Seb Goldswain & South Wolves Live at MiTH

9pm – Seb Goldswain

“The Road Ahead” is the second album from South African guitar-virtuoso and composer Seb Goldswain. Following the positive critical response from the acoustic songs on debut album “Pictures of a Thousand Words”, various high-profile solo acoustic performances (including opening for George Ezra and various high-profile South African artists), growing a fan-base across South Africa, and developing a high-energy solo live show more akin to a full band rather than a lone acoustic guitar, Seb has grown to fully embrace the art of acoustic storytelling with “The Road Ahead”.

The core concept of “The Road Ahead” is that of the primacy of storytelling in song writing. All the songs are personal in nature that relate to experiences and attempt greatly to veer away from titles like “guitar music”, and towards a positive listening experience that the listener can relate to personally. From “A Mother’s Prayer” (written for a four year old boy who struggled with, and eventually beat, leukaemia) to “The Big Day” (written for a friend’s wedding) to “You’re Not Alone” (written in light of the difficult topic of depression).

Seb is not afraid to wear his influences proudly, and such can be heard on the Django Reinhardt-influenced “Grim FanDjango”, the undeniably Jackson-5-like “Motown”, an original arrangement of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s “Finlandia”, as well as an Andalusian take on the fingerstyle standard “Avalon”. Unable to maintain the discipline needed to keep the album a purely solo-acoustic offering, the track-list also features full band arrangements (including Jacob-Collier-style vocal arrangements) on two songs. Namely, the traditional Sotho song “Morokeni” and the American western traditional song “Wayfaring Stranger” which also features Seb’s more familiar electric guitar playing as well as the excellent vocal talents of Gary Nixon.

“South African Guitarist Seb Goldswain is an omnivore chef at the transnational musical banquet. His playing expands on the hyper-virtuosic progressive rock guitar heroes of the 70s with a world-spanning selection of genre-transgressing ingredients. Whatever he cooks up, it’s a recipe for surprise” – Peter McElhinney/Style Weekly USA

“Epic player from Durban I’ve had the pleasure of watching a few times. I met Seb years back when he was a wee boy. Turbo talent! Super underrated!” – Dan Patlansky, SA Blues Guitar Legend

“Patrons don’t realise how fortunate they are to witness an artist like Goldswain perform. Not many artists worldwide are capable of performing at that level. I was gobsmacked at the statistical density of his finely crafted finger style.” – Paul de Fleuriot/ MiTH founder, former owner of Marshall Music Midlands.

“Seb is one of those guitarists that every other guitarist hates because he can shred on anything, I even overheard a dude next to me say “I’m going home to smash my guitar and never play again.” – Bob Perfect/Durban Is Yours

8pm – South Wolves

South Wolves is a 3-piece Indie-Pop band. Members are Joel Scott (drums), Ricky Annandale (bass) and Eric Scott (guitar and lead vocals). Their influences are Indie bands like Death Cab for Cutie, The Killers and The National. South Wolves play original songs and covers as well, and have featured on the billing at venues like Amsterdam, the Blue Waters Hotel, Rocky Ridge, Republik, Brew Haus, Robson’s Brewery, The Winston, Kids On The Coast Market, Ciao Bar, The Bus Stop, East Coast Brewery, MiTH and many more.

The band started in early 2016, although the three members have years of experience playing in previous bands and projects. In 2019 they made it into the top ten finalists in the Be The Band competition with East Coast Radio, and also played at the East Coast Radio Big Walk. In 2019 they opened for Shortstraw at two of their shows in Durban – the live videos from these shows are below. Their latest performance was with Desmond and the Tutus. They recently released a debut EP called “Nothing Good Happening at 2am”, which can be found on iTunes or Spotify. Check out the links below for a taste.

youtube.com
spotify.com
soundcloud.com/user-266817593/south-wolves-ecr-be-the-band-interview
soundcloud.com/user-266817593/south-wolves-recording-ecr-2

7pm – Dawn Melanie Morey

Dawn Melanie Morey is a singer, songwriter, storyteller, composer and guitarist, born in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Raised with a strong connection to the place of her birth, as well as her ancestral Scottish, Irish and Germanic roots. Her music today is original (passionately so), an infusion of our stories from ‘here and now’, with something ancient and tribal, that makes you feel connected to stories from ‘there and then’. A unique and magical mix of Celtic Folk, Gypsy Jazz and Maskandi, chunky rhythm guitar, haunting finger picked melodies and vibrant vocals.

ABOUT MiTH:
Arguably the KZN Midlands’ best-loved music venue, Music in The Hills (MiTH) is an opportunity for beginners, professionals and passionate music fans to share the joy of music at The Knoll Historic Guest Farm. Visit www.mith.co.za for more details and directions. Musicians can contact mithbookings@gmail.com for slots.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:
MiTH takes place every second Wednesday at The Knoll Historic Guest Farm, Knoll Drive, Hilton. Doors open at 6pm and the music will kick off at 7pm. Entrance is R50 at the door. Bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale.

DIRECTIONS TO MiTH:
Take the N3 to Hilton, take the Hilton turnoff and go South into the Village (away from Hilton College). Travel 5,2km along Hilton Avenue (past two sets of traffic lights and Crossways Pub) and keep going straight as Hilton Avenue turns into Dennis Shepstone Drive. At the 5,2km mark, Knoll Drive will be on your right – the entrance to MiTH is the *second* entrance on your left into The Knoll Historic Guest Farm.