Blog posts from the Ryan Calder Band
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… it’s clichéd, I know, but it’s true: nothing can prepare you for the birth of a child. Fatherhood second time around it’s just as exciting, just as nerve-wracking. Continue reading Father once again… trying to be cool during the time of your life
Crazy World is the oldest song on the album.
I started writing it over two years ago while on holiday in Cape Town. I remember the vast, crazy contrast while I was there: the immense opulence of Camps Bay versus the in-your-face drags of Khayelitsha. I remember how foreign both ways of life were to me. I pondered over it for weeks. In the end, Continue reading Behind the Song: Crazy World
I’m not sure if it’s like this in other countries of the world, but it’s an ongoing mystery to me how people transform into the most self-righteous bigots when they climb into a car. Continue reading Life in South Africa: Traffic
Allow me to be honest: it was one of those weeks. The RCB worked, and man… did we work. It’s an emotional experience collaborating in music and putting yourself out there. All of us in the RCB feel it. The highs of the music business are exceptionally high, and the lows are laden with the smell of sulphur.
However, I am constantly amazed at who comes to watch us perform.
KZN is historically avoided Continue reading A week of shows in KZN
It was inevitable that the engineer who mastered the album – Brent Quintin – would pick out the E9 chord at the beginning of Wide Open World.
“Hey Earle, what does this sound like?” he asks his fellow Sesalos engineer.
“Welcome to the real world!” Earle bursts out, reciting the John Mayer classic. Continue reading Behind the Song: Wide Open World
Rod and Karen Nichols are the owners of a venue which has recently started up in Westville, and they’ve called it Open Strings. Once a month Rod and Karen open their home and host a major South African act performing an acoustic set. On the bill thus far has been Farryl Purkiss, John Ellis, Syd Kitchen and Nibs van der Spuy. Continue reading Open Strings in Westville
The braai. A transcendent feature of South African culture, which unites black, white, coloured, Indian and politicians. Yes, politicians are a race all on their own.
If the world were to end tomorrow, I would have a braai today and invite everyone I knew. Okay, maybe not everyone. But the point is that a braai is one of those things that everyone could come along to if they wanted to. It’s the one thing that doesn’t exclude anyone. Desmond Tutu was on to a good thing when the national holiday in South Africa – Day of Reconciliation – was branded colloquially as “Braai Day” by the former Archbishop.
Continue reading Life in South Africa: The BraaiI’ve long been a fan of Eric Clapton.
Now I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. This is not a lyrical derivative of Wonderful Tonight, although I sometimes wonder if those kind of songs just lie dormant in our sub-conscience and make their way to the surface in subtle ways. As the band tells me, everything we listen to influences the music we create, some of it is just more dominant.
In actual fact, it was the Continue reading Behind the Song: More Beautiful Tonight
It all started while waiting in an aisle to pay for the groceries. You know those magazines… the ones with Photoshopped six packs? Well, I bought one. I dug deep into my resolve and my wallet and fished out R35,95 for this month’s Men’s Health edition. This particular edition came with a mini booklet called “Abs for Life” – complete with workouts, diet plan and info on how to get the mid-section you always dreamed of.
Why?
Well, the only reason I have any aspirations to bear resemblance to a Greek god is because, well, it Continue reading Life in South Africa: Exercise
