Elizma Nolte, SA TIMES article, London, UK, July 2004: "Making it in London" (interview)

Elizma Nolte, SA TIMES article, London, UK, July 2004: "Making it in London"

"Ike Moriz has a claim to fame that few other South African musicians can boast – he has shared a movie set with René Zellweger. The young musician landed a role as a singing piano player in her latest Bridget Jones II movie. But Moriz has far bigger dreams for his music career than a small stint in a Hollywood film. Moriz has been trying to break into the UK music scene and make a name for himself internationally. Competing with the thousands of bands that perform on the London circuit every night is extremely difficult, he admits. Due to the internet and all those big labels also haven’t got the money they used to have. They tend to only go with the sure bets and the Pop Idols."It’s a pity, says Moriz. "There’s so much talent out there – just go to Camden and see.

Then you turn on the radio and you think: ‘what’s going on here?’." It’s this amazing wealth of acting and music talent that attracted Moriz to the UK in the first place, as well as the fact that South African music seemed to be going nowhere at the time. "When I left Cape Town the music scene over there was pretty dark. It was all ‘local is lekker stuff’. Now it is very different. There is a new breed of South African music coming up – interesting and very different." His own music Moriz describes first and foremost as "interesting", secondly as "edgy pop". " People say it sounds a lot like Bowie or Morrissey." Ike’s first single, Fall into the Sun, has received wide radio play and high acclaim in South Africa. 

So much so that Moriz has been inspired to return to his home country for a tour. " I’ll go wherever people want to hear my music," says Moriz. "If things pick up in South Africa, I wouldn’t mind going back there for good. I miss the quality of life there. Moriz recently recorded his debut album Mirrors and Shade here in the UK. It is available at www.ikemoriz.com as well as at www.oneworld.co.za."