Local band Leven working on a new album

Living in eMalahleni for the last four years, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of this town’s local talent, from artists, writers, and musicians, hidden gems that surprise me, as well as celebrities that have moved on the bigger things and left the small town life behind them. Yet the persons of eMalahleni never cease to surprise and amaze.

The five talented, laidback, and refreshingly real guys that form the band Leven are proof that passion is alive and well instead of the overused cliché it has become.

For the last several months they have been working on new songs that fans might know sound distinctly different from their previous music but yet still distinctly Leven as the band, is moving in a more contemporary direction.

Like a super hero team with alter egos Stan Kruger, vocalist and full time music writer, Rudi Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen (lead guitarist and civil engineering student) Quintin de Bruyn (base player and structural draughtsman) Boy Friday (music teacher and keyboard player) and Vernon Swart (drummer and junior engineer) make up Leven.

Leven is a name which they decided on years ago that was actually not supposed to mean anything. However they inadvertently found out that is has many meanings. Apart from ‘yeast’ it has some profound means in other languages. This is appropriate in a way as they try to make music that each person can relate to in their own way. They try to make their songs timeless yet still feel modern and fresh which is a difficult thing to balance.

“We began to conceptualize the new songs back in November last year and since then it has been coming together slowly,” said Stan. Their first single ‘Take it Back’ is a re-mastered version of a song from their debut album and was released in March to national recognition with over 25 radio stations playing the song and their second single ‘Starry Night’ was released less than a month ago.

The kind of song a person would abruptly stop any conversations and turn the radio up when it starts playing with the comment, “I just want to listen to this song” although it has not yet been played on any mainstream stations.

In between poking fun at each other’s hair cuts, and day jobs like old friends the band was explaining that their new album is being produced and recorded with two big names in the industry, Dale Schnettler from Prime Circle and Howie Combrink from Watershed. They drive through most weekends to Johannesburg.

“All the singles are actually different, we were asking ourselves how we can make it more accessible to people of all walks of life. In the past our music had a very specific audience. It is more relaxed but fuller,” said Rudi Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen about their shift to contemporary rock.

With Leven’s new member Boy Friday the keyboard master was the missing puzzle piece in many respects. The music teacher at Witbank Arts Campus heard the band practicing many times when one day he lent his keyboard expertise to one of their sessions and it worked so well he became an official member shortly after that. Boy lends a notable studio sound to their live performances which had always been missing before. Vernon jokingly teased, “Boy is a walking back track,” as they all laughed before taking out Vernon for being a ‘glass half empty’ kind of guy.

What I thought was going to be a 15 minute interview turned into more than an hour without me even realizing, as these five guys stand as a reminder of what passion really comes down to, a passion for doing what they love, regardless of troubled waters. That is a passion for living life and making awesome music, no more no less.  Juan-Paul Noberga the founder of support programme for people affected by Rape, alcohol, and drug abuse (RADA) is funding there new album.

They would like to thank all their sponsors who have supported them. Catch their next gig on August 15 at the Brazen Head and their next charity performance September 6 at Laerskool Taalfees for Operation Smile among a line up of other performances planned for this year.

Upcoming events for diary section

15/08/14          –           Brazen Head in Witbank
06/09/14          –           Laerskool Taalfees in Witbank charity even for operation smile
24/09/14          –           Primi Piatti Bankenveld in Witbank Opening at bankebveld
02/10/14          –            Mpumalanga at Mieliepop Festival 2014

Listen to their latest track ‘Starry Night’
https://soundcloud.com/levenband/starry-night-mastered-version