Having just released their latest chart-topping album Youthless, Shortstraw’s frontman Alastair Thomas sat down with us for a GLAM Chat. We dug into his youth, found out which bands he looks up to and why these Joburg boys get to work hard but play even harder.
GLAMOUR: We’re all very excited about your upcoming show with Al Bairre at Kirstenbosch.
Alastair: Yeah well we’re friends with Al Bairre. They’re good friends of ours. We always like sharing a stage with them. We played Kirstenbosch last year but it was raining so let’s hope it doesn’t rain this year. I mean it was overcast and drizzling. It wasn’t like pouring down with rain, but it wasn’t the greatest and it was actually just before we went on tour to Australia and I was like really sick and didn’t play a good show, so let’s hope this time around I’m in better health. Which I’m hoping to be. I’ll take my vitamins. Super super excited for that though. Kirstenbosch is a great venue! We’re super honoured to be headlining there.
GLAMOUR: Any comments on the social media hype saying that you’re ‘cheating’ on Desmond and the Tutus?
Alastair: The last time we played live we actually opened for Desmond and the Tutus. They’re too good actually. They’re also really good friends of ours
GLAMOUR: Well that’s the thing though. The music industry is so small and you’re in each other’s space the whole time, so you’re bound to run into each other.
Alastair: Yeah it’s a small industry. People talk. And all the people we’ve met in this industry (bar a few that we won’t talk about) – everyone’s rad. We’re all friends. It’s great. It’s a rad industry to be a part of. We’re honoured to be a part of it.
GLAMOUR: What do you think about the South African music industry versus abroad?
Alastair: Well I don’t really know what it’s like abroad, I’ve never been a part of it. Obviously touring abroad is not being a part of it. Just in terms of talent I think we’re at our strongest that this country’s ever been with local music. There’s a sh*t load of great music here.
GLAMOUR: And If you could open for an international act, who would it be?
Alastair: I’d say Bon Iver, but I wouldn’t want to share a stage with them – they’re just too good and I think they’ve disbanded. So Weezer. We’re all kinda big fans of them, but everyone will have a different answer though.
GLAMOUR: Any bands you particularly enjoyed opening for?
We opened for this Australian band when they came here called, Last Dinosaurs. I think they were a really good fit. Most of the bands we’ve opened for, we’ve been super stoked about. We opened for the Kooks. That was cool.
GLAMOUR: Did you study anything in film?
Alistair: Yeah I studied editing.
GLAMOUR: Because we really love the Waterworks music video! Well done!
Alistair: Ya I directed it. Haha it was actually the first time ever I had budget to do anything!
GLAMOUR: Any parental pressure issues from your side?
Alastair: From my parents? No my parents are awesome! They’re very supportive of everything. I’m lucky like that. None of us do. All our parents are super.
GLAMOUR: So what inspired the parental pressure connection in the Waterworks video?
Alastair: Oh with Waterworks um. It… it was kind of based on the relationship with my father. He wasn’t really around when I was growing up but he is now. We have a good relationship now. He wasn’t around but it’s not like he abandoned us or anything. We just lived in different cities so I never really got to see him… so ya I kinda um…sorry… so it was a little bit based on that. I was kinda ’emo’ at the time.
GLAMOUR: So the reason we’re actually here is to talk about your new album, Youthless. Very very exciting! What’s your overall feel?
Alastair: I’m super happy about it. We’re all really super happy about it. Because this one was… Some of the songs on there didn’t make the last album. We consciously left them off because we were worried that they weren’t going to fit as a whole product and this time around we were just like, “we think they’re cool, maybe we should just put them on. Maybe people will think they’re cool too.” I mean I think that people like our music because we share a similar taste in music, so if we think one of our songs are cool, then hopefully people will like it too. We took a chance and we were super f*cking nervous about putting it out because it’s not what people are expecting based off the last one. So we’re happy with it, but we were very apprehensive about putting it out and very nervous as to how it will be received or how it is being received right now.
GLAMOUR: What kind of music did you grow up with?
Alastair: Well we were talking about my dad earlier and I used to go visit him twice a year in Joburg because I lived in [Port Elizabeth] and whenever I went there, he’d try to expose me to as much of his music as possible and he was big into his grunge, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies and such.
GLAMOUR: Not a bad repertoire to grow up with.
Alastair: Ya exactly! Then on the other side, my mum always had these kind of like ‘weird’ boyfriends who listened to…she used to listen to a lot of Michael Winston rock/pop, so it was always nice to go to Joburg and not have to listen to that [laughter] My mum’s one boyfriend listened to a lot of Queen, so that was pretty cool. I was like a kid – nine, ten, eleven – and that’s what I’d listen to in PE. Then I moved to Joburg when I was 12 and everyone there listened to sh*tty dance music. Bump 2 was like the best f**ing album everyone was listening to. So I was forced to fit in and I’d listen to that. I mean, what else can you do? I forced myself to listen to that crap and grossly enough, got into it.
GLAMOUR: No way!
Alastair: Kind of. It was also the time when Daft Punk was kind of cool and it was on Bump, so at least I had that to redeem myself. Then I went to high school and finally there were people who listened to some Rock music and then they were like, “hey have you ever heard of this guy called Barney Simon?” And back then it was every night between 9pm and 10pm on 5fm and he’d use to play rock music. A lot of local and international rock music. And it was before you could download sh*t, so we used to sit with cassette players and record it on tape! You’d press record before it starts (without knowing what it is) and if it was cool you’d let it go, otherwise if it was crap you’d rewind it and try again later. So in high school (after buying CDs became a thing for everyone who could afford CDs) I was really into Blink 182 and I was big into pop punk.
GLAMOUR: And that’s probably where the whole Tweak thing comes from?
Alastair: Yeah the first band I played in was with Bugsy from Crash Car Burn – Tweak. But they lost it when they started singing about the FBI [laughter]. I loved Tweak! I was very into that.
GLAMOUR: Speaking about youth, which shows did you watch as a kid?
Alastair: Did you ever watch a show called Pugwall? P.U.G.W.A… there might have been two Ls, but it might’ve been one. It was this Australian like, kid’s rom-com. Pugwall must’ve been like 12, 13. Coolest kid alive. He played guitar in a band, sang, got involved in these love relationships.
GLAMOUR: Sounds like the male version of Brace Face.
Alastair: It could very well be but it wasn’t animated though, it was live action sh*t! It must’ve been between 1990 and 1993. Old but it’s cool. I obviously dug (awful spoonerism of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) [laughter] you know what I mean. And I loved the Power Rangers! I pretty much watched it all. I watched a lot of sitcoms and stuff because I lived with my mum and that’s how she’d treat herself. She was a teacher so she’d get her mark stuff and then come 8’o clock and she’ll watch Ally McBeal. We also watched FRIENDS, but I was way too young to appreciate it. Watching Workoholics now.
GLAMOUR ‘quick fire’ questions:
Complete the following…
If I could… try eating horse, I will probably try it once.
Purple is… the colour of… what’s that Oprah Winfrey movie? Something about the colour purple… mmm purple is… the colour of the Potency bottle? [laughter]
Why didn’t… I land in the raft? [laughter]
Laughter is… imperative in a healthy relationship.
