While you were away...

So... it's been a while.
Sometimes, one has nothing to blog about, which can be weird because a lot of stuff has happened since that last angry blog back in 2011. A LOT.

1. We set up a website. 
2. We recorded a new song, In Silence, and made a video for it.
3. We released our sophomore album, Hello Light
4. We went on a city tour! On a mobile stage! Very cool :-)
5. We released the second single, and here's the video.
6. Both songs appeared on a Top 10 countdown.
7. We're expanding our tour.

This process has been so overwhelming, that words have been a bit inadequate to describe the intensity of the emotional roller coaster that we have been on.  So, does it make sense that it was impossible to blog about?

However, some things are easy to talk about in this endless pursuit of happyness, and three of those things are "happiness",  "Kill Bill" and "numbers".

Happiness. We all want it.

Kill Bill. Was just an amazing movie.  And while the six main characters were absolutely coolishly bad mofos, "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad" is a silly name.  Which is quite the situation we have in "Murfy's fLaW"

Numbers. Two important numbers for Murfy's fLaW are 312 and 1496. Why? Both these years were leap years. And in 312 AD Constantine I marched into Rome, fished Maxentius' body out of the Tiber and decapitated it.  Then in 1496 AD Leonardo da Vinci tested a flying machine.  Unsuccessfully.

Those exciting facts aside, we love 312 and 1496 because this is the number of people who've taken time out to follow and like us on twitter and facebook respectively. We appreciate you all - yes, even those of you who've only followed us so that you can try to sell us earplugs and specific-body-part-growth hormones.

Seriously though, it's you guys who keep voting for our songs, interacting with us, and making us feel that despite the lows, there are some people out there who give a damn, so thanks.

And as a token of our appreciation, here's a picture I drew of the band pretending to be members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad! 

(And in the interest of full disclosure, this blog was all about justifying why I should throw into the public domain a badly drawn sketch of Murfy's fLaW pretending to be members to the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.)

No such thing as bad press. Really?

Strangely, this was something that I had been warned about.

A couple of years back, I'd attended a seminar on making money in the Creative Industry.

Eric Wainaina had just given an inspirational talk on the business side of the Music Business, and was taking question. Murfy's fLaW had just had our first mention in the a local paper. The writer managed to spell the band name wrong, get the wrong number of band mates, and blessed the mentioned ones with a whole string of made-up names and features.

"So," I asked Eric, "How can you ensure the press get the details right?"

Eric said, "You can't".

Fast-forward to the present. 1.5 albums, dozens of gigs, a few blurbs and a multitude of scandals later, and I wonder why I still felt let down when I read this article.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/mag/InsidePage.php?id=2000036217&cid=616&

Pretty innocent, you might think.

YOU'RE WRONG!

All along, we were led to believe that this would be an article about the "band". They gave questionnaires for all of us to fill, took lots of band photographs, and individual photos as well.

Then, the article comes out, and they've gone ahead and edited 9ine out of it.

I get that people think it's really amazing that there are so many girls in the band. Power to women and what not. And yeah, Murfy's fLaW is made up of pretty amazing people who've overcome pretty amazing things and formed a band. And sure, 5 of them are girls, but 1 is a guy and it's this grouping that makes us as awesome as we are.

So yes, I get upset when they'd rather just blindly ignore the one guy in the band, just coz he's "ruining" a perfectly nice "girl band" picture.

Get over it people. We are not a girl band. We are a band with girls and a guy. If you want to take pictures of pretty girls, you've got Spice girls and The Moipei Sisters. (Pause. No disrespect to them). Does the world need another all-girl grouping so desperately that you'd kick the boy out?

I guess what bothers me is that they were so sneaky about it. Why go ahead and involve 9ine in the entire interviewing process if they were going to edit him out? There wasn't even a token "whole band" photograph, just to appease my troubled heart. (Let alone the trouble hearts of all the lovely female flawbots out there who only watch the band coz they like 9ine). The whole thing ended up leaving a pretty foul taste in my mouth.

They say there's no thing such as bad press. Yay for free publicity etc. But man, sometimes it feels like crap.

(DISCLAIMER: Written by a highly-emotional band mate. Views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Murfy's fLaW).

Rumours

noun: rumours

1. Gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of mouth.
2. Second single off the Murfy’s fLaW album, Makosa.

Happy New Fiscal Year!

So some of you may have been wondering about the recent spate of rumours that have been appearing about Murfy's fLaW members. (A lot of you haven't even heard of these rumours, but lets pretend you have heard, and you've been wondering...)

WONDER NO MORE! THE TRUTH HAS BEEN REVEALED!

The video for Rumours is up on our YouTube channel, just a single click away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDWsoHQp4lc

Hope you enjoy it, and as per our usual request, please call up your favourite vee-jays and harass them to play it on your favourite music video stations.

Thanks for your continued support.

 

Murfy’s fLaW

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ROCK MUSIC & WITCHCRAFT!

ROCK MUSIC & WITCHCRAFT! H[EAR] ON MUSIC by N. Arthur

The music video for Michael Jackson’s Black or White was released in 1991. Controversy was generated concerning the last four minutes of the original music video. Jackson walks out of the studio as a black panther and then morphs into himself. [View on YouTube] It helped usher in morphing as a new technology in music videos.

SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, who has carried out extensive scientific studies of the band Murfy’s fLaW, reports on this morphing “technology”.

During my usual evening walk, the twilight light lit the street with a blue hue that brought to mind the ending of Michael Jackson video for Black or White.

Everyone says the Black Panther-Michael Jackson transformation was just camera tricks, but recently I have come to the realisation that this transformation can be done without any video manipulation.

My reporter instincts kicked in when, from the windows of a restaurant, I could heard a band playing what sounded like Murfy’s fLaW song Rumours.

I walked into the venue, and sure enough Murfy’s fLaW was playing. I immediately understoond why the song sounded different. Vicky was not drumming, someone else was there instead! The band went into a wild instrumental solo, and Reema, the lead vocalist leapt off the stage to mingle with the audience.

“Where is your drummer?” I managed to ask as she danced circles past me.

“Kanvar? He’s on stage, taking a solo,” Reema replied as she danced back, arriving on stage just in time to begin the a capella intro to All I Know.

But where did Vicky go? I wondered. As if in answer to my silent query, the stage was suddenly flooded in light as the instruments came back in full volume, riding on the syncopated beat of Vicky attacking the bass drum.

I was absolutely stunned. So, Vicky was drumming, what happened to Kanvar? I looked at the band, but they carried on playing, not seeming to notice that their drummer had magically transformed into someone else!

Luckily, I some lovely interent people sold me a genuine $100 degree from Cambridge University, A PhD in The Art of Being Scientific.  So before I jumped to conclusions, I knew I’d need proof. I set out to do this by asking myself a set of rigorous questions.

Q1. Do Kanvar and Vicky both play drums?

A1. Yes.

Q2. Have Kanvar and Vicky been seen playing drums for Murfy’s fLaw at the same time?


A2. No.

Based on this elaborate scientific methodology, I am now confident in believing that Kanvar and Vicky are the same person.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We are pleased to announce that SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, has been nominated for the SAWA AWARD OF MUSIC JOURNALISM for his brilliant Investigative Reporting.

DIVASTATING!

DIVASTATING! H[EAR] ON MUSIC by N. Arthur

From J-Lo’s demands for white lilies in her hotel suite, to Lauryn Hill’s declaration that no one should make direct eye contact with her… female musicians seem to be a demanding breed. And no one seems to showcase these Diva tendencies quite as well as Jojo, the pianist from Murfy’s fLaW.

SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, got a first hand account from one of Ms Jojo’s victims.:

I was taking my usual evening walk, doing my Christian duty of visiting the sick. I would never have suspected that there was anything particularly suspicious about Patient X’s case, had it not been for her hospital chart, which was marked, Patient X.

My reporter instincts kicked in, and I sneaked into the private room holding Patient X.

Patient X turned out to be a young petite girl who looked physically shaken and emotionally distraught. It was difficult but she eventually agreed to share the details of her traumatic incident at Ms Jojo’s hands.

^Æ“It was terrible,” she said in a shaky voice, “I’m a production assistant on the set for the Murfy’s fLaW tour, and had been sent into the backstage area to advise Ms Jojo that the microphone was ready for her sound check. To my horror, as I approached her, she caught my reflection in the mirror, and started hurling profanities at me. I tried to back away, but she grabbed at my hand with a vice-like grip, and held me in front of the mirror, bringing my attention to the purple eye shadow that we were both wearing.

‘Why are you wearing the same colour of eye shadow that I am?’ she demanded, ‘I’m the only one who is allowed to wear ^™Blueberry Marshmallow!’ and with that pronouncement Ms Jojo began to claw at my face with her freshly-polished acrylic nails.

I tried to get away, but the woman has unnatural strength! By the time I was rescued by the body guards, her acrylic nails had left deep grooves in my face. My skin was torn, and I was bleeding. The doctors say I may need skin grafts and 36 months of emotional therapy. I’m devastated!”

On attempting to get Ms Jojo’s reaction to Patient X’s statement, she merely said, “I do not wear acrylic tips. My nails are natural.”

---

^ÆPatient X’s account has been edited for clarity, and to conform to content standards of SAY What!? magazine.

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER!

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER! H[EAR] ON MUSIC by N. Arthur

A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 January to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, was in Juba for the landmark event, and reports:

“Where did you get this picture?” the bartender asked. My regular evening walk, had led me to the Juba Grand Hotel. Tired from a day of hard-core investigative reporting, I plugged in my headphones, put on my walkman. Yes. Walkman. That’s how I roll. It was at this point that the bartender began to demand answers.

I looked up and found that he was brandishing the cassette case, jabbing a finger at the artwork on the cover.

“Oh, that is Punky Monkey,” I said, “She plays guitar in Murfy’s fLaW”

 

“No!” he insisted, “This is a soldier of fortune! I remember her from Malou. Sunday, Feb.25, 2001!”

My keen reporter instincts kicked in. I leaned forward, drink forgotten, “You mean she’s a child soldier?”

“Child!?” He spat out incredulously, “That’s no Child! She’s a Soldier of Fortune! A mercenary! She fought for the South, and then she fought for the North. And then she fought for the east, and then fought for the West! At the same time! Scumbug! It was the mission of everyone to find her, but she was too sneaky! Look!” He showed me a “WANTED” poster from early 2001.

I studied the poster and the album cover, “Wow, she hasn’t aged at all in all these years!” “That’s her trick,” the bartender explained, “She used her childlike appearance to sneak into and out of the Rebel Camp”

“Really?” I was amazed. "How old was she when this wanted poster was made?”

“Seventy six”

On 7 February 2011, the referendum commission published the final results, with 98.83% voting in favour of independence. While the ballots are going to be suspended in 10 of the 79 counties for exceeding 100% of the voter turnout, the number of votes are still well over the requirement of 60% turnout, and the majority vote for secession is not in question.

The predetermined date for the creation of an independent state is 9 July 2011. [Source]

SELLING HIGHS ON THE DOWN LOW!

SELLING HIGHS ON THE DOWN LOW! H[EAR] ON MUSIC by N. Arthur

Despite intensified crackdowns on drug traffickers in Kenya, dealers are increasingly becoming smarter at eluding police dragnets as they continue to profit from the trade.

SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, tells of his run-in with a notorious drug dealer, who plies her ruthless trade under the cover of being an instrumentalist in a band.

It was the subtle sign that first attracted my attention.  I was taking my regular evening walk, when the setting sun cast a ray of light on a crude mabati sign nailed onto an electric pole.  It had two lines, “Problems?” followed by a phone number. 

On dialling the phone number, I was given a set of directions which led me to a location in Nairobi's westlands area.

When I arrived at the location, I found the band, Murfy’s fLaW, playing.  I dialled the number again, believing I was lost, and was shocked to see the bassist pick her phone and walk off the stage.  My reporter instinct kicked in.

“I can see you have a headache.  The spirits tell me everything.” she said when we met, even before I asked anything.  She started counting out some tablets from a brown bottle.

“I don’t have a headache,” I said, “I actually wanted to talk about - ”

“Your backache!” she interrupted, waving the tablets at me, “The spirits sometimes have problems translating to English.  It’s okay, this medicine will also work for backaches.”

“My back is fine!” I cried, “Your sign said ‘Problems?’ I thought you meant - ”

“Women!” she interrupted again, “Yes, this same tablet is also a love potion.  Just grind it into the girl’s tea, and she will follow you forever!”

“When I read ‘Problems?’, I thought I was calling a plumber!” I eventually shouted.

“Yes! I was right!” she said, “I was only confused because the spirit word for ‘plumbing’ is the same as the spirit word for ‘headache’ Luckily, if you put one of these same tablets in the cistern every day then flush, it will fix the toilet.”

So, I bought the tablets. I surreptitiously took a picture of the notorious drug dealer.

After this, I then watched the rest of the Murfy’s fLaW show.

Rosemary Owino, a deputy chief State counsel at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, said better training of prosecutors and enactment of relevant control laws are needed to curb rising cases of drug trafficking in Kenya. [Source]

NAIROBI NIGHTRUNNERS!

NAIROBI NIGHTRUNNERS! H[EAR] ON MUSIC by N. Arthur

Residents in the leafy suburbs of an upscale residential area in Nairobi were on Monday night kept awake by the one thing their high-priced security companies cannot keep away. Nightrunners.

SAY What!? investigative journalist, N. Arthur, happened to be on the scene:

The first clue was the strange noises. I was taking my regular evening walk, when from the darkness, I heard rhythmic chanting. The eerie sound chilled me to the bone. Strangely though, the chanting felt strangely familiar. I then noticed a shape approaching with unnatural speed.

Instinctively, I ducked behind a tree, keeping an eye on the road.

Within the shadowy form, I noticed two bright green spots. I watched transfixed as the green orbs floated towards me, before I realised that they were actually a pair of eyes, glowing with a radioactive glare. The darkness took the shape of a person, and all the pieces fell into place!

The chanting… The unnatural speed… The glowing green eyes… I was looking at a night runner!

With no regard for my safety, I leaned towards the road, took a picture with my handy camera, and hid behind the tree again.

But the shock wasn’t over! As I sat later at my computer, downloading the pictures, I realised that I recognized the nightrunner! No wonder the chanting was familiar! For there, before me, was a picture of none other than Reema, lead singer of Murfy’s fLaW.

Thinking back, I realised that the night runner’s chant had sounded like the chorus of one of their songs!

The residents of the neighbourhood seem familiar with these strange goings on.

“She does this regularly,” an unnamed source said, “Usually about 3 times a week. She talked some of us into accompanying her, and I have to say, these runs have really improved my life”

According to local lore, the typical behaviour for Night Runners is to kick people’s doors, throw sand through any opening, throw things on the roof, and especially iron sheet roofs which make a lot of noise. They take pleasure in disturbing people’s sleep. [Source]

Contagious

adjective: contagious

1. Easily diffused or spread as from one person to another "a contagious grin"
2. (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection
3. First single off the Murfy’s fLaW album, Makosa

Happy New Year People!

Murfy’s fLaW is ushering in 2011 with something new.

OUR VERY FIRST MUSIC VIDEO!

The video for Contagious is up on our YouTube channel, just a single click away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y37SMYAzpfc





So watch it, enjoy it, rate it, comment on it, tell a friend about it.

Blog about it, tweet it, link to it, and make a general fuss about it.

After all, it’s only when you buzz about it, that we get the motivation to make yet more confusing videos for your viewing pleasure.

Call up your favourite vee-jays and harass them to play it on your favourite music video stations.

Thanks for your continued support.

Murfy’s fLaW

http://www.facebook.com/flawbymurfy
http://www.youtube.com/flawbymurfy
http://www.twitter.com/flawbymurfy
http://flawbymurfy.blogspot.com

Waiting for the End - Linkin Park Review

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Linkin Park. I like them for their music, I like them for their art. They make my ears and eyes happy.

Well, to be honest, they made my ears happy with Hybrid Theory. My ears were still happy with Meteora (though, to be honest, Meteora was more like a continuation of Hybrid Theory). By the time Minutes to Midnight came out, Linkin Park was sounding like a cheap photocopy of their previous selves. Kind of like a band trying to sound like Linkin Park.

The artwork was still pretty cool though.

So, I've been hanging around, faking some sort of interest about their upcoming "Thousand Sands" out of some sense of fan loyalty, while all along, I've known that pretty much, I'm just hoping to get some new cool Linkin Park Artwork.

So, when I heard Waiting for the End, I cried.

Well, I didn't cry, but it made me happy enough to consider crying.

I suspect this song is going to polarize their fans. They're probably going to lose a HUGE section of their fanbase because this song contains:

1. No rap from Shinoda


2. No screamo from Chester


3. A distinctly reggaeton sound

But I love it. For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm hearing honesty from the band. They've decided to do what they want to do, and forget trying to please the fans. I guess it must be tough when your job depends on making millions of people happy. I suspect it is easy to forget what makes you happy, and get so caught up in keeping the anonymous masses (and record labels) happy.

But this song, though one of their saddest musically, and lyrically, seems to have been played with the joy of being honest about doing something they like.

So LP, thanks for being so brave.

Watch Waiting for the End here.

Superpowers: Episode 06

Before you begin to compose your hate mail, I should categorically state that I'm sure the Ghanaian members of parliament are perfectly aware of the effects of the military regime on their current constitution review process.

I should also state that I didn't even know that Ghana was reviewing their constitution, let alone that it is affected by some military regime of which I knew nothing.

However, for some weird reason, Punky knows.

There we were, having the same conversation about Kenya's constitution review process and how the politicians were messing it up.

'Poli' in Latin means 'many' and 'tics' means 'bloodsucking creatures'.

So, I assumed that as usual we'd spend some minutes cursing at the politicians, make some vague reference to Dan Toro, and then steer the conversation towards whether Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy is a slammin' album or not.

But then suddenly, Punky is cross-referencing Kenya's situation with what's happening in Ghana vis-à-vis the constitutional politics in Iran. So, I awkwardly find myself in an intellectual discussion, when all I wanted was an excuse to babble noisily, and distract everyone until band practice time is over.

And it's not just history, she has this in-depth knowledge of all current events (from the surgery to be used on Rooney to the basslines in the Posies' songs). This is very confusing,. Her day job tends to take her to the more remote areas of the country, where the only human interaction is occassionally fighting off machete wielding land-owners. I doubt any of them are offering newspapers, so how does she keep up?

So beware... Punky knows.

Everything.

Superpowers: Episode 05

A couple of weeks back, I got to attend a Penya concert at the Museum. For those who don't know, Penya is a Nairobi-based based record label, home to (among others) Dela, Sauti Sol, Stan, Muthoni and Just a Band.

Anyway, the concert seemed to highlight everything I hate and love about record labels.

The Good of Record Labels:

When a band is it's own record label, the largest portion of time goes towards managing the gig. You make your own posters. Send out the advertisements. Harass your family and friends who owe you favours to show up. Beg random people off the street to come in for free. And then, you're checking. Is there power? Did the sound guy show up? Where is my guitar? Is it in tune? Where is the drummer? What's the song list?

By the time we get on stage, we're usually tired, frazzled, annoyed at each other, and whatever make-up we had on is falling off in large, unattractive chunks.

If, on the other hand, a band gets signed to a label the process is simpler: The artistes arrive. The artists do sound checks. The artists get to chill out and get adored by their fans. The artists play their set. And then, there's a party while the roadies pack up the drums and sound equipment.

Really, it seems like it must be awesome to not have to worry about crappy sound, crappier venues and no advertisement for shows.

The Ugly of Record Lables

Here was the show line up.

1. Just a Band
2. Muthoni
3. Stan
4. Dela
5. Sauti Sol

Now, don't get me wrong, since I'm actually a HUGE fan of Sauti Sol, but sometimes, I get the feeling that the other artists get sacrificed at the altar of Sauti Sol. I guess that their reasoning is that since Sauti Sol are the biggest earner, the other artists will forever remain curtain raisers for Sauti Sol? Plus, how good can this be for Sauti Sol either? At the Love Is Show, Sauti Sol finally got on stage at 1.30 am, at a show that started at 9pm. (AFter people had been standing around since 7pm, waiting for the show to begin).

So for 4.5 hours, people had been on their feet, in the cold, dancing, etc. By the time Sauti Sol got on stage, a couple of my pals had given up and gone home.

I braved the cold. The exhaustion. Slight deafness due to my position near the speakers. Alplha's performance. (Which actually wasn't bad. It's just that by that time, I was tired, and wanted to listen to "Nairobi" and Alpha just kept singing).

Then, finally, when Sauti Sol arrived on stage and began...

I fell asleep.

In the cold. Standing up. With the speakers blaring right next to me. And surrounded by shrieking fans. While Sauti Sol performed.

So yeah, I can sleep through anything.

Lovely super-power that one :-)

NB. If a major record label offers, I'm SO THOROUGHLY selling out and signing on.
NB2. These may not be the views of the rest of the band though.
NB3. I categorically state that I have never slept through a performance by Bloodshed, they're awesome.

Superpowers: Episode 04

Nothing prepared me for the fights.

If you google "Bands", the internet offers lots of information. How to start a band. How to play the harmonica. How to practice. How to get gigs. How to perform at gigs. How to write songs. How to record songs. How to copyright your songs. Qualities to look for in a pair of drumsticks...

I'm an information junkie, so as Murfy's fLaW was plodding around, being a band, I was pretty confident that I was prepared for every aspect of the rock and roll lifestyle.

No one warned me about the fights.

Last year, Oasis announced they were breaking up. From wikipedia:

On 28 August 2009, a fight broke out between the Gallaghers in a backstage area which resulted in Liam breaking Noel's guitar.

Two hours later a statement from Noel appeared on the band's website writing that "with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer."

So, the moral of this little story, dear reader, is that if you join a band you are going to fight.

These fights will lead to the breaking of guitars, hearts, lifelong friendships and the band. The only way you can prevent this from happening is to have someone with the super-power of Peace Making in the band.

• Someone with the courage to swoop down in the middle of the most bitter arguments, bearing wonderful things like clear rational thinking.


• Someone who also knows when clear, rational thinking just isn't enough, and then bribes you with cheap wine, Chinese food, or stories about "what the dog did yesterday".


• Someone who knows when bribes won't work, and uses her drum sticks to literally batter you back onto the right path.

And suddenly, there is sunshine again.

Thank God for Vicky.

Superpowers: Episode 02

Remember how, back when you were a brownie, (or a scout, or a ranger, or whatever random thing it was), and they'd take you on camping trips and expect you to start a fire using two sticks? Or flint stones? Remember how it was impossible? Remember how there was always some showoff kid who could manage to do it?

Well, Reema is the equivalent of that show off kid. Only, instead of starting fires, she starts parties.

I hear she once started what ended up being a week-long soiree with nothing more than a piece of string and a marker.

Peculiarities

Usually when I do a comic (ha ha, that phrase makes it sound like I've done quite a number of comics, right?) it tends to have some sort of backstory to support it.

This time, there is no backstory. The comic was drawn to highlight one of those peculiarities unique to the band called Murfy's fLaW.

Anyone who's a regular at mf gigs knows the comic speaks the truth.

All the band members can be casually lounging about on stage, tuning instruments, chatting and what not, but immediately someone says, "Okay, let's begin our set," the stage magically clears.

The people who were just seconds previously relaxed on stage, passing time, waiting for the set to begin, suddenly remember to deal with very important cigarette/last minute practice/make-up emergencies.

Thus mf sets tend to begin with one or two band members on stage standing at the microphone, begging the other band mates to show up. (Reema and Jojo have perfected this art, they even have a song, "Jozie Boo, where are you?". It's sang to the Scooby Doo theme song).

To date, I've never seen another band do this.

Another thing unique to Murfy's fLaW is the ability to create spaghetti. No matter how many times we've watched Gilbert (former Beathog) do it, mf has never mastered the art of a neatly set-up stage.

We have often been advised to move more on stage. However, mf are working on setting a record as the stillest band in history. This is not just because we're desperate to make it into the Guinness Book of Records. The truth is, we don't move around much simply because we're scared of tripping in the mass of cabling we manage to create. (And if we don't trip, there's always the fear of electrocution).

All this gets me thinking about bands and their particular peculiarities. Did I say "bands"? I mean band. Just A Band.

While trawling the interwebs recently, I found that KenyaChristian had premiered the artwork from Just A Band's upcoming album 82.

As I was seething in envy (both at KenyaChristian for being picked to premier the cover, and JAB for finishing their sophomore album), it occurred to me that my fandomishness(?) of JAB is largely on a visual level. Before I'd heard a single song, I was already a fan simply because of the JAB aesthetic. The reason I bought a copy of their debut album, Scratch to Reveal, was simply because it was such. Good. Art.


A couple more clicks into their website, I ended up here, where I finally experienced their music.


I was so busy getting blown away by the video, that it took me a couple of viewings to realise that I really did not like the song. (Yeah, sue me).

But that's just me, I tend to believe that the entire electronic genre should be hung from a tree and shot. Maybe it's the annoying repeptitive synthesisers. Or the annoying repeptitive lyrics. Or the annoying autotuned vocals. Or the way all electronic music sounds the same. The only good thing about electronic music is that if you're on a dancefloor, and you're too tired/unskilled to dance, the strobe lights tend to make everyone look very rhtymic and dancy.

I digress. Despite my absolute hatred for the genre, I bought the album, just coz it was so darned pretty. Whereupon, the real surprise set in. The music was amazing. I mean, it was electronic music, all right. But despite that awful flaw, it's good music. Funky bass lines, powerful singing, interesting composititions... how did they do it? How did they make electronic music sound good? And more importantly, can they do it again with 82?

I digress again. The point here was to show that JAB's peculiarity is that one can't think of their music, without also thinking of their visual art. The videos, the posters, the photographs, the website. So, while waiting for October and the launch of 82, I'm not just waiting to hear JAB's new songs, I'm also anxiously waiting to see the new posters, watch the new videos and see the new photographs.


---------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS
Friday 2nd, October
That '80s Show
Murfy's fLaW gig on 80s songs at Dass Ethiopian Restaurant from 9.00pm

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What Murfy Did

Friday 4th of September, Murfy's fLaW will be back on the scene after an intense 2 month hiatus.

The reason for the hiatus was noble. On October 6th, 2007, Murfy's fLaW accidentally began to take itself seriously as a band. It started with a gig we organized at the GoDown, and for the next two years, it was non-stop shows at Dass Restaurant, which funded non-stop recording at Ketebul, which led to non-stop worrying about launching the album, which led to non-stop shows to promote the album...

In other words, the band was burning out. The plan was simple: step away from the public eye, rest, bond, regroup and come up with a fresher, better, tighter Murfy's fLaW.

Shock on us.

I haven't seen this many solo projects since the Spice Girls split up.

In a bid for a testosterone fix, 9 teamed up with Guy of Syndon, and Mukasa + Toma from M2O to form supergroup Cydonia Nites. Cydonia Nites existed for a grand total of 2 shows, during which they delivered amazing a symphonic power metal sound, and gave reigning champs LYT a run for their money at the August Battle of The Bands.

Jojo joined up with psychoblues band The Beathogs, which has jokingly been referred to as the Murfy's fLaW preferred internship centre, based on the number of fLaWs that have passed through The Beathogs Band Camp.

Jozie went on to become a model in the Liz Ogumbo band. I kid you not. Singer/Model/Designer Liz Ogumbo, put together an Urban Soul All-girl band, who's primary role was to provide instrumental backing, while wearing outfits from her Dress-a-croch collection. The nights were cold, but the girls were beautiful. Freeze and shine, baby!

Punky and Reema decided to go see the world, facing many challenges along the way. Reema battled airport security and customs officers. Punky battled the hot sun, innumerable hills and various scary things in the Mara. Both returned safely.

And then... there was Vicky. The one person who actually took the break seriously. She did her drum exercises. She practiced. She drafted a band agreement for us to become a legal entity. She was there when the band members finally decided to come back and do what we'd promised the fans. (Too bad, we only got our act together 1 week to our show.)

Which brings us to today's challenge question? Can a band really take a break to strengthen the band without random members sneaking off to do their own thing? I guess if there's anything that our little break proved, it's that Murfy's fLaW is at par with the major bands. (Well, not in terms of record sales or even skill, but just like the big bands, when we stop to breathe, people go off and do their own things.)

On, October 13, Out Of Ashes, the debut album from Dead By Sunrise will be released. If you just asked who Dead by Sunrise is, slap yourself. Dead by Sunrise is Chester Bennington's side project. How selfish is that?! It's not enough to be the lead singer of Linkin Park, he has to go and create another band. But you know I love Linkin Park and you know I'm going to get myself a copy of Chester screaming his guts out in yet another band. Because, I'm sure, he's doing this, just so that he can be better when he goes back to Linkin Park. ;-)



(If you're going to click on any of the links on this post, click on the one above. If I get enough clicks on it, I stand a chance to win a guitar autographed by the members of Dead by Sunrise!)

This is the end of this extremely long post. Catch you at Dass on Friday! Experience for yourself the well-rested, newer, better, brighter, shinier Murfy's fLaW.

The Mystery of Creativity

Of course, 9 will forver insist that he's the one who wanted Murfy's fLaW to cover "Careless Whispers" waaay before Seether recorded their amazing cover. But really, it was my idea. Anyway, as much as it pinched to see that Seether had done so well with what I thought was a creatively unique concept no other rock band could come up with, I was willing to accept it as a coincidence until I saw this.

Now, the youtube jury is still out on whether this is a nice video (personally, I LOVE IT), but I think everyone is willing to agree that they've never seen anything quite like it, right?

WRONG!

Behold a video I made last year for an online competition. Coincidence...? I think not!

Anyway, despite all that has been said in this post, I have nothing against Seether. I'm a big fan. I still believe that they must have a mind-reading machine with which they steal poorly executed ideas and improve on them for commercial success. Of course, one could also postulate that I have a time-machine which I used to travel forwards through time, steal ideas and then quickly release them in shabby style so that people would think I had them first!

And of course, anyone reading this post will probably realise that this train of thought is totally un-original and stolen in large part from a fake argument that occurred after Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, and Drew of Left Handed Comics happened to draw comics that had similar punchlines.

Talking about webcomics, one may notice that the comic today (oh! That's our news! We are going to devolve this blog into a comic!) may bear a not-so slight resemblance to Tim Buckley's Ctrl+Alt+Del sillies series. Well, that's because I stole his style since it seemed easy for a non artistic person to duplicate.

Now, the thing is you probably didn't notice this stole style thing because:

1. You're not reading this blog


2. The artwork ain't that great


3. The joke ain't that funny

BUT, what that means is that I'm successfully creative because I stole his idea and repackaged it with considerably less talent. Thus, no one will KNOW I stole the idea. They will think I'm being creative! Which brings us to today's lesson:

1. Steal ideas.


2. Ensure you have as little talent as possible, so that by the time you execute the idea, no one will link your idea to the original.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to be creative.

(And if you'd like to read the hilarious book where I learnt all this, its by Scott Adams The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers)

It's A Madd Madd World - And we're in it!

For all its issues, I love being a Kenyan. And every day, I find things that continuously cause my heart to swell with pride at being a Kenyan.

• The people. (Politicians don’t count, politicians are animals!)


• Delicious water.


• Tasty sausages (anyone who’s eaten a Sausage outside Kenya? Them things is nasty!)


• Jambo Bwana, Hakuna Matata. (Okay, so these days, it’s used ironically, but still you gotta love Them Mushrooms)


• Wide Open spaces.


• The great writers; Whispers immediately comes to mind.


• The cartoonists who’ve stood the test of time and consistently manage to be funny; Gado (wait, he’s Tanzanian, right?), Stano, and, without a doubt, Maddo.

Well, on Saturday 6th June, there we were! In Madd Madd World!

Well, not as characters or anything, but STILL, Maddo slotted us into his page. He called us an “extrachromosomal Kenyan rock group”. I don’t know what that is, but man! I’ve never felt as patriotic as I did when I saw that. It ROCKS to be Kenyan!

God bless Kenya!

On The Air

Finally! Tomorrow, Murfy's fLaW is getting it's FIRST ever radio interview. Woo hoo!

The interview will be on 98.4 Capital FM on the Fuse with Rae. This will happen on the morning of Friday 1st May.

Well, to be honest, we're not getting this interview based on our own extraordinary musicianship or what not, but chiefly, because of the Kenya Beast Health Programme Benefit we're doing on the evening of Friday 1st May.

(More information on this show on the Murfy's fLaW page Facebook).

So, instead of a quasi-philosophical rockstar tirades, you're going to hear us talking about keeping healthy by early detection :-)

However, the band is going to be allowed to be slightly musical by performing an acoustic set of songs from our album Makosa. We are looking for help in picking songs for the radio interview...

The Morning After...

For the whole of this year, we've been working like mad, building up to this moment.

Well, the moment arrived, happened and was as fabulous as we'd hoped it could be.

So, now what?

We've launched the album, put on a good show, tied up the loose ends... but here we are. Confused. Bewildered. Blinking in the strange morning light. Slightly lost.

Because, with each attaining of a goal, comes a new scarier quest; creating a new goal worthy of taking the place of the previous goal.

But what could be a cooler goal than the one we had? Creating a new brand of music, and launching it into a hostile market? Well, that's done, and something new is needed.

So, here we are on the cusp of creating our first video.

Inhale... exhale...

The new goal is set.