Delving into Sandman
JOHANNESBURG – Riaan Smit’s new musical project, Sandman, has an interesting inspiration behind it.
Born in Namibia, Riaan Smit is best known as being the frontman for Crimson House, a band that’s musical sound has transformed from blues to bluegrass western punk and then grew into a Joe Cocker/Tom Waits vocal sound with a hint of gypsy undertones.
Now, Smit has undertaken another project, called The Sandman and he’s just released a new song and music video called Just Dreaming.
“The whole [Sandman] project is outside of Crimson House and the idea is … I’ve got the songs, tons of songs that have never found a place in Crimson House, and they needed to find a home. Sandman is now a place where I can put that music. A place where I can put the more mellow songs with the different styles,” Smit explained.
He went on to say there are at least four more videos that are set to be released soon, including one for his track, Homesick Lullaby.
“It’s about missing home every time I leave the country. And home to me is every one of these places – Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia. So I want to kind of showcase where I wrote that song as well.”
The project for Homesick Lullaby will consist of aerial shots all the way from Mozambique down to the Eastern Cape, through the Western Cape to Cape Town and then up the west coast to Namibia.
“I just want to capture the beauty that we have in southern Africa and Sandman is kind of that journey,” he said, when asked about the way the music videos are filmed and what inspired them.
“Every song I write is inspired by what happened in our lives and the places. The idea is that every song was written somewhere and I want to showcase where those specific songs were written. I want to show the beauty so the world can see how beautiful it is.”
Details: Find him on Twitter on Sandman_said or on Instagram on @sandman_saw
