‘It has been enchanted’: Ard Matthews opens up about his 27-year-long career

There is something about musician Ard Matthews that is hard to pin down. It is a character trait familiar to many artists and savants, a depth, a flamboyancy, a pensive exuberance if you will.

From commanding an audience on stage through to deep contemplation, he is one of South African music’s reluctant heroes.

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‘Lyrical brilliance’

Ard Matthews deserves every award known to humankind for his lyrical brilliance, shape shifting artistic ability. But he is also one of the kindest people you can meet with a voice that has power ingrained in its rock and roll range.

Just Jinger released its debut All Comes Round in 1998, and it unleashed local superstardom for Matthews and his fellow bandmates. It was the time when South African music was steaming with bands like Squeal and Arapaho, the Nude Girls, Sugardrive and Amersham. And record companies invested in promoting acts, venues were aplenty. 

Just Jinger was the kind of band that could charm and reel in any audience. It was most evident at a street performance in Cologne, Germany during the massive Popkomm event and when Matthews and company opened for U2’s Popmart tour in Cape Town, in in 1998.

Since then, a lot of water has flown under the bridge, Just Jinger has had several lineup changes and Matthews has also gone solo. 

27 years later the band is still together

It has been a 27-year long journey and the band is still together.

“It has been enchanted. It has been a fairy tale,” said Matthews. “I feel so lucky to have gone through what I have gone through, all the highs and the lows. We have had tremendous highs and we have had lows and it is an interesting kind of path because there were a lot of expectations of how and where it could have gone and how much further it could have gone.”

Many South African bands at the time, like Seether formerly known as Saron Gas, headed overseas to make it big. Matthews and Just Jinger elected to keep home as their base and nurtured their successes here. And what the universe afforded him, he appreciated.

“At some stage of your life, you also just sit back and realize that everything is meant to be as it happens. I am just truly in a point of gratitude for how it is going. I am fortunate that I am still creative. The band is still together, and we love each other and the music flows. The band has never been tighter, my career is going beautifully, and I am still writing music and we can still do this indefinitely.”

There is nothing Matthews said he would change about his life path until now and he regrets nothing. “I think I’ve gone through moments of pondering all of that, and I’m very sure that could have been other decisions made.” He said a different life may have not led him to where he is at right now, and that is a space of gratitude. 

His songwriting has matured over the years, it is a clear and visible path that he populated with lyrics that showed his evolution as a person. 

“If I can uplift in the short time that I have on earth,” said Matthews, “I’ll take the responsibility of using my voice to rather preach kindness, peace and love.”

The world needs kindness

And kindness is his point of departure for life. The world needs it, it is a lifestyle he embraces and writes about. “The driving force behind my lyrics have always been kindness, and I still believe if there were to be a religion, it should be called kindness, because it does not cost you anything to be nice and smile and kind and try. And we all fail all the time. It should be a constant practice, but I am just always about uplifting because I would never want to feel responsible for swaying anyone in into a darker space because of my doing.” 

He added that kindness, or a state of being grounded in it, should also translate to other aspects of life, and not simply human to human. Here, he cited the sustained pillaging of our planet as well as the never-ending pollution of oceans. 

His music has a conscience. And his solo performance at the German Club in Edenvale on 5 August will be as a headliner for the Hangout Fest. Tickets are available at http://www.tixsa.co.za.

Matthews plans to play his, and his fans’ favourites.

“I will be singing an entire catalogue of songs and I also have some new ones that I’ll be showcasing those for the first time.”

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