SAMAs Acceptance Speech

So Z&G got the award for Best Rock Album at the SAMAs!!!!

It's been exactly one year since we released 'Collected Memories' - and although that does seem like quite a while, it's all gone pretty fast and been crazy! What Z&G has managed to achieve in 1 year is pretty exciting, but I definitely would not be here if it weren't for a whole team of people behind me and the support of all the Z&G fans.

I'd just like to say thanks so the following people:

Karl Anderson - this project would honestly not have taken off like it did without your support, enthusiasm, hard work and guidance. Thank you so much!

Warren, Dumetse & Christine (Just Music) - thank you for all your hard work behind the scenes, and for the support in the office!

Darryl Torr - you were the first person to actually believe in the material!!! Thank you for you guidance along the way, and your amazing production and mixing.

The Z&G boys (Alan, Andrew, Darren, Rob & Marinus) - it was honestly one of my biggest fears taking this album to the live stage...but then I found you guys!!! Its been an amazing 9 months playing live with you - thank you for all your hard work and the great parties! Marinus - thanks for always making us sound AMA-zing!

Family & Friends - I'm not gonna mention everyone’s by name here, but you know who you are and where you helped. Thanks for all the support and love!

Warwick Alan - I don't think 'The Knife' would have kicked so much ass if it weren't for your awesome video. You blew me away with your vision and hard work - thank you so much and thanks to the teams who worked on the videos!

Also, a big thanks to the following peeps: Marcus Maschwitz; Catherine, Koula, Sasha, Gareth, Fresh, Elma, Xylon, Grant, Anele & the entire team @ 5FM; Zane & the team @ 94.7; Caroline & Marc @ Red Flag; Rachelle Crous; John Fishlock @ Universal Publishing; Carlien, Ronnie & the Universal Music Team; John & Attie @ Big Concerts; Mark Rosin; Cheri, Darryl & Mike from Dear Reader; Victor @ MK; Alwyn @ MNET; all the campus radio stations; Therese Owen @ The Star; Atiyah @ INL; Diane Coetzer; The Cosmo Team; Jared @ You Magazine; Donnay & Melinda @ Heat; Evan Milton; Miles Keylock; Steyn Du Toit; Julian Von Plato; Marc Latilla @ Look & Listen; Susan van Rooyen @ Musica; Wayne & Bheki @ CDT; Ronel @ House of Print; Anton & the guys @ Music Connection; Brad, Neo & the team @ Coca-Cola; Sean, Nono, David & the SAMA team; Sam & Alison @ Speakers Corner; Ken Lewis @ Pro Tools Mixing; Flash Republic; Karen Zoid; Flat Stanley; Candice & The Dirty Skirts; Brendan Sterley & the guys from Fokof, aKing & Van Coke Kartel; Ashtray Electric; The Parlotones; Ross from Prime Circle; Misha, Jessica & the team @ Oppikoppi; Ben Crossman; Sandro & Liesel @ Sandros Hairdressing; Craig & Ian @ Macbeth; Dawie Bornman; Hennie & Werner; Roger @ MIR and Jody & Jon @ F13.

And finally to all the fans - thank you for listening to, for buying and for supporting Z&G! Although it's one of the hardest things sharing your creations with the world, it’s also one of the most satisfying (well, when people like it!!!).

I probably forgot someone - if I did and you think you deserve thanks then you fit into the 'Family & Friends' general thank you ;) hehe.

xxx G

Collected Memories Deluxe Edition CD/DVD Teaser

Zebra & Giraffe Record Brand New Single For Free Download On Coca-Cola Zero Fest Website

Tuesday 3rd March 2009

In true Coca-Cola Zero Fest style, fans will be able to download FREE Zebra & Giraffe content from the Coca-Cola Zero Fest website’s download section (www.cokezero.co.za). Zebra and Giraffe have gone into the studio to record a brand new single called ‘In My Eyes’ which will be available on the Coca-Cola Zero Fest website from Tuesday 3rd March until the 30th April. In addition to this new single, fans can also download exclusive Zebra & Giraffe Wallpapers, Digital Artwork for the ‘In My Eyes’ single and the music video for their hit single ‘Oxymoron’.

To coincide with the Coca-Cola Zero Fest, Zebra & Giraffe will also be releasing a special Deluxe Edition of their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Collected Memories’ on the 16th March which will come with a FREE DVD featuring 3 music videos, interviews and exclusive behind the scenes footage.

Zebra & Giraffe is the name of a new force pressing itself into the hearts and minds of music fans and even on the first listen it’s clear that Zebra & Giraffe’s debut longplayer, Collected Memories, is every bit as unique as the animals that it’s named after. The cleverly named act is actually the 12-lettered pseudonym of Johannesburg music wunderkind, Greg Carlin. Carlin is Zebra & Giraffe and the songs on “Collected Memories” are an announcement of his own special take on making music to all who hear it. 2009 sees Zebra & Giraffe playing alongside Snow Patrol, Oasis, Panic at the Disco, Bullet for my Valentine, Dirty Skirts, aKing and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus at the Coca-Cola Zero Fest .

“A blend of MTV friendly, dark-tinged, pop-meets-rock” - Cosmo Rocks

“Imagine Foo Fighters mixed with Duran Duran with a touch of New Order” - Sunday Times (4 Star review)

“Atmospheric, sophisticated electro-pop… in the vein of New Order and the Killers” - FHM (5 Star review)

Joining Zebra & Giraffe at this year’s Coca-Cola Zero Fest are global heavyweights OASIS, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, SNOW PATROL, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and American Rockers THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS.

CONCERT DETAILS:

Coca-Cola Zero Fest is presented by Coca-Cola Zero in association with 5FM. This is another BIG Concerts Experience. The Coca-Cola Zero Fest 2009 will be a 12-hour festival featuring the best local and international rock bands, approximately 240 tons of steel, 750 lights, 3 000 staff, a 60 000 crowd expected and 25 000 Coca-Cola Zero™ cans!

FESTIVAL ITINERARY:

Friday, 10 April 2009 - New Market Racecourse, Johannesburg (Gates open at 11h00)
Monday, 13 April 2009 - Pentec Campus, Cape Town (Gates open at 11h00)

Golden Circle - R600.00 - All Inclusive
General Admission - R375.00 - All Inclusive
General Admission (Student) - R299.00 - All Inclusive

BOOKING AT COMPUTICKET

Tickets on sale at COMPUTICKET outlets countrywide from early on Friday 23rd January 2009.
Computicket Internet Site: www.computicket.com
Computicket Call Centre: 083 915 8000

To ensure that fans have the best experience, please note that the following items are prohibited at the Coca-Cola Zero™ Fest:

• Cameras
• Cooler boxes
• Food & Refreshments (including soft drinks and alcohol) which will be available for sale inside the festival)
• Weapons
• Illegal Drugs
• Professional recording equipment

For more info on Coca-Cola Zero™ Fest visit:
www.cokezero.co.za, www.5fm.co.za or www.bigconcerts.co.za

Broken planes, smashed windows & bed bugs

WED 11th

Where to start? ...well on Wednesday morning we jumped on a plane, ready to begin our little trip to the Western Cape, and were politely informed that the left engine wouldn’t start! So, it was off the plane, back to the Vida for some coffee, and then onto a new plane! This time with 2 engines working!!! A good start...

We arrived safe 'n sound in Cape Town, only to find my flight case had been 'tampered with'... somehow, it had been opened, zips had been unzipped, and things had miraculously grown legs... turns out, the missing items were lying around in the hull of the plane! What are the chances???? Anyways... I got my things back and we got our big-ass VW and headed off to Stellies for our first show.

For the past 2 days I had been battling an uber-bad throat infection, one that the doctor had declared as 'gross' (nice!). Luckily, our friend Rachelle managed to get some miracle pills called 'homeovox' (which are now my best friend) and dropped them off at the accom - they saved my life!!!

Rest of the day was the usual - bugger round, head to venue, setup in the sun, sweat, sit around, soundcheck, sweat, head back to accom, eat din-dins, hit a showeroni, get changed and head to the venue...fun! We hit Klein Libertas at around 9 and there were quite a few people already...lets make that a lot of people actually! Our friends Ashtray Electric hit the stage first and during their set they shot some footage for their new music video - it looked really good! We hit the stage at just after 10 and played a really great set to an awesome crowd (well at least thats what we thought...)! Thanks Stellies...

The rest of the night, well... we'll leave that for the Z&G memoirs one day... ;)

THURS 12th

Crawled outta bed. Fetched gear. Drove to CT. Checked in. Hit the bed again. Ate dinner. Watched a kak movie. Sleep. Zzzzzzz

FRI 13th

I don’t believe in stuff like Friday the 13th... but maybe I should!

02:30 in the morning, I get a call from our sound guy Marinus (who is staying in a separate room with our bassist Andrew - we call it the 'sober room' - ironically) saying that they have 'a bit of a problem'. I ponder whether to actually even move... eventually I do. I stroll up to their room in a daze, only to find the guys packing all their gear into a taxi. WTF? I am informed by some large English 'gentleman' that 'you break my window, you leave my hotel' - umm okay? I head off to find a very serious Andy who fills me in:

Andy was sleeping, Marino was showering (yes at 02:30 – don’t ask me why!) and their old-school slide-up wooden-frame window, which was being held up by a Valpre bottle put there by the cleaning lady (!!! safety hazard???) slipped, dropped down, and shattered, sending large pieces of glass plummeting down onto some guys head (yes, there happened to be a guy sitting below the window, at 02:30 in the morning!!!! (Friday the 13th I tell you). Next, the manager storms into the room screaming and shouting. Andy tries to explain that he was sleeping but the ever-so-polite man starts accusing him of maliciously breaking the window in an attempt to hurt the people below. There's no arguing with the guy...next, his big friend appears and they continue to verbally abuse Andy and Marinus... throwing in a couple of physical threats as well! They ask the guys to leave immediately, and call a taxi... (this is about the time I appear). I am bad with confrontation, even in a pissed off mood, so I tell the guys to get the hell outta there and find a new hotel...

FUN NIGHT! I continued to dream about the incident the rest of the night, making what I thought were mosquito bites, a lil more irritating...

Ah, Friday morning... maybe things will be better today?

I head off to a photo shoot, deep in the 'burbs' of CT - I play 'Rock Band' with a whole lotta other musos, photos are taken, laughs are had - a good start. I head back to the City Bowl, meet up with the band, and drive to the beach for some surfing - my first time! We hire the boards, head into the sea at Muizenberg, catch a couple of waves & I sorta stand up a couple of times! Happiness…or so I thought...

The damn 'mosquito bites' I got, seem to be getting bigger, and start appearing everywhere...hmmm, have I got the plague? Nope, just bed bugs!!!!! Eeeeeew!!!! Next thing I know I am scratching myself like a flea-infested township dog, I am covered in red marks, and I got sore ears from surfing! Poor Greg! :) ...

Its turns out to be kinda funny, well, for everyone else, and we head back into CT to get ready to for a night out, plague-infested and all!

The night turns out to be a looooong one... we hit Ratanga for the UCT RAG show, hang out with aKing, the Skirts and Goldfish (such celebs we are), consume free booze and head back to the city... I cant remember what happened after that... ;) ... Oh wait, I do remember that I had to spoon with Rob, because I WAS NOT sleeping in the bug infested bed again!!!!

SAT 14th

Ah, Valentines Day... what a load of bollocks! Well, if you're single that is!!! Or if you're in a band!!!! The day proved to be very un-romantic between the band members. Tiredness, circumstance and hangovers had taken their toll and we realised why it was that in EVERY rock bio, band members end up hating each other... we did however, manage to get over ourselves when we got to Assembly for our show and saw the LARGE crowd that had gathered. Whether they were there just for the party or to see our lovely faces was irrelevant, we kicked ass and got our mojo back! Thanks CT!!!!

SUN 15th

3 hours sleep - A rushed drive to the airport - A late check-in - Seats for all of us between elderly ladies, and the WORST cup of coffee I have ever tasted - It proved to be a fitting end to an interesting lil trip. Thank god for the fans, the friends and the mountain man ;) ....

Greg

Zebra & Giraffe Live @ Horse Production Launch

Zebra & Giraffe live @ Back2Basix with Dear Reader [Harris Tweed]