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Shy Guevaras call it a day
Cape Town indie rock stalwarts the Shy Guevaras have announced their decision to quit the South African music industry, whilst they are ahead. Whilst some compared them to the likes of Audioslave and the Foo Fighters, Shy Guevaras remained a unique voice on the South African music scene; not so much for their infectious bass lines and solid backbeats all riding frontman Gareth's smooth, catchy vocal melodies, but because they were a band that would never compromise on their art to sell a CD or perform a show.
Since their first gig in September 2005, Shy Guevaras have played hundreds of shows, holding their own in all of South Africa's premier live music venues; from packing out shows at the Zula Sound Bar (their home-from-home venue in the Western Cape), Mercury Live, The Hidden Cellar, Armchair Theatre, Klein Libertas Theatre, Burn in Durban and numerous venues in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth, to delivering hi-octane festival performances on the stages of My Coke Fest 2008, Splashy Fen and Rocking The Daisies.
Even when appearing alongside some of South Africa's biggest name-bands they bared their mettle and owned the stage. Being voted as “Best South African Band of 2007” by Outer Limits magazine and racking up Number 1 chart positions on campus radios playlists around the country meant that the Shy Guevaras were clearly destined to be more than just a passing fad but were indeed a band destined for something like superstardom. It was, ironically, this very fact that had the four member musicians questioning the reasons they agreed to make music together in the first place.
“At the end of last year we took some time off from performing to regroup and reflect on where this journey was taking us and we confronted a decision then and there: do we sell out or remain true to ourselves and what we believe in?”, explains guitarist Stuart Scott. “All credit to our many wonderful fans, we wanted to be all we could be for them, but the feeling in the band was that the monster was escaping its cage," describes front man Gareth Voster. "At the end of the day, we value our personal friendships more than we do any kind of success we may have as band and to that end are bowing out, whilst we're ahead," concludes drummer Sergio Barbosa.
Their 2007 debut album "We Owe You One" (engineered by Simon ‘Fuzzy' Ratcliffe of Lark fame and producer Koos Turenhout), remains an epic of accomplished South African guitar rock and will remain on sale in indie music stores and Look & Listen branches around the country for as long as remaining stock lasts.
The band will perform a final show in tribute to their fans at Zula Sound Bar (194 Long Street, Cape Town central) on Friday, 13 March.
"I am sure we will be back, one day, in some or other form. Music beats in all our hearts and whilst we will always be thankful for that, we cannot ignore it" - Stuart Scott.
"The band would like to take this opportunity to thank their friends and sponsors at Wildfire Tattoos and Arnette, their management Headline Artists, their public relations company plus 1 media productions, all the press, radio, television, venues and media that supported them during their career and last but always first - every one of their thigh-slapping fans - 'We Owe You One!'"
The Shy Guevaras were Gareth Voster (vocals), Stuart Scott (guitar), Justin Barnard (bass) and Sergio Barbosa (drums).
