One thing is for sure though - the boys are not short on talent, drive and a clear musical and professional sense of direction. All attributes they claim necessary for any start-up band to garner in order to have any long-lasting success.
Ross: Just know as much about the industry as you can. Make the best quality of music you can or the best music you can on your own terms, not music that you think is gonna impress the guys at the labels ...
Incredibly particular about their sound and maintaining integrity, they strive to be a pop band with soul and substance that can last way after a few top chart positions.
With the recent release of Afro-folk pop debut album "The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg", they fought to maintain their particular sound and shied away from over-production and complication, actually turning down a few producer options in favour of figuring out and handling the process themselves.
Matthew: Our label would send us to producers and it just wouldn't work; we realised we couldn't work with someone else - we would have to do it ourselves. We didn't need our songs to be beefed up - like that slick and highly produced style is not the only sound. It [producing the album] was a mad process and we all learnt a lot.
It seems like this perfectionism and particularness is paying off as the album is being well received, not only in South Africa but the rest of the continent as well.
Robin: It stayed in the top-five of iTunes since it dropped, so it's been sort of sustained- and we have had a lot of positive feedback on social media and from other bands and, thirdly, friends and family have written us messages, it's been really meaningful feedback as well.
Pluto (Remember You), featuring DJ Clock, was the song of the season and the catalyst that sky-rocketed Beatenberg out of indie obscurity. The collaboration with DJ Clock made sense for both parties and was a success because of this; however don't expect many more Beatenberg collaborations in the near future, the band is understandably cautious and wary of not diluting or cheapening their music in any way.
Matthew: With DJ Clock we were fans for years before; if we started just collaborating with anyone it would kinda put us in a bad light. We've been working on our sound for some time and it was an unexpected success, but it hasn't derailed us. That has been the only one collaboration I have done in my entire life; I can't write with other people.
Ross: The collaboration needs to be sincere and if it is it will happen organically.
Matthew: Collaborations our cool, but it is a bit of a buzzword that we are sceptical of. I think there is a lot to be said for making a real considered statement of your own. A lot of the time collaborations are strategic; somebody is trying to cash in on someone else's fame.
Strategic or not, Pluto was a true cross-over hit and opened the band up to a myriad more fans; allowed them to walk out onto many a diverse stage and has given "The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg" an automatic audience and market.
Robin: I think it's a rare occasion for a white South African band from a major city to get to play the whole of a country. Usually you're limited to a certain scene, but to be part of the bigger picture - that's a rare thing and it's incredibly meaningful and significant in some kind of social-political sense. Our intention for a long time is to be a pop band and to play for everybody regardless. It's certainly something we want to do in the future; take our music to as many places as we can.
When the band started out, though, the idea to market themselves to a South African audience wasn't the main goal. The birth of Beatenberg and its direction was an organic one; they wanted to make unique African pop music, a sound that Matthew has always been attracted to, but their main goal was to try spreading that sound overseas first. They were surprised by the success they received in SA and obviously want to take the band as far as it can in its country of birth.
Matthew: After I went to America and came back, I thought I had to acknowledge I was South African in some sense, so somehow being away from home made me want to express where I'm from. The influences were always there, I just decided to tap into them a little bit more.
Starting the band, we weren't thinking about engaging with the music industry at all, we just wanted to play you know. We started with intent but not the knowledge of what that intent means. We weren't just suddenly in the limelight. There was a point we decided we wanted to start calling ourselves a pop band. We often speak about why we chose that, but, basically, it was a decision not to be a fringe alternative band. We still kinda view ourselves from coming from that scene, but we want to make music that is lasting and powerful enough to speak to a large range of people. Some people view that as being limiting or destructive, but I don't really view it like that.
That's not to say they don't dream of taking their music to a wider world audience, this is still very much on the to-do list.
Robin: We always thought we would go overseas; it's always been a massive priority for us, so this is why this has been such a surprise. So, certainly we're looking into going overseas as soon as we can. And with the people we have met this year, you know from Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique and Ghana, we would love to go to there and put on some kind of concert 'cause the music has gone out there, so obviously we want to go to those countries.
And whatever else may be on the to-do list, one feels that Beatenberg will tick it off with determination, tackling each bucket list with the passion and direction of a band that knows the way they would like to be heading.
Cue these southern suburbs saviours strolling off into the sunset, guitars in hand and knowing smiles on their faces.
