Today I’m featuring Cape Town based band, Ashtray Electric. I trust that you’ll pay more attention to SA Music from now on.
Let’s face it folks, gone are the days of using conventional radio interviews or band / artist appearances at music stores as the only way to promote an upcoming band or artist. Nowadays it’s possible and much more effective to build up hype or a fan base for an upcoming band or artist on Facebook, Myspace or Twitter.
The exposure potential is global, not just local. The internet has changed the way music fans get notified on what new music is out there. Potential fans can listen to streaming tracks online on MySpace or Facebook or even download a complimentary demo MP3 (if made available by the artist or band).
We are in the digital age and that’s why artists and bands are riding this technological horse. South African music fans and internet users are still getting used to using the Internet to find out about more about upcoming bands and artists in South Africa, but they don’t always know where to find information about them online.
One of my missions on this blog is to let the world know that we actually have some decent musicians in South Africa. Today’s band is no exception.
Ashtray Electric has the potential to make it internationally
The band is an indie rock outfit from Cape Town, South Africa. They did play at Oppikoppi this year, but I only caught a slight glimpse of their performance. Ashtray Electric won the MK Award for 2009 for Best Newcomer.
I’m sure that we’ll see more of them in the future. Ashtray Electric have potential to be South Africa’s next musical export. Their first full length album, entitled Bonjour went on sale earlier in the year.
This is the live video for their single, entitled The Swing:
Related Links:
- Ashtray Electric – MySpace
- Ashtray Electric – Facebook
- Ashtray Electric – Twitter
There you have it. All of you in cyberspace still think of South Africa as part of “Dark Africa”. We have rock musicians here, with fan bases. We’re clued up with digital age, we’re not living in the Dark Ages.
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