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Wonderboom
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Last updated 27 07 11
Wonderboom:
Wonderboom is a 4 piece South African rock band from
Johannesburg.
They formed in 1996 when Martin, Wade and Cito,
originally in an underground band called "The Eight
Legged Groove Machine", were approached by Danny,
the drummer for the popular rock band, "The Electric
Petals" and their manager, Patrick Horgan.
Originally they formed a funk-rock supergroup "The
Electric Petal Groove Machine". Two weeks after the
combination of the two groups, the band then still
known as "The Electric Petal Groove Machine", opened
for Simple Minds on their South African tour.
Not completely happy with their temporary name, in
the Summer of 1997, a sign caught Cito's eye, just
outside of the Freestate town of Kroonstad, pointing
to a little town called "Wonderboom".
Wonderboom members:
* Danny de Wet - Drums
* Martin Cito Otto - Lead vocals, Pennywhistle
* Wade Williams - Bass
* Martin Schofield - Guitar, Backing vocals
Wonderboom Bio:
Wonderboom is a band that needs no introduction.
Their crazy colour painted all the stages of South
Africa with their funky tattooed muscle flexing
energy. Theyve become a stalwart of SA music. You
cannot say Wonderboom without sinful and sordid
images of flesh bound men frolicking bare chested in
front of millions of screaming fans, wearing the
snake that some so commonly misrepresent as evil?
They've become as an important a part of South
African music as biltong is to a khaki man.
Enter Wonderboom, clothed, in 1997. Merging 2
different bands The Electric Petals and Eight
Legged Groove Machine, it's obvious that each member
is tightly ensconced in the world of music. It is
blood to them, and it is this energy and daring that
makes them go on to become one of the hottest bands
SA has ever seen in all aspects of the word.
Initially touring as The Electric Petal Groove
Machine the boys start out as all aspiring bands
start out. Touring, gigging, playing, practicing,
defining their sound, but unlike other bands this
happens all in the space of one week. Shortly after
their joining of minds, TEPGM perform their first
show live on the TV show The People Of The South
hosted by Dali Thambo. And the rest, they say, is
unbelievable. In such a short space of time, the
band is asked to open for international 80's band
Simple Minds. Shortly after, lead singer Cito
replaces the temporary band name when he spots a
road sign just outside of the Freestate town
Kroonstad called Wonderboom. It's shorter, and it's
new and it is the start of something beautiful.
1997 is to Wonderboom as the world is to humanity.
From dust and drums whence we came!
In 1998 Wonderboom release their first official
album. A six track self financed EP called Is It?
This debut included one of their first hits, and a
song that is always heralded by fan attacks and
crowd bursts at festivals the highly contagious
Green Fever. Also included on Is It? are the Rocky
Horror type tracks Jafta Rebel, She Cries and No
Left Stone Unturned. Is It? establishes Wonderboom
as a real band a self-actualized monster of hits -
a band that the public eat up like oysters and
champagne.
After touring and playing most major festivals and
being asked to open for Live on their Distance To
Here Tour in SA, Record Company David Gresham sit up
and start to sniff the goods. Wonderboom take the
plunge and sign a record deal with DGR in 1999 and
release Never Ever Ever which boasts the single
Something Wrong which reaches all the way up to #2
on the 5FM charts, an amazing feat for a then SA
music unfriendly radio medium.
2002 is spent in the studio, taking a break from the
constant stress of touring and focusing on their
first full length David Gresham release Rewind.
However, Wonderboom are ultimately a live band, and
they wouldn't miss any opportunity to perform live,
to get down and dirty and get their leopard skin
knickers off. Wonderboom not only perform with
internationally renowned alternative band The
Mission they headline one of the oldest festivals
in SA Opikoppi.
In 2002, after a year of all work and hardly no
play, their first official album Rewind is released.
A tribute to South African musical heroes Rewind
is touted as one of the most respected albums
Wonderboom have released and a step in the right
direction for the band as a whole. They are taken
very seriously by media moguls, fellow musicians and
industry chirps alike.
Rewind takes classic songs the likes of Johhny Calls
The Chemist by Falling Mirror, Shadows by E-Void,
Africa by Johnny Clegg and Charlie by Rabbit and
reinvent them, infusing them with the vibrant acid
sparked wit that is Wonderboom. Rewind yields four
top ten hits and Charlie prides itself at reaching a
#1 spot on 5FM.
Not only happy with themselves on the success of
Rewind, 2002 proves to be one of the busiest,
hottest years of Wonderboom's career. In July they
tour London and Cardiff and spend most of their
waking hours behind their instruments, beating out
their anarchic rhymes and winning more and more fans
all the time. This is made evident when Wonderboom
walk away with the coveted prize for The Top band in
SA at the People Magazine's Crystal Awards Ceremony.
Along with this Wonderboom continue to perform at
high profile gigs the likes of Idols, 94.7 Highveld
Stereo's Joburg Day, and staples like The 5FM Easter
Rock Concert, Woodstock and Oppikoppi. It's balls to
the wall and six packs to the floor with Wonderboom.
No half assed flab allowed!
With 3 hit records under their sleeves, Wonderboom
will not rest. Work on their 4th album begins and is
released in 2003. Tell Someone Who Cares is a fully
grown beast that will not be tamed, featuring hit
attack tracks like Dead Right, Soul Doubt and White
Lines.
Hoekom? is Wonderboom's fifth record and is the big
Afrikaans sister to Rewind. Being the consummate
South African band, and not afraid to be who they
are Wonderboom have recorded a 6 track EP in
Afrikaans, paying tribute to the most influential
modern Afrikaans singer songwriters around today.
They're the archetypal South African band a band
who won't mind taking their shirt off for you in
fact, they'll go all the way most of the time,
which makes them who they are. A burning flame in
the eve.
Discography:
Hoekom? · 2004
Tell Someone Who Cares · 2003
Rewind · 2001
Never Ever Ever Ever · 2000
Is It? · 1997
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