Coming straight outta Cape Town, and making “Punk-Rap”, P.H. Fat are Smooth Mike and Disco Izrael on vocals with Narch handling beats and production. The band has just come off the back of a fantastic 2012 and has big plans for 2013.
Following an opening slot for Public Enemy at The Assembly at the end of 2010, the band released their debut album (‘Dinosaur Blood’) in February 2011. Following the debut album’s success, the band made the brave decision to change the way they distributed their music… for free. February 2012’s ‘You are Going to Die’ 6 track EP was released for the princely sum of nothing via their band website and it appears to have worked in their favour. Their fanbase is constantly growing and the band have garnered rave reviews for their live sets. You can check them out on Friday night at the Cape Town Tattoo Expo and decide for yourself.
Howdy P.H. Fat – please go ahead introduce yourselves.
Good day – P.H. Fat here. We make party rap and have fun.
Would you consider yourselves gamers or just massive FIFA fans?
Narch:I would probably lean more towards FIFA, but I do enjoy other games like GTA, Battlefield and Skate.
Mike: I really dig digital chess and solitaire. I also clocked GTA San Andreas twice with no cheats once when I was supposed to be studying for my exams.
Disco: I play pretty much any good game that comes out on PC (I scour rating sites to find the best of the best) most of the time I will play a game for about 1 to 3 hours and then not pick it up again until years later. I enjoy FIFA if there are people around to play with. I’m not nearly as good as Narch but I’ve beat him once or twiceMy favourite genre would have to be RPGs, in all their forms.
Do you support real life football too? Which teams? And have you ever booted up FIFA after they’ve lost a game to exact revenge on their real life opposition?
Narch:Yes I do. I’m a light weight Chelsea supporter.
Mike: Whenever Narch watches a soccer game I support the other team. I also watched the World Cup when it was here. That was awesome. Our homie got us fuckin’ fancy tickets to Switzerland versus Czech Republic. There were literally presidents of countries and shit sitting next us and chocolate fountains with strawberries. And it was fancy chocolate as well – not that shitty chocolate that they use for Easter eggs.
Disco: I like watching any good team.
Which console can you be found showing your skills off on?
Narch:Xbox all the way!
Mike: The PC key board.
Disco:PC.
You play the game (FIFA) pretty regularly and try to play against (and with) your fans too. Ever worried that beating them might scare them off?
Narch:Never! I will put past as many goals as I can!
Mike: I have absolutely no chance of beating them at FIFA. I really suck at that game.
Disco:Goals are all that matter.
Do you have a set day that you play online?
Narch:I pretty much play a few games every day. It’s kinda like my little time out session from music and/or admin.
How can prospective opponents make their desire known?
They can tweet us @phfat / @narchbeats or add Narch on Xbox Live “Narch Beats”.
There’s plenty of local FIFA tournaments happening around Cape Town (and SA in general) these days. You guys should make a turn and show off your skills. So… who’s the best player in PH Fat?
Myself (Narch) and Disco. Mike has an ice cubes chance in hell in beating us.
Mike: I have no chance against them at FIFA… I hate that game – but mostly because I don’t know how use an Xbox controller.
Disco: Haha.
Any other games that appeal?
GTA , Battlefield , LA Noire , Guild Wars 2, Far Cry 3, Hotline Miami.
The South African music scene is not the most lucrative industry to make a living in, and you guys take it a step further by giving your music away for free. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth… but why? Can any group survive like that in SA? I mean, you are self proclaimed “starving musician[s]” relying on the goodwill of your fans. Charge for the music dammit! J
The short answer is yes. The money that small independent artists make off of music sales is negligible and we would rather legitimize the process of sharing ‘cos people do it anyways. I would say for a small independent artist in South Africa it would be easier to get by giving your music away (if you don’t do it like a moron and think that Facebook is advertising). We had one donation from someone in Australia that matched an entire year of album sales on all of the big online stores. We still own the rights to the music and have distributed it under an awesome license called a creative commons license which means that people can share it and enjoy it but if they make money off of it without informing or paying us – we own that money (don’t fuck with us on this one
).
2012 seems to have been a good year for the group. What have been the highlights for you?
Highlights have been our album Launches, City of Thieves tour, LCD screens, Narch’s hair, Narch getting nominated for a SAMA, Mike excercising , music videos and realizing we can do this shit.
What do you guys have lined up for 2013?
We have another full length album coming out around March and we hoping on doing our first overseas tour this year. Oh and generally being the best.
Outside of music and FIFA, do you guys have any other hobbies?
Narch: Surf , skate , growing hair on my head and eating.
Mike: I surf and skateboard and collect old synths and music equipment. Do festivals count as a hobby? [Sure, we count collecting brains as one – Undead Ed]
Disco: Making beats, playing games and swimming in the suburbs.
Slightly serious stuff over…
You’re stranded on a desert island and a genie grants you five items. Name them:
A game:
Mike: Some type of infinity game.
Narch: Treasure Island.
Disco:Baldurs Gate 2 (the only game I regret not finishing completely).A CD:
Mike: That’s not a fair question.
Narch: Ambient music.
Disco:It would be a mix CD of my favourites.A movie or TV series:
Mike: Something really long.
Narch: Workaholics.
Disco:2001: A Space Odyssey or Dark City or Gattaca.An organic life form:
Mike:Narch or Disco.
Narch: OG Kush.
Disco:Pet pineapple.Something edible or drinkable:
Mike:Pronutro.
Narch: OG Kush.
Disco:OG Kush.
The zombie apocalypse has happened. You’re facing down a ravenous zombie. What weapon do you grab?
Narch: My fist.
Mike: A tank… no one can fuck with a tank.
Disco: A super sharp pencil!
In the aforementioned zombie apocalypse you humans are all toast. Become a turncoat and assist the superior zombies or stay with the soon to be wiped out human resistance?
Mike: Ride over them with my tank. I once clocked an entire level of Command and Conquer by squashing infantry with a harvester.
Disco: Join the zombies, secretly infiltrate their upper ranks, kill the zombie queen, and teach them religion.
You can download the band’s latest single City of Thieves HERE.
The band can be caught live over the next few weeks at these venues on the following dates:
25 Jan: Cape Tattoo Expo, City Hall, Cape Town
1 Feb: Origin, Durban
2 Feb: Sasha Night club, Durban
8 Feb: Campus Invasion, Cape Town, Green Market Square.
Support your local starving musician, and follow the band on Twitter, like them on Facebook, check out their official website or watch them on their YouTube Channel.
