Captain Stu
Encyclopedia
Captain Stu is a South African ska
band, often likened to Australian group Cat Empire. The band has developed their style in the Cape Town ska scene, juxtaposing jazzy and reggae
tones with South African influences to create an upbeat sound reflecting the Mother City
's atmosphere.
Since their formation in 2002, the band has steadily built up a loyal following across the country, releasing two full-length albums, and more recently an EP. In 2007, after 5 years of activity, they came under management from the UK.
and The Rudimentals
, Captain Stu fast became their protégée band and were invited to play with them at gigs on numerous occasions. Lee Thompson and Ross McDonald from Hog Hoggidy Hog worked with them on the prepoduction of their debut album 'The Untold Tales', released in July 2005. The album was a success, with the launch night attracting over 1300 fans (as well as local press and radio), and the music video being aired on MTV Base
for a number of months.
The band spent the next few writing music for their new album and playing with a number of local and international groups, including opening for Skalladin on their worldwide tour. Their 2007 nationwide tour included stints at Uprisings Festival in Durban and with renowned group Fuzigish in Johannesburg, to great reviews.
In 2008, Captain Stu entered the Virgin Mobile “Road To V” competition, which saw them doing valuable workshops with many of the industry’s top professionals and performing at various shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg, culminating in a performance at the Coca Cola Dome where they shared the stage with Maroon 5
and One Republic, amongst others.
In February 2009, they released their much anticipated second album, The Adventures of Captain Stu. It represents a new and fresh yet established and well honed sound, which has been earning much praise from new and old fans, and receiving much attention from would be business relations throughout the local scene.
Their first single of the second album, The Journey, reached nr. 2 on the TUKSfm SA Top 10, as well as nr. 4 on the MK University Charts. The second single of the album, More Than Friends, was released in June 2009 to radio stations nationwide and reached nr. 1 on the TUKSfm SA Top 10. The music video was released single in July and reached nr. 5 on the MK Top 10 Music Video Chart. In July, Captain Stu invaded the north of SA for the third time and toured to JHB and PTA with appearances on Studio 1, UJFM and TUKSfm. The third single of their second album, Shake, was released in August 2009 and reached nr. 2 on the PUKSfm SA Top 10.
Captain Stu appeared on MK Celeb in October 2009 and MK Unplugged in January 2010. The now 5-piece group released a new EP 'Free Music' in October 2010.
Their style represents this, and listening to their latest album end-to-end you’ll find a range from mellow ska to new-school jazzy rock. Their live performances are electric, and very few bands inspire new listeners to dance around with the hardened fans.” The Daily Discharge
“In keeping up with the ridiculous nature of the film (Dude, Where’s My Car?), Captain Stu reflects the carefree, easy-going attitude of the main characters. It really comes through in their music, which can be summed up in one word as fun.” Virgin Music News.
“Captain Stu rock uplifting, light-hearted, brass-enriched ska-tunage that's easier on the ear and, for lack of a more impactful adjective, just lots and lots of fun!” FHM 4 Star Review
“Its charm is that its restlessness does have moments of quiet compliments of that sexy saxophone, but it's never long before the ballsy vocals and dirty drums jump in and get you dancing.” Cosmopolitan Online
2006: Cape Town - Knifefight, Insanity Festival, Long Street Festival.
2007: Durban - Uprisings, The North
; Darling - Rocking The Daisies; Johannesburg - The North; Cape Town - Obz Fest, New Year's Vortex
.
2008: Underberg - Splashy Fen
; Durban - Uprisings; Cape Town - Obz Fest; Jo'burg and Pretoria - The North.
2009: Northam - Oppikoppi
; Grahamstown - Grahamstown Festival; Jo'burg and Pretoria - The North; Durban - East Coast; Darling - Rocking the Daisies; Bloemfontein - The North; Cape Town - New Year's Eve.
Plus the Coastal Tour - Mosselbay, Knysna
, Port Elizabeth, Jeffreys Bay
, Plettenberg Bay
, and Hermanus
.
2010: Durban - Splashy Fen.
2011: Sydney - Frolic at the Point.
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
band, often likened to Australian group Cat Empire. The band has developed their style in the Cape Town ska scene, juxtaposing jazzy and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
tones with South African influences to create an upbeat sound reflecting the Mother City
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
's atmosphere.
Since their formation in 2002, the band has steadily built up a loyal following across the country, releasing two full-length albums, and more recently an EP. In 2007, after 5 years of activity, they came under management from the UK.
History
The concept of Captain Stu was born in 2002 with two of the original members, initially called ‘Captain Stu and the Llamas’, however the name was later shortened. It wasn’t until 2004 that the band grew to seven members, and then back to six. As gigs became more frequent their reputation grew. They began to be recognised by some of the more prominent bands in Cape Town at the time, including Hog Hoggidy HogHog Hoggidy Hog
Hog Hoggidy Hog is a band from Cape Town, South Africa. The band blends a mixture punk, ska and many other influences to create an original sound, sometimes referred to as hogcore...
and The Rudimentals
The Rudimentals
The Rudimentals are an eight-piece ska/reggae band from Cape Town, South Africa. The band's releases include two CDs, More Fire and Set It Proper, and a live DVD/CD combo of the 2007 Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens Concert. The band is signed to the United Kingdom based Moon Ska World distribution...
, Captain Stu fast became their protégée band and were invited to play with them at gigs on numerous occasions. Lee Thompson and Ross McDonald from Hog Hoggidy Hog worked with them on the prepoduction of their debut album 'The Untold Tales', released in July 2005. The album was a success, with the launch night attracting over 1300 fans (as well as local press and radio), and the music video being aired on MTV Base
MTV Base
MTV Base is a 24-hour music and general entertainment channel from MTV Networks International. The channel focuses primarily on music from the world of R'n'B, hiphop, reggae, soul and urban. The MTV Base brand first launched in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland on July 1, 1999,...
for a number of months.
The band spent the next few writing music for their new album and playing with a number of local and international groups, including opening for Skalladin on their worldwide tour. Their 2007 nationwide tour included stints at Uprisings Festival in Durban and with renowned group Fuzigish in Johannesburg, to great reviews.
In 2008, Captain Stu entered the Virgin Mobile “Road To V” competition, which saw them doing valuable workshops with many of the industry’s top professionals and performing at various shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg, culminating in a performance at the Coca Cola Dome where they shared the stage with Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
and One Republic, amongst others.
In February 2009, they released their much anticipated second album, The Adventures of Captain Stu. It represents a new and fresh yet established and well honed sound, which has been earning much praise from new and old fans, and receiving much attention from would be business relations throughout the local scene.
Their first single of the second album, The Journey, reached nr. 2 on the TUKSfm SA Top 10, as well as nr. 4 on the MK University Charts. The second single of the album, More Than Friends, was released in June 2009 to radio stations nationwide and reached nr. 1 on the TUKSfm SA Top 10. The music video was released single in July and reached nr. 5 on the MK Top 10 Music Video Chart. In July, Captain Stu invaded the north of SA for the third time and toured to JHB and PTA with appearances on Studio 1, UJFM and TUKSfm. The third single of their second album, Shake, was released in August 2009 and reached nr. 2 on the PUKSfm SA Top 10.
Captain Stu appeared on MK Celeb in October 2009 and MK Unplugged in January 2010. The now 5-piece group released a new EP 'Free Music' in October 2010.
Discography
- 2005: The Untold Tales
- 2009: The Adventures of Captain Stu
- 2010: Free Music (EP)
Media Reception
“Captain Stu deliver a melodious ska sound. But this doesn’t really convey the depth of variety that the band is capable of. Their make-up has shifted and changed as members came and went, with only bassist Ryan McArthur remaining of the original four who started Captain Stu and the Llamas in 2002.Their style represents this, and listening to their latest album end-to-end you’ll find a range from mellow ska to new-school jazzy rock. Their live performances are electric, and very few bands inspire new listeners to dance around with the hardened fans.” The Daily Discharge
“In keeping up with the ridiculous nature of the film (Dude, Where’s My Car?), Captain Stu reflects the carefree, easy-going attitude of the main characters. It really comes through in their music, which can be summed up in one word as fun.” Virgin Music News.
“Captain Stu rock uplifting, light-hearted, brass-enriched ska-tunage that's easier on the ear and, for lack of a more impactful adjective, just lots and lots of fun!” FHM 4 Star Review
“Its charm is that its restlessness does have moments of quiet compliments of that sexy saxophone, but it's never long before the ballsy vocals and dirty drums jump in and get you dancing.” Cosmopolitan Online
Newspapers and Magazines
Reviews and articles appeared in Sawubona, Rock Out Radio, Virgin Music News, JIP – Die Burger, JIP – Volksblad, JHBlive, Ctlive, One Small Seed Magazine, Cosmopolitan Online, Overtone, BLUNT mag, FHM online, Seventeen, CLEO magazine, Kampus Burger, Die Matie, WAPAD, ACTIVATE, Entertainment Africa, Sunday Times, SA Tunes magazine, The Citizen, SL, MUSE, NUX, SAROCK, etc.Radio Airplay
5FM, UCT, MFM, Heart FM KFM, Bush Radio, OFM, UJFM, PUKfm, RMR, ECR, UKZN and Tuks FM.Festivals and tours
2005: Cape Town - Obz Fest; Stellenbosch - Gif Appel.2006: Cape Town - Knifefight, Insanity Festival, Long Street Festival.
2007: Durban - Uprisings, The North
The North
The North may refer to:* a geographical section of the world * the wealthy and technologically advanced nations of the world, as contrasted with the nations comprising the South...
; Darling - Rocking The Daisies; Johannesburg - The North; Cape Town - Obz Fest, New Year's Vortex
Vortex
A vortex is a spinning, often turbulent,flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex...
.
2008: Underberg - Splashy Fen
Splashy Fen
Established in 1990, Splashy Fen is South Africa’s longest-running music festival, which every Easter attracts thousands of people to a farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for a unique outdoor music experience....
; Durban - Uprisings; Cape Town - Obz Fest; Jo'burg and Pretoria - The North.
2009: Northam - Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi is the name of a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more genres and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres...
; Grahamstown - Grahamstown Festival; Jo'burg and Pretoria - The North; Durban - East Coast; Darling - Rocking the Daisies; Bloemfontein - The North; Cape Town - New Year's Eve.
Plus the Coastal Tour - Mosselbay, Knysna
Knysna
Knysna is a town with 76,431 inhabitants in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and is part of the Garden Route. It lies 34 degrees south of the equator, and is 72 kilometres east from the town of George on the N2 highway, and 25 kilometres west of Plettenberg Bay on the same road.-History:A...
, Port Elizabeth, Jeffreys Bay
Jeffreys Bay
Jeffreys Bay is a town located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is situated just off the N2 Highway, about an hour's drive southwest of Port Elizabeth.- History :...
, Plettenberg Bay
Plettenberg Bay
Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plet or Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of the census of 2001, there were 29149 population...
, and Hermanus
Hermanus
Hermanus is a town with 49,000 inhabitants on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is famous as a place from which to watch Southern Right whales, during the southern winter and spring and is a popular retirement town...
.
2010: Durban - Splashy Fen.
2011: Sydney - Frolic at the Point.