Issue 5 – Thursday 3 August
Seize the Day seize the night
Abena Taylor-Smith, V2
On Tuesday evening Seize the Day played an upbeat gig to the global villagers. Seize the Day said after the gig that the audience were wonderful and that the quality of the sound was fantastic.
Many of the audience were eager to comment on the band’s performance. Some said: “the gig was great,” others said: "It was o.k. but I was expecting disco, I prefer disco to folk.” Even if some villagers didn’t enjoy the concert, they had to admit that the band members are very talented.
When asked how they would describe their songs, band members Shannon Smy and Theo Simon said: “Our music is bold, beautiful, radical, frontline folk.”
In the band, various different instruments are used to create a symphony of lively songs that are easy to sing along to.
Theo plays vocals, derrabuka (Egyptian hand drum), and percussion.
Shannon plays vocals, guitar, djembe (African hand drum) and percussion. The third member of the band, Rich Whistance, plays vocals, djembe, dumbek, mandola and dijeridoo. Rich is also the weirdest member of the band, according to Shannon and Theo.
Seize the Day’s music is influenced by a range of different things. These include what is happening in the world right now and artists such as Bob Dylan, Holly Near and Rory McCloud.
Shannon and Theo were asked what their favourite song from their recent album was. Theo said: “Rise up, that’s got to be my favourite”. But Shannon said: “With my hammer”, which is coincidentally written by her!
“With my hammer” is about thirteen women who planned to stop hawk jets being sent to kill people in East Timor.
Politicians didn’t listen when the women said that it was a bad thing to do, so the women planned and sent letters but nothing worked, so they took action and hammered the parts of the aeroplane that would be used for war. The thirteen women handed themselves in and were tried in the courts. But after six months in prison they were all found not guilty for their actions.
Seize the Day’s latest album, ALIVE, is out now.
If you would like to find out more about the album or Seize the Day visit this address: www.seizetheday.org