MYBURGH GROBBELAAR
By bus, train or hitch-hiking through Oz, somewhere in Indonesia on an old yacht, or sign writing in the freezing cold of Jersey - and always hunting for more waves to ride - these are some of the turns in Myburgh Grobbelaar's life. With sign writing and design as trade and a serious travel lust, Myburgh leaves a nine-to-five lifestyle behind and starts his journey across the globe. But through all these travels and experiences he continues to write music and returns everytime to play with various musicians in South Africa - an industry not unknown to him.
Myburgh entered the music scene in 1992 as the vocalist of Fauves - a band that originated in Parel Vallei High School, Somerset West. The other members of the band were Albert Loubser (Frost) on guitar, Dylan Kemlo on bass guitar, Tim Rankin on drums and David Poole on saxophone. At first they were only playing cover songs, but their energetic style and unusual choice of songs made their name right from the start. Albert left the band to join Blues Broers and was replaced by Alan Bainbridge. The band then changed their name to the more known Dorp. They shifted their focus to original songs and the style was moving in the direction of punk/ska. Dorp played various venues in Western Cape and proceeded to win the provincial leg of the group devision in the Shell Road to Fame in one year. In the same year they played their first big art festival in Graham's Town. In 1995 Myburgh left the group and started planning his travels.
Travels In 1997 Myburgh traveled around Australia and worked at various farms and sign companies to pay his way. It is during this time that he also sailed from Darwin to Indonesia - home to some of the best surfing waves on the planet and basically any surfers dream. This was not his last visit to Indo - he returned in 2004 for a surfing holiday of six weeks.
Next on the list was Jersey. Why? Here one can earn pounds without living a city life and, yes, it is also one of the few places with surfable waves in the UK! After nine months of design and sign writing Myburgh saved enough money to buy a few pieces of sign equipment and live a more laid-back life back home. He moved to Still Bay for six months and supplied the local industry with quality signs. Fortunately Still Bay is a small town which left Myburgh with enough time to get to know the waves of Still Bay! A few months later he also started to work on the Orange River as freelance guide. A few years later the opportunity arises for him to play with a girlfriend in a pub in Switzerland. A dislike in pub music was set aside - the world was calling once more - and for one whole month he got his share of chocolates, snowboarding and 'Hey Jude'!
The next year provided Myburgh with quite a weird, yet unique incident - the Big Brother episode. Jacqui Brits, his girlfriend at that stage, sent off her entry form for Big Brother II and a few months later entered the house as a contestant. First she was voted off, but then had to re-enter as a replacement. Jacqui was nominated to be voted off a few times and every time Myburgh had to leave his quiet farm life in Gordon's Bay for the bright lights of the set in Randburg. After two months BB II ended and Jacqui finished second. And so did Myburgh - two months later they both went their separate ways.
In December 2002 Myburgh's old friend and fellow musician from Dorp, Dylan Kemlo, returned to SA for a break. He took on the production and bass playing for Myburgh's EP 'Burnt Bachelor'. All the others helped out - Albert Frost on guitars, Tim Rankin on drums and David Poole provided a brass section for one of the songs. The last song on the EP, 'Girl', was programmed, mixed and co-produced by Nolan Chiatt. The live tracking in the stables were done by Mike Abbott and the rest was recorded and mixed by Malcolm Aberdein at M.A.R.S. in Woodstock. The EP was mastered by David Maclean.
In 2004 'Girl' was recorded by Gert Bekker and used as the title track on his album. Also on the EP is 'Deurmekaar' with it's strong blues groove, 'Spiderslides' and a laid-back, atmospheric song called 'Kuslangs'. The slide guitar along with the English lyric-echo's remind one of early Pink Floyd.
The Floyd influence emerged during the existence of Groenflam - the band in which Jacqui Brits (bass guitar and vocals) and Myburgh (acoustic guitar and vocals) played. They first started as Slow but changed the name after Liezl Spies joined them. Groenflam did an acoustic Pink Floyd show along with a few original songs. This show was also presented at the KKNK in 2002. But Groenflam broke up after BB II and Jacqui and Liezl continued as Melk.
Music 2 During 2003 Myburgh played with Akkedis on the Orange River and with Albert Frost in Gordon's Bay and Oudtshoorn. He also played with Gerald Clark (Delta Blue), Anien van der Linde (violin) and Hans Roosenschoon (cello) at the Dorp Street Theatre. Wilken Calitz also joined him on acoustic guitar and violin for a series of shows.
Myburgh's debut EP, Burnt Bachelor, and the first single, Girl, was launched at Lemon Connection on 3 July 2003 with Schalk Joubert on double bass, Clement Bennie on drums and Albert Frost on guitar.
In 2004 Myburgh played at the Ladysmith 'Jam Rock' Festival with Henry Steele on guitar, Schalk van der Merwe on bass and Tim Rankin on drums. This show was repeated at the Barnyard Theatre in Mossel Bay as well as at the KKNK 2005. In March 2005 he toured as support act with Akkedis to Gauteng. He also opened for Valiant Swart at Back2Basix in Johannesburg, playing to a full theatre and receiving a warm response. Myburgh was on Pitstop, SABC2, in August (2005) as a ‘Nuweling van die Week’ which progressed to a 'Nuweling van die Maand' and landed him and the band a full interview with a music video on TV in September. There is currently a music video on MK89 and KykNet of 'Deurmekaar', one of the four songs off his EP, 'Burnt Bachelor'.
Pretoria and Potchefstroom were then visited as part of the 'Sterre op die Horison' initiative - sponsored by SABC2, Die Beeld and ATKV - to promote upcoming artists. These shows were shared with Brenda Biddulph and Willim Welsyn.
During 2005 – 2006 Myburgh hooked up with muso’s Barry Steenkamp (guitar), Leon van der Westhuizen (bass), and Steph Nortje (drums) to play various pubs, theatres and festivals, as well as opening for Valiant Swart (2005) and Karin Zoid (2006) at the Levi’s Vintage Sundays at The Green Dolphin. After a short and easy meeting in August, he started recording his first full length cd with Steph Nortje, Schalk van der Merwe on bass and the talented Albert Frost doing the guitars and production of the album – Woestyn. This time Tim Rankin is the engineer. The 12 songs are being mixed and will be released by the middle of 2007.
