South African progressive punk rock protagonists All This For Nothing have released “Divine Contraption”. It’s the first single from their upcoming album, Reverence.
“Divine Contraption” plays tribute to the band’s dear friend Marne Esson who passed away in March 2018 and marks their return to writing and performing.
All This For Nothing Guitarist and vocalist Paul Gioia comments on the track:
“Personally, the song is my dedication to my beautiful girlfriend who sadly lost the battle against a darkened mind. It is a testimony of love, hope and remembrance to a soul who only enriched our lives and will hopefully inspire those, suffering with depression to seek help in family, friends or professionals.”
All This For Nothing Drummer Francois Lessing adds
“This track to me is the first in the current ‘band energy’. It is definitely up a notch in pretty much every department. There was a definiteness of intention, that seems to have engulfed the whole band when we started to work on it.”
Watch All This For Nothing‘s video for “Divine Contraption” below
I watched All This For Nothing perform over the weekend at Halloween 2019 in Pretoria. Their performance was quite impressive.
Reverence will be released on the 6th of December 2019 on all digital platforms. Proceeds from the album sales will go to Marne’s mother’s foundation Sparrow’s Rescue Centre. The centre was set up to pay homage to Marne. It’s a place of refuge and healing for people and animals. Get more info about the centre HERE.
More info about All This For Nothing
All This For Nothing was formed in 1998 in Pretoria, South Africa. After gigging intensely from its inception through to 2005, the group gained loyal local support for their unique hybrid of punk, metal and progressive influences. The band delivered this through intense live performances.
During this time the band released one EP “Today’s End Is Tomorrow’s Only Hope” and one full length album, “Casualties Of Thought” in 2004. Due to various circumstances, the band members parted ways in 2005. However, they did get together briefly in 2007 to perform several reunion shows.
When Paul suffered the loss of his girlfriend Marne Esson in March 2018, drummer Francois Lessing reached out to him
He suggested that they reform the band to begin to work on music as a means of healing through familiar, positive musical connections.
Bassist Chris Schutte and vocalist and lyricist Chani Brits joined the group, as well as guitarist-songwriter and original co-founder Henk Lustig. Lustig currently resides in Australia, but he penned several of the songs on the album. He was also deeply involved with the writing of new material.
It quickly became apparent that they were working on something that would be quite special. They needed to be share it with the rest of the world. Initially they had no plans to release any of the new material they were writing. They were doing it purely in homage to loved ones.
After around six months of writing and recording, the material that would become the album started to come together. Talk began about possibly performing the material live. New members had to be recruited to allow the band to start gigging again because Mark Hinch & Henk Lustig reside overseas.
Fortune had smiled on the band and they found their match in guitarist / keyboardist Wim Jansen Van Rensburg and singer / guitarist Werner Olckers (Wrestlerish), both of whom had been friends (and fans) of the band for many years.
Work continued on the recording and production of the album
The band also started rehearsing for All This For Nothing’s first major performance in twelve years. This eventually happened at RAMFest on the 16th of June 2019.
The band has continued to gig, as well as polish up the recording in preparation of release. The band members have been responsible for the entire production process. This included the entire gamut of recording, mixing and mastering. They were led by recording scene stalwart Francois Lessing at ‘Asylum Studios’. He co-runs the studio with Paul in Pretoria.
The whole process was documented beautifully by local filmmaker Jonathan Purchase, aka ‘Dizzy Khaki’ and can be seen HERE.
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