60 Seconds with Ashtray Electric

Rolling riffs, feet tapping beats and a ‘quaint mixture consisting of 3 parts suburb and 2 parts platteland’ make up the phenomenon that is Ashtray Electric, hailing from Bellville- they are set to rock and have started to take over the local scene…

The last time I spoke to Rudi from Ashtray Electric was back in January,  before they were signed to Rhythm Records and before they recorded their first full length album Bonjour.

I decided it was time to have a chat and catch up…

Rudi says that recording the album Bonjour “was amazing and stressful all at the same time. We had good fun with it and are happy with the outcome. We also learned a shit load what with it being our first full length and all.” Choosing his favourite track off the album “is a hard one.” He then swears  and continues “Personally, When Sex becomes a Sport is my favourite. I’m not too sure about the rest of the guys though…” As for the next single, the guys haven’t really thought about it yet, but it “[might be] Lia.”

They are “busy writing new stuff as they go along.” He adds “We’re shooting our new music video (for When Sex becomes a Sport) later in this week.” They also “recorded a song for a movie that’s getting released next year, called Spoon” Rudi continues “it was quite a challenge to write something that had to add to something that already exists. But it’s cool, and we’re very happy with the track…the Spoon track is pretty much just the next step after Bonjour. We experimented with some strings and stuff again, but nothing that doesn’t sound like Ashtray Electric”. They will also be “dropping the track for Spoon into the setlist from December onwards.” Watch out for that.

They “have pretty busy December ahead.” All their tour dates are available here. Then they have “some time off in early January.”

The highlight for the band this year has been “getting asked to play pretty much all 4 of the biggest festivals in the country. (Both Oppikoppi’s and Rocking the Gardens/Daisies)” Rudi says “I think that was pretty much the personal highlight. Other than that I think the album has been doing well and the response has been good. What else can one ask for?…”

They are going to end off a highly successful 2009 with a “Tour. A big new years show at Kenton-on-sea. And a little bit of holiday!”

That’s the way to do it. Rock on.

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