The New Loud Rockets Video Launch

It was a weekend to spend at Assembly as Lark played their last gig in Cape Town on Friday and The New Loud Rockets launched their first ever music video on Saturday.

As is so typical of Cape Town, things didn’t get going much before 11 as The Founders kicked off what was to be an evening to remember. The Hives sounding band read the vibe just right with a long instrumental intro that caught the attention of the many NLR fans that had assembled to witness history. The ever growing crowd really were very receptive of the “still a little way to go” band.

The hype was building. Even during the interval the foosball got unequivocally more aggressive, people gathered around the empty screen where they would soon watch the new video and the bar was drained. Cigarettes glowed like frantic torches in the night. The lads were excited. They were hugging everyone out of shear appreciation of their presence at the launch.

It was time. They took the stage. Adrenaline pumped. Unfortunately they were introduced by South Africa’s worst “comedian” who continues to think that disgusting language about the human anatomy and excretions must be funny. Anyway, moving along. He was soon forgotten. John’s super stage presence made being one of the crowd easy! No one could stand still. Heads were moving like no one’s business which for most Indie kids meant releasing a very full head of hair. Drinks were a bad idea if you wanted to actually keep them in the bottle. There was no such thing as one’s “personal space”. The newly installed air conditioning units tried in vain to keep the sweat levels to a minimum.

The parents of this young 4 piece prodigy looked on proudly as their boys no doubt blew their initial expectations back in 2006 out of the water. When it came time for the “thank you’s” the parents were right at the top of the list for there continued support and belief. Touching. We just wanted to see the dam video!

And wow, was it worth the wait. Directed by Dylan Culhane, “Bleeding in a cab” was shot through ink in water. Band members were depicted in the permeating ink. Very original and the black and white made one momentarily think back to the Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” video where his face appears in black and white paint patterns. It was so so good! There were screams of excitement as the video played.

After the video the distinctively Strokes sounding New Loud Rockets came back on and the party continued. You could see they were proud of their work, and in total awe of the crowd’s response to the video.

All in all, it was a superb show of South African talent from one of the best up and coming bands of the future.