Christina Kennedy, “The Citizen", Johannesburg, SA, 09.03.2006: "South Africa's own indie-pop idol" (interview with Ike Moriz)

 Christina Kennedy, “The Citizen", Johannesburg, SA, 09.03.2006

 SA'S OWN INDIE-POP IDOL

He’s one of the few South African musicians to have met with success in the UK lately, yet Ike Moriz has decided to return here to settle. Christina Kennedy spoke to him. Many South African pop-rock outfits look to America for their inspiration. Not so Ike Moriz. This Capetonian’s style pays fond tribute to Britpop and Seventies glam rock. Moriz has returned to settle in South Africa after pursuing a relatively successful music career in London for the past five years. This week has seen him launching his album Play Me in Joburg, with another gig scheduled for tonight at the Blues Room in Sandton.Moriz has lately been enjoying airplay on 5FM, OFM and campus radio stations with the title track from his second album, which he wrote and produced himself. It seems his infectious, melodic, dramatic indie-pop is finding favour with an increasing number of South Africans, having already been widely hailed in the UK and Europe. 

‘BOWIE WITHOUT THE GLAM’

He has been described as “Bowie without the glam meets Oasis without the self-importance teamed with UK chart alternative without the boredom”. However, Moriz confides that while the constant comparisons with Bowie are flattering, they do get a bit tiresome. After all, it’s natural for every artist to want to be defined in terms of his or her own style and not be known as a pastiche of others, but most people, it seems, feel the need to fit new musical endeavours into their frame of reference. Nonetheless, if you’re going to be compared to anyone, The Thin White Duke himself is not a bad place to start... And Bowie himself once voted Moriz’s song You Could single of the week on his website – quite an endorsement. So who exactly is Ike Moriz?

Blonde, blue-eyed and distinctly Scandinavian-looking, Moriz is truly a citizen of the world. Thanks to his parents, he had a jet-setting childhood and was fortunate enough to study music in South Africa, Germany and the Netherlands.As a child, he was “an early Shakin’ Stevens fan” (brave of him to admit that) and also listened to the Eurythmics, Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground and the Talking Heads, shaping, no doubt, his affinity for indie pop/rock with a distinctly English flavour.

A BAPTISM BY FIRE
After completing his studies, he decided to try his luck in London’s cut-throat music scene. “I’d always wanted to see what London was like, considering that musicians like Suede, Pulp and Blur built their careers there. I wanted to see where that feeling in their music stemmed from. And I love Monty Python, and I wanted to see where the British acting world got their inspiration from.“But when I got there, it was actually very different from what I expected. Some Londoners are very rough, and it’s very expensive to live there. I managed to fit in there musically – people there have always liked my music – but there’s a lot of competition. But it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.”Seemingly born under a lucky star, early on Moriz met up with George Michael’s and Marc Almond’s producer Steve Kent, who put him in touch with a great set of session musicians who were into the same music as he was, and he ended up doing both albums with them.He also did some work on movie sets, playing small parts in movies such as Alfie, Bridget Jones’s Diary 2 and Love, Actually, as well as playing a body double in Wimbledon.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
Having achieved some success and acclaim in 17 countries with his first three singles, though, he became thoroughly homesick and has returned to South Africa.“I’ve had enough of London,” he says. “It was fun and I learned a lot, but I think I’ve learned what I had to learn. I’m most at home in Cape Town. It was an emotional decision to return to South Africa – it felt like the right thing to do.” His plans are to focus on establishing himself in South Africa and continue running his own label, as well as doing some acting on the side. However, he reluctantly admits that he may have to keep up his profile overseas as well. “I just don’t wanna go,” he says mock-petulantly. He is currently working on the video for a song called I Feel Real. Moriz will be playing with The Parlotones tonight, and says that he is gratified to hear how “authentic” South African bands are sounding. “They’re not necessarily trying to sound American any more. Kwaito artists aren’t rapping about corvettes in LA, which they know nothing about, but about their own stuff. It’s more interesting.”What can locals expect from his live show? “A very high-energy, theatrical experience” Bowie would be pleased...* Visit www.ikemoriz.com for more information.