“ SA'S OWN INDIE-POP IDOL “

He’s one of the few South African musicians to have met with success in the UK
lately, yet Ike Moriz has decided to return here to settle. Christina Kennedy spoke
to him. Many South African pop-rock outfits look to America for their inspiration.
Not so Ike Moriz. This Capetonian’s style pays fond tribute to Britpop and
Seventies glam rock. Moriz has returned to settle in South Africa after
pursuing a relatively successful music career in London for the past five years.
This week has seen him launching his album Play Me in Joburg, with another gig
scheduled for tonight at the Blues Room in Sandton. Moriz has lately been
enjoying airplay on 5FM, OFM and campus radio stations with the title track
from his second album, which he wrote and produced himself. It seems his
infectious, melodic, dramatic indie-pop is finding favor with an increasing
number of South Africans, having already been widely hailed in the
UK and Europe.

 
‘BOWIE WITHOUT THE GLAM’
He has been described as “Bowie without the glam meets Oasis without the
self-importance teamed with UK chart alternative without the boredom”.
However, Moriz confides that while the constant comparisons with Bowie
are flattering, they do get a bit tiresome. After all, it’s natural for every artist to
want to be defined in terms of his or her own style and not be known as a
pastiche of others, but most people, it seems, feel the need to fit new musical
endeavors into their frame of reference. Nonetheless, if you’re going to be
compared to anyone, The Thin White Duke himself is not a bad place to start...
And Bowie himself once voted Moriz’s song You Could single of the week on
his website – quite an endorsement. So who exactly is Ike Moriz?
Blonde, blue-eyed and distinctly Scandinavian-looking, Moriz is truly
a citizen of the world. Thanks to his parents, he had a jet-setting childhood,
and was fortunate enough to study music in South Africa, Germany and the
Netherlands.As a child, he was “an early Shakin’ Stevens fan” (brave of him
to admit that) and also listened to the Eurythmics, Bowie, Lou Reed,
Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground and the Talking Heads, shaping, no doubt,
his affinity for indie pop/rock with a distinctly English flavour.

A BAPTISM BY FIRE
After completing his studies, he decided to try his luck in London’s cut-throat
music scene. “I’d always wanted to see what London was like, considering
that musicians like Suede, Pulp and Blur built their careers there. I wanted to see
where that feeling in their music stemmed from. And I love Monty Python, and
I wanted to see where the British acting world got their inspiration from.“But
when I got there, it was actually very different to what I expected. Some
Londoners are very rough, and it’s very expensive to live there. I managed to fit
in there musically – people there have always liked my music – but there’s a lot of
competition. But it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.”Seemingly born
under a lucky star, early on Moriz met up with George Michael’s and
Marc Almond’s producer Steve Kent, who put him in touch with a great set
of session musicians who were into the same music as he was, and he ended up
doing both albums with them.He also did some work on movie sets, playing
small parts in movies such as Alfie, Bridget Jones’s Diary 2 and Love,
Actually, as well as playing a body double in Wimbledon.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
Having achieved some success and acclaim in 17 countries with his first three
singles, though, he became thoroughly homesick and has returned to South
Africa.“I’ve had enough of London,” he says. “It was fun and I learned a lot,
but I think I’ve learned what I had to learn. I’m most at home in Cape Town.
It was an emotional decision to return to South Africa – it felt like the right
thing to do.” His plans are to focus on establishing himself in South Africa and
continue running his own label, as well as doing some acting on the side.
However, he reluctantly admits that he may have to keep up his profile
overseas as well. “I just don’t wanna go,” he says mock-petulantly.
He is currently working on the video for a song called I Feel Real.Moriz
will be playing with The Parlotones tonight, and says that he is gratified to
hear how “authentic” South African bands are sounding. “They’re not
necessarily trying to sound American any more. Kwaito artists aren’t
rapping about corvettes in LA, which they know nothing about, but about
their own stuff. It’s more interesting.”What can locals expect from his
live show? “A very high-energy, theatrical experience” Bowie would be
pleased...* Visit www.ikemoriz.com for more information.