MUSIC

Zebra & Giraffe: Zoo Music Boy
 

From issue 11


Music and animals. Animals in music. Are animals musical? Do animals even like music? Bands that take their names from animals. Ex-game ranger turned music hack Jon Monsoon goes on a sonic safari hunting Zebra & Giraffe.

Zebra & Giraffe is unassuming JHB-based muso Greg Carlin. His countenance doesn’t scream manicured rocker, less so Marilyn Manson fan. (‘I am always hesitant to say it as people get the wrong idea, but one of my biggest heroes is Marilyn Manson’. ‘What I really admire about him is his ability to create a whole new world around just 10 or 12 songs.’ Clearly the God of Fuck/Anti-Christ Superstar has taught young Greg a thing or two about music as a means to creating ‘whole new worlds’; something the clearly talented multi-instrumentalist seems to do with passionate ease.

He began his migration into music on his 12th birthday, receiving a drum kit as a birthday present. Some lessons and practice later, Carlin convinced some school mates to start playing the other instruments necessary to start a rock band. They formed the band MSG. A few school hall gigs and a dissing review later, it was all over. Fast forward through the next couple of years; London for six months, a Fine Art degree (Honours), a new band called White Lie, some chart success, mates with the Parlotones and Prime Circle, solo work as Iamnomore, opting for machines instead of people; discovering loops and samples; Zebra & Giraffe: a hybrid beast of alternative rock and 80s electro, ‘a creative outlet for all the thoughts and ideas in my head.’

Greg Carlin’s life has been nothing if not singularly focussed on getting him and his music to this point. Signs that he is on the right game path have included an L.A. Music Award for ‘Experimental Single Of The Year’ handed to his debut single ‘Oxymoron’, a signing to cred indie SA music label Just Music, a cracking solo album called ‘Collected Memories’ (all instruments, vocals and production – Greg Carlin. Look for it in your girlfriend’s CD collection), imminent game fame.

The next couple of months in the SA music zoo should prove very interesting for Z&G as he takes his project on the hoof and sets out to free an audience high on sugar-pop from the cages of mediocre ear-fodder. ‘I’ve always used listening to music as a form of escapism. I hope my music offers that same escape to people who listen to it.’ And who exactly, so far, is listening? ‘So far my mom, my gran and my brother. My friends say they like the CD, but I think some of them are lying…’

‘If you could tell your fans one thing’, I ask. ‘What would it be? ‘Don’t believe the hype’ he replies. In big, bold, red-framed letters.

http://www.zebraandgiraffe.net
www.zebraandgiraffe.co.za
www.myspace.com/zebraandgiraffe