blonds and Janis Joplin and I think she close to beingas wild. It's wonderful to see a band take this much effort for a gig, for each gig they create a new and interesting stage with props and all, in the photos of the gig you'll see the beautiful stage they setup last night. They threw a whole bunch of their EP's to the audience, they're looking to the future here and I believe they'll go a long way.

The Ragdolls have some very catchy numbers like this one, Modern Affair, take a listen while you're looking through the photos and decide for yourself.

Take a look at the video clip I took of them last night

check out the rest of the photos of them last night in their full Photo Gallery

All of this would not have been possible without Mercury, one of South Africas best live music venues, you can be sure that any of the bands playing there are worth listening to. Mercury has also invested in a great sound system and has the best lighting rig I've yet seen in a South African music venue with top class technical guys operating it. Thank you to Mercury. You can check them out at www.mercuryl.co.za and on Facebook as well.

- What's on SA