Urban Craft's own Godfrey Johnson (GJ) spoke to Cape Town musician Ant Yesnik (AY) in recent days, this is how that conversation went do...
Urban Craft's own Godfrey Johnson (GJ) spoke to Cape Town musician Ant Yesnik (AY) in recent days, this is how that conversation went down...
GJ: Can you tell us a bit about your musical background?
AY: I started writing original music when I was in high school and had my first band in matric. I played and wrote original music from the late eighties till the mid nineties and had a few songs on varsity radio with my band Juiliet Jade. In the 2000s, I started playing cover music and bass guitar in a few tribute shows, Elvis, The Beatles. Bee Gees and lately Fleetwood Mac with Sky Wilson and Greg Schoeman.
GJ: What inspires you?
AY: I'm inspired by good music and great performances.
GJ: Who are your creative influences?
AY: David Bowie, Elvis, Garbage and The Beatles.
GJ: Who are your favourite writers?
AY: My fave writers? I presume you mean song writers. ... lately, I've gotten into Saint Vincent, Larkin Poe and Mike Scott.
GJ: How are you surviving the global pandemic?
AY: Covid 19 is a challenge as all live performances are basically on ice and online performances seem to be the last option left. I haven't been interested in that avenue, but I have posted a lot of music, mainly covers on my YouTube channel. (Search Antkinsey on youtube). I've been working on an original album with fellow guitarist in the Fleetwood Mac show, Greg Schoeman. This process has kept us both busy through lockdown, usually working by sending seperate music tracks to each other via whatsapp.
The album is a mix of American style rock and pop. We are about half way done and hope to get into a studio as soon as lockdown is over...maybe we have plenty of time to fine tune songs. Covid doesn't follow regular timelines or rules.
GJ: What advice do you have to those artists who are feeling lost and despondent right now?
AY: My advice for dispondant musos, write something original. Have something to show from all this down time.
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