The single spent the most time – 17 weeks – in the history of South African radio tracking as the most played local song in the country.
Drummer for the Cape Town-based band, Rob Brink, spoke to City Buzz about the band’s musical journey, their incredible successes, and the build-up to the launch of The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg.
“We were completely surprised by the success of the song,” said Brink.
“We’ve worked hard, and while we expected the song to do well, the scale of it was unexpected. We would have been satisfied with 10 weeks in the top spot.”
Brink attended high school with lead singer Matthew Field, and took up drums at age 15.
He said that the two of them began jamming together in 2007, but it was only when Field began studying music at the University of Cape Town and met bassist Ross Dorkin that the band known today as Beatenberg began to form.
WATCH: Beatenberg – Pluto (Remember You):
“Field got a scholarship to study at the University of California, Berkeley. While he was away, Dorkin and I focused on music production and DJing electronic music,” he said.
“When [Field] got back to South Africa, he had all these ideas and got busy with composition, and we took it from there.”
Speaking about their smash-hit Pluto collaboration with DJ Clock, Brink said it was one of the most exciting moments in the band’s journey thus far.
“When our record label found out that Dorkin and I used to DJ, they offered us the chance to collaborate with DJ Clock, and we freaked out. We were so excited just to meet him.”
The track was worked on from scratch one weekend, and then things went quiet for a while.
“We didn’t hear anything more… And then, suddenly, it got big,” he said.
Brink said the band was “incredibly excited” about their upcoming album launch tour that will kick off in Joburg at the end of August.
The tour bill includes the likes of DJ Clock, Okmalumkoolkat, ShortStraw, Thibo Tazz, Groove Afrika, and Gateway Drugs.
“We have a huge cross-section of bands and genres on this launch tour, and it’s important to us to keep this cross-over going, because that’s where we’re from,” he said.
The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg was released on 15 August.
The album launch tour will kick off on 29 August at The Bassline, Newtown, at 9pm.
Details: www.beatenberg.net; www.webtickets.co.za
WATCH: Beatenberg – Rafael:
