Ryan Calder Band

I am normally circumspect when it comes to statements such as “living by faith” or “God will provide”. But as I type this, I find myself in the middle of an unfolding miracle. You may or may not believe it, and I am still trying to come to grips with it myself. It all started on Monday. (more…)

I’ve spent the past week in Cape Town as travelling salesman for the band, getting to meetings, doing general PR, sorting out Schengan and UK visas… and would you believe, performing a couple of shows. (more…)

Author Juan Montalvo puts it best: “There is nothing harder than the softness of indifference.”

Any local bands, artists or any working professionals plying their wares out there, can surely relate. (more…)

From the outset it was clear a certain Mark Haze wasn’t going to be on the fringes of M-Net Idols. We’ve enjoyed watching his journey so far, but also how well he has engaged with his rapidly-expanding fan base. He’s used the internet to communicate regularly and connect with people while on his Idols journey. We caught up with him to chat about how he views music and life in general. (more…)

So here we are, nearly two weeks into our endeavour to get to Spain, and the graph below resembles two lines. The green line signifies where we should be, and the red line is where we are. (more…)

Last year’s Cape tour was an incredible experience for me personally. We performed in a packed-out 25m² café of wine drinkers. We opened for Plush at the Assembly to hundreds of young boozers. We performed a supper-theatre show for an audience where the average age was 65. And we set up on a verandah in Paarl and performed for a group of orphaned children. Six nights out of seven, and Rudi made it through alive.

That seems a lifetime ago. (more…)

Idols is a brilliant way to fast-track your musical career. Okay, we all know that. Once you get beyond the domain of the cat stranglers and dubious karaoke singers, you have every chance, as one of the finalists, of the being adored nationwide and winning Idols!

And here’s some (invincible) advice for finalists… (more…)

As I type this, I look over a bed of decaying autumn leaves on the front lawn, and in the distance the brown-speckled hills of the KwaZulu-Natal countryside. There’s something just so intoxicating about winter out here. Blue skies, dry chilly air and the warm mid-day sunshine which lulls one into laziness. The crisp, bitingly cold air at night which chases us towards the fireplace.

It’s a strange season, I find. (more…)

The pop TV show South African Idols is without doubt the best way to gain exposure as a musician. In recent years, a couple of musicians and singers have cottoned on to the fact that you can milk the multi-million rand production to gain exposure par-nowhere else. Pixie Bennett exemplifies this, as she explained in our Web Buddies interview a few months ago.

I admire people who have the courage to go on Idols. And I was very encouraged to read my friend Erin Fourie’s Facebook status update on 14 February 2011: (more…)

Mandela Day preparations and shenanigans began weeks ago. Now that it’s international, it’s gonna end up like Christmas, where people are sick of it ages before its even arrived.

But it’s very necessary. Here’s why… (more…)