Men at Work - Down Under (Cover by Crashtackle)

So I've recorded a brand new cover under my "Crashtackle" project. I hope you like!!

New Afrikaans Worship Song!

About 2 weeks ago the minister at my church asked me if I could work on some new Afrikaans songs for worship. I have written songs in the past that has stayed in rotation for the last 8-10 years, so it was probably about time I wrote some new material.

Here's the thing about writing for corporate worship: when I do Crashtackle, I don't care whether people will like it, or what it sounds like to the untrained ear, or whatever, I just enjoy making the noise. With a song for corporate worship you have to make the song palatable for the worshiper to be willing to sing, listen to, engage with etc, but at the same time be true and authentic, since worship cannot be fake. That means I have to dig into the part of me that is maybe not so extreme, back into the folkier side of things that I really enjoy.

Also with writing lyrics, it is vital to be true to your heart, and true to the Gospel. If those aren't aligned, you shouldn't be writing the song.

Anyways, so I had a song in the making, which I started writing on ukelele, and I just built on that. About a week later, well, there you go! Check out the Youtube video, or any of these channels:

Download at:

Bandcamp - https://danienel.bandcamp.com/track/n...
CDBaby - http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/danienel6
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/za/album/noo...

Stream at:

Deezer - http://www.deezer.com/album/60956882?...
Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/album/6aIDGc...

...also on Pandora, Apple Radio, Google Play, etc etc.

So I've always rebelled against covers. I played one or two here and there, but guys like Leo Marrichiolio (Frog Leap Studios) on Youtube helped me rethink this. I had this particular song's sheet music in my music book forever. Literally the last 20 years or so. I think I got it while hunting for songs to play when I was still a teenager and learning guitar. I have never seen "The Godfather" till earlier this year, but I did play and learn the song on piano from sheet music, recognised it from radio play most probably, and started singing it here and there while sitting alon with a guitar ... and wow, that is a long sentence.

Anyways, earlier this year I came to the conclusion that this song will do well with a bit of metal/hard-rock treatment .However, when I sing it, I sound like a crooner. So, well, I thought, why not do some crooner metal? Well, that is what came from my efforts over the last couple of months. Tom Jones, you'll thank me when one day you go metal. Or you, Bubleè.

So I wrote this little ditty on acoustic guitar a while back. I have since recorded it and made a little video. It was fun to do this little trickery of playing with myself :).

You can download the song for free here:

https://www.jamendo.com/track/1453088/angel-acoustic

https://www.jamendo.com/track/1453088/angel-acoustic

Share and subscribe, it is greatly appreciated!

Gunfail.....Failed.

Ok, not really!! Haha. I just decided to change things up a bit, but maybe I should just try and explain how Vortex Afternoon and all it's inhabitants (me, myself, and I) co-exist in this slightly schizoid ecosystem of musical identities.

So, first there was Danie Nel. He was fresh from playing in a band with mates, and did his first gigs in 2000 as a solo act. This band was called "Even" and had a couple of incarnations, with me moving from lead guitar to bass to guitar and vocals and principle songwriter. Herewith a line-up list from a show we still played in '99.

Josh Sithole even played that evening... May he rest in peace.

From 2000 I played the same venue a couple of times as a guitar and vocals solo act. This then became my "project" which has been running for 17 years now. The idea is and never was to be performing publicly, but merely to be a guy writing music, and to release it in some way or the other.

I recorded an EP in 2004 which was then absorbed into my debut album "Painting with Light" which I released in 2006. Recording time was bartered for a photoshoot with Street Level Music, home of such notable acts as "The Usual", "Tait" and "Hey Mister".

I printed about 50 CD's which in time all sold. To me, that's a gold record! But more than that, I then decided to make all my music available for free.... at least this album, with only commercial rights held. I used JAMENDO to release this album onto the world, in 2009. This was the best decision I have made in terms of distribution, so far.

Here is the kicker: I have made more money this way out of music, than I ever have trying to "sell" music. It is free for personal use, but for background music and licensing, Jamendo charges a subscription and you get paid per use.

Here is some stats on this album to date on this platform:

Listens (Streams):

1 435 596 .... yes, almost 1.5 million people have heard this album through this portal alone.

My total catalogue of music has reached 1 957 326 listens on this platform to date. It is mainly made up of singles and 2 EP's. As one of the EP's is Afrikaans worship music, it is understandable it won't draw as many listens.

73251 Downloads... quite a bit more than the 50 CD's I sold.

I also submitted the tracks from this album to radio stations, online stations etc. To date, here are some highlights:

"Harde Hout" reaches no.17 on the SAMP3.com charts.

"Mercury River" reaches no.11 on the SAMP3.com charts.

"Morning" is selected as acoustic track of the day out of 10 000 entrants on Garageband.com

"Harde Hout" reaches nr.2 on CoastalRadioSA.com's Afrikaans Top 20 charts.

"My plek" breaks into the CoastalRadioSA.com Top 20 Afrikaans tracks.

The Album gets playlisted on NamaquaFM terrestial radio.

"Kinders vang die son" gets playlisted on Jakaranda FM.

But, ANYWAYS, I the album is still doing very well, and I'm immensely proud of it. Subsequently I brought out an EP called "Een" which was Afrikaans Worship songs, an live in studio acoustic album, recorded warts and all, called "Live to a mic" and subsequently a couple of singles.

I play Cape Town Church of Christ 's worship band, and that also is another outlet and style of music that I play. It also feeds my need to play infront of people, and is hugely uplifting to know that we serve to help people worship God.

But I digress greatly. The point is, that my tastes are eclectic, and I'm a huge metal fan, and I've started writing in that direction in the last couple of years. I write Afrikaans, folksy stuff, pop rock, ballady stuff, have a thing for punk.... and you can see how this can get confusing. If you're Devon Townsend, Neil Young or someone like that, you can probably weave all those personas into one and it's great.

I feel kind like I struggle to go from the extremely soft and folksy pop of "Morning" to "Hammerfall"'s industrial metal raucus as the same "band". I like the idea of personas. Also, if I tell someone to go and listen to Danie Nel, but they like metal, and they happen to listen to a folksy number, they'll assume that I am a folk musician and not be bothered to explore more. So the personas also help to get people into the style of my music they prefer quicker.

Thus I created "Crashtackle", my metal band. Or really more like a heavy - anything weird goes - progressive type idea with a focus on heaviness.

As such I then had 2 personas to administer, and I felt I needed a consolidated home (ironic) for both. I thus created Vortex Afternoon, which is the "record label" of I, myself and me. Hahaha. This way I keep my personas together, but also seperate.

However, lately I started feeling that a lot of the stuff I write for Danie Nel is actually hard rock, and punk. I came up with the idea for a punk outfit too, called "Gunfail". However, I realised that I am getting way too complicated now, and I'm ending up having to occupy 10 personas for every musical style I like. I'm no Phil Anselmo, so I  consolidated somwhat.

Anyways, that's a very long way of getting to the point. Gunfail is no more, but might become an album name. 

Deezer

I have  totally become a fan of Deezer. Much like Spotify, only Spotify is not available in my corner of the globe. So, I've also since then noticed how many people actually use Deezer. So, without any further ado, here are my playlists from Deezer for your enjoyment!

Please consider adding one of my songs into your playlists, it really does help to get the word out, and earn a cent or 2 along the way. Literally.

Something new is coming...

A new project I am launching.... think punk.... think fun.... think guitars.... think major chords....