1 April 2008: Not an April Fool's joke, but the truth: we are coming up to Gauteng for the first time in two years. See gigs for details about shows in Pretoria, Joburg and at Not Quite Easter Oppikoppi. For sure. Facts. Feite.

20 November 2007: We have received a list of stockists of our new album from our distributors - here they are, roughly in a province near you, well within a mall.

Our guitarist Righard is busy making us some pretty amazing animated videos for a couple of our tunes. Here are some rough pieces from the storyboard for 'Die Wortel Van Kwaad'.

In further, related news, some of our songs will shortly appear on a number of compilation CDs. Keep an eye open for the CD released by the Mail&Guardian sometime. Also, an underground compilation from Joburg and the crew at isolation.tv and friends called Pavement Special (monitor http://pavementspecial.com/) is due out this month and we have some tracks on that. It doesn't stop though: Boeke-Insig mag ook dalk in Desember 'n CD he en ons kan daar op ook wees. Dan, wat definitief 'n feit is, is dat die nuwe Ons Klyntji zine tans beskikbaar is van Produkte en twee van ons songs is op die great 22-track CD getiteld 'Ons Kerk Se Mense' wat daarmee saamkom. Drikus van Trike het dit compile en ander acts sluit in Nul, Paul Riekert, Insek, Bacchus Nel, Bittervrug en baie meer. Check dit, koop dit, geniet dit. Dis Kersvrees.

5 November 2007: Right, we have a very special gig coming up tomorrow night, the 6th (Armchair Theatre, 8pm sharp, R30 cover) when we are honoured to share the stage with the great Madosini. Madosini is a legend, her Xhosa traditional singing and musicianship unrivalled. Hailed as the ‘Queen of Xhosa Music`, Madosini Latozi Mpahleni is a traditional musician and storyteller from the rural Eastern Cape. She plays the umrhubhe (mouth bow), uhadi (berimbau) and isitolotolo (Jew’s harp). Currently living in Langa, Cape Town, we were put in touch with Madosini via the production team behind the SABC1 TV series Headwrap. For the past month (see the post below too), they've been filming our meetings with Madosini, jamming together etc. The gig on the 6th is the final event they are filming, the culmination of our collaboration and the key piece of the TV programme they will put together (this will be shown on TV later in the year, we'll let you know when). Just come, it will be grand.

Keep an eye on gigs - after this our next show is the 4th of December at Durbanville Kunskafee. Bring julle vriende wat laaskeer so skaam was...

Fred de Vries (Empire magazine, Nov issue) wrote a grand review of Saves, go read it at Press .

9 October 2007: Die opwinding is vir eers verby. Our Western Cape launches went well, ending with a great gig at the Armchair last week, when Jon could also join us for the first time in ages. It rocked like Toto.

We've been doing a lot of press lately, so check Press for recent interviews and album reviews. At the Armchair gig we had two TV crews - one shot for Pasella (SABC2) and another for Headwrap (SABC1). The Pasella shoot was more of a profile on Toast (I am writing about myself in the third person here, it is all a bit dumb) than the band, but they shot some footage during our soundcheck so maybe, on the 24th of October at 19:30 on SABC2, you will see 3 seconds of us jamming a bit. You never know.

The Headwrap thing is more involved and moer of a exciting. They do shows in which they bring artists/ bands/ musicians from very different fields or backgrounds or styles together and, in a 'reality' sort of show, force them to collaborate. We have been paired with the legendary Xhosa singer and folk musician Madosini. She came to our jam session last night and we met her for the first time. What a woman! She plays the uhadi and a couple of other traditional instruments - Righard tried his hand at them and couldn't even generate a sound. We jammed together and it sounds like we could do something nice, something softer and cyclical, to click in with her style. Next week we are visiting her place in Langa and will see what comes out there - we will jam unplugged methinks. The possibility exists that we will do a show with her as outcome for the TV programme (broadcast date not yet confirmed, but late this year probably), so watch this space.

Le Roux Schoeman did a great interview/ gig news clip for Die Burger which he shot at our Durbanville gig late in September. You can see that here.

A while ago, we did a bit of deep googling of ourselves (a modern term for having an existential crisis? Maybe.) and discovered that a Dutch educational radio station called RVU had 'Die Volk' listed in their Club 100 Top Protest Songs of All Time. Click on the link and check, scroll down, we're just below, you know, Bruce Springsteen. It landed us quite a bit of press, such as in Die Burger and also Rapport. Tertius Kapp from MK89 (or is it just MK now, now that they're on channel five billion and something?) interviewed Toast about it.

27 September 2007: We've had lekker gigs in Stellenbosch, Matjiesfontein and Durbanville and we're now looking forward to the final Capeside SAVES launch at the Armchair on the 2nd. It's gonna be a lekker one, so come.

Good news for our fans across the waters (and in Mali) is that you can now order SAVES through CD Baby It really is easy - click on the link and it should take you straight to the page where you can order SAVES from. It costs US $12, 97. You can also now download all the tracks from SAVES as well as our earlier albums, Jou Medemens Is Dood and TAFL - Teaching Afrikaans As A Foreign Language from Rhythm Records. It costs just R7 per song. SAVES should also soon be in shops nationwide and we will publish a list of shops here asap so you can find it easily.

25 August 2007: Our new album, which took a breezy 3 days to record back in 2005, but a painful 2 years to get out of our asses and onto the marketplace, is now available from gigs at R100 or Produkte for a little bit more (the Post Office keeps on insisting that they have to charge for the wonderful service they provide). It is called The Buckfever Underground SAVES, and we intend to do just that, at least to Slovenia, and at least by the end of September. Album launch dates in the Western Cape are in September, check gigs, and also October.

Anyone who finds this man on the streets of Middelburg, Eastern Cape, and buys a wire windmill from him, and takes a photo to prove that it really happened, and sends said photo to us (toast@bastardmedia.co.za) before 2020 will win a free copy of our new album. Get cracking.

We also have a Facebook group these days, so if you go to Facebook, and press a button you will eventually find it and make 239 new friends you've never needed more than right now. We also have some myspace, god knows what it actually is, this whole myspace thing, but we have it and it is painted in our favourite colour too. We take it out for walks and it barks at other spaces. Fuck me. Go visit it and download a song you thief you. It comes when you whistle: myspace.com/thebuckfeverunderground

Besides being on our site at Dokumente, our lyrics are also now up at lyricsmania.com

Stephen has been editing and mixing a live album for us from a gig some months ago and we'll probably soon put it up for sale here too. We might call it The Effects of Sonic Hedgehog on Young Bats or maybe Cranial Fractures Kick Ass. What do you think?

8 July 2007: Our album art and the CD itself is currently being printed, so watch this space about album launch dates (I know you've heard this one before) towards the end of August and in the second half of September.

10 June 2007: There are a couple of gigs booked for the next 6 weeks, so go have a peek on the gigs page.There are also pictures of the show taken by Ruan Kemp and links to some gig reviews. We have FINALLY received our final master of 'SAVES' from our great masterer in Joburg and that means the album release date is coming closer. To paraphrase The Silver Jews: it is winter, and our camouflage is dead.

16 May 2007: Yes, we know. We know all about it. You can't tell us any more than the plenty we already know. While you were away and we were away, we played a very nice gig at the Armchair which made us believe again. Soon, you'll be able to click here to see some photos which our friend Sam Reinders took. If you click here, you will find a video clip which Aryan Kaganof shot on his cellphone.

In short: the album isn't done yet; Jon is touring in Europe with Cassette; Righard has 'left' the band; Stephen is very much back from Brazil and would like a new job if you have any nice unused ones lying around the house; Gilad is with it; Toast is now The Manager; Zander Blom is designing our CD sleeve as we speak; and, would you believe it, a replica EP Mighty Elephants jersey costs R560 or so at the PE airport. Shouldn't they be giving them away? I mean, I'm a supporter, but come on. Give a little.

9 November 2006: Plenty of good news: As far as we know, Stephen is alive and well in Brazil. If you see him along the way, give him a beer. Gil has ditched that other CD cover design we did the shoot for and is now coming up with some awesome stuff in his factory of dreams on top of the Armchair. Next door, Righard is churning out kiff posters. Jon sent word from Joburg that our album is finally mastered, so things are finally sort of happening.

Onthou, 'Jou Medemens Is Dood' is weer beskikbaar. Die nuwe Ons Klyntji (November 2006) is ook nou beskikbaar. It contains extracts from Stephen's Brazilian diary. Bestel nou van Produkte.

You can read one of Steve's emails from Brazil here.

17 September 2006: Promises abound, yet our album's completion is still held up. Reasons: a) we are slapgat, b) our Anonymous Star Producer is feeling off-colour, c) Gil is - according to his bar staff - away in a town with "an Afrikaans name", d) rain, e) some of the above. Half the album photography has been done though, which means it's not like we haven't been doing nothing/ anything neither/ either. You can see it here. Our champion friend, Inge Prins, did it. Styled by Gil, because he's the only one of us with any style whatsoever.

Our next gig is on the 23rd at the Armchair with Blk Jks and will be our last of the year. This is because Stephen is going to Brazil in search of lost relatives and fabled psychedelic drugs in the Amazon. We wish him luck. Our next gigs will probably only be by February or March 2007, by which time, if the album isn't out, you can personally find me and beat me up (but only after you've beaten Gil up). Also, Steve's other band, Polstar, is playing a gig at the Armchair Wednesday the 20th of September, also their last before Steve's Really Big Haige Oddyssey, if that's how you spell it.

On that note, even though it's not available yet, Johann Botha from RSG listed "All You Need In Life Is A Soul" (he said 'have' instead of 'need' though, but that is also true) as one of his Top 10 South African songs in the new INSIG magazine (October 2006 edition). And also 'TAFL' under his top ten albums. Johann has had a copy of our unmastered pre-mixed album since about April and has regularly been playing it on his shows. En hiervoor se ons dankie.

Uiters goeie nuus is dat 'Jou Medemens Is Dood' weer beskikbaar is. Bestel nou van Produkte. Al die Ons Klyntjis is egter uitverkoop, maar teen November sal die nuwe uitgawe beskikbaar wees - die launch sal 11 November by die Klein Libertas Teater in Stellenbosch gebeur, dis nou as als nie uitfok voor dan nie. Julle kan nog bydraes in enige taal en vorm aanstuur tot die einde van September na toast@bastardmedia.co.za.

13 July 2006: Well, well. Here we are. Winter. Real jobs. Denial.

Our friends Inge Prins and Charles Badenhorst & Diek Grobler have made some music videos for us. Inge did a great cell-phone snowscape for 'This Is The Photograph I Was Meaning To Take' and Charles & Diek did some great animation for 'Ek & Jy'. We love them and thank them for it. We might show you some of it on this site soon.

Album? What album?

Check gigs once in a while - Toast & Righard are playing at the Armchair Lyric Festival on the 1st and 2nd of August.

14 May 2006: Been a while. Our April tour went well - you can see pics and read the tour diary here. At this stage we can only promise that our new album will be out some time before Christmas. We are sorry about this, but it's a funny universe anyway.

4 April 2006: Thanks to Misha and Carel at Oppikoppi, who managed to find us a spot on the Oppikoppi Easter line-up in the nick of time. Soet slaap sonder sonde, sien julle daar op die 14de, na sononder, iewers onder 'n grasdak. Die eerste rondte is op ons.

We depart on The I Shot A Muishond In Gauteng Just To Watch Him Die Tour tomorrow. Check back here in a couple of weeks, we'll stick some pics up.

26 March 2006: OK, we admit defeat. The album won't be out for the proposed album launch tour, which will go ahead anyway. Call it the preamble tour.

It was a long and hard fight and in the end there was nothing left but to call the album The Buckfever Underground Saves. Why? Gil has the answer.

6 February 2006: Our excuses include broken laptop (it smoked, we have a witness), holiday, Christmas, unChristmas, last minute parties because a good friend got on a plane and flew to another country, 2005 dying, 2006 starting, driving in hot cars for thousands of kilometres, exploring new places, having to re-install all our software because of aforementioned smoking laptop etc.

But here we are. The album is - you must be sick and tired of this now - almost done. After Paul Ressel mixed it lank nice down here in Cape Town, we wanted something different with some of the vocals and so Jon got Neal Snyman to fiddle with it up in Joburg. Soon it will be mastered. Gil is busy creating the artwork. He is also doing artclasses now, so watch it.

The album is now almost certainly called 'Die Tirannie Van Die Onmiddellike', which means what it says.

We have our clever tjommie Johann Rossouw to thank for that one. It's a translation from some French philosoper, which we promise we'll find out about and tell you all you need to know.

We're still out of Jou Medemens Is Dood stock, will let you know when we've got more. In the meantime, try your local CD store. You never know.

28 October 2005: Stephen won that business journalism award. We're so excited we don't know what to do with ourselves. Yes, we're still mixing the album. Yes, we know hardly anyone even reads this, so we know that updates are met mutely by servers a few blocks away. No, we're not too alarmed by it all.

13 October 2005: Sorry if it seems like we've been sitting around doing nothing, but it's not entirely true. Gil's been distracted with booking big acts like Rodriguez and K's Choice (all big sold out gigs in recent weeks) and having two of our favourite performers, Chris Letcher and Matthew van der Want, play and record live at the Armchair. It's been so totally laerskool. Stephen has been off winning awards for small business journalism. At least, he's been going to some fancy do's where he could've won something. Righard has been playing solo gigs and with some of his cohorts. Just last night he and Morten cooked up such weird shit in the Armchair. All that guitar playing and then it's actually hardly guitar playing. You have to see it. Current album names we are bandying about are: African National Panasonic, This Is The Photograph I Was Meaning To Take, God Haat Jou (Whatever) and The Infidels Shall Inherit The Earth. We are still aiming for a release before the year is out. Mixing is taking longer than anticipated, but we believe it will be worth the wait (that's what Gil says anyway).

19 September 2005: At the moment we are listening to different mixes of the album to see what works best. Then it's time for mastering. We're not rushing anywhere. We still don't have a decent name for it, so please help us out. Names that have been thrown around include 'No Pain, No Pain' and 'African National Panasonic' en ook Righard se nuutste voorstel, 'Knak'. We've cut one track, so there will be 11 on the final CD, just under 50 minutes long in total.

Koop gerus die nuwe (wel, oud, teen die tyd) Ons Klyntji zine op die Produkte site. Submissions vir die volgende uitgawe van Ons Klyntji kan direk aan toast@bastardmedia.co.za gemail word. Ons soek nuwe (maw voorheen ongepubliseerde) gedigte, kortverhale, one-liners, foto's, cartoons en alles wat interessant is. Ons Klyntji is 'n non-profit, in fact, dis 'n finansieël ondermynende affêre, so ons kan ongelukkig niks betaal nie. Elke bydraer kry 'n gratis kopie om vir ma te wys daai BA-graad word nuttig aangewend.

13 September 2005: Ons goeie vriend Johan Nel het met sy one-man-band, Stinkhout, in die Armchair kom speel om sy tweede EP (titel: '2') te launch. Dis nou nadat sy eerste ('Om Mee Te Begin...') ons totally offsides gevang het verlede jaar. Dis die mooiste, undiscovered musiek die kant van die Kei. Johan bly op St Francisbaai, lyk so en julle kan sy CDs bestel deur hom te email op olawieg@yahoo.com

14 July 2005: We spent three days (9th-11th) in Sibebe Studios in Derry Street, Vredehoek with Tara Fataar at the console. We recorded 12 tracks, mostly long bastards, but a couple of pop ditties inbetween. There's some kiddie-punk, 80s synth, well-disguised hip hop, John Lennon, kletzmer-music, groove, noise, thud, violin and even some backing vocals. It's pretty scary. But don't worry, there's not a happy song in there. Here are some photos.

July 2005: We've been recording a number of our gigs on Gil's MD player and decided that our gig at The Hidden Cellar (Stellenbosch) on the 25th of June sounded so nice that we'd like to see it live a bit wider than the 15 people who attended the show. Btw, if you're one of those 15, please email us. It's a 7-track CD with more than an hour of music. Check back soon for full tracklisting and lyrics. You can buy it already or check the lyrics.

June 2005: Righard Kapp has joined the band, so now there's five of us, most of the time. He plays mean guitar.