Russell HughesFokofpolisiekar – Selfmedikasie (Self Produced)
Genre: Rock
Fokofpolisiekar are back and that’s awesome news. The Francois Van Coke led mob have been the voice of South Africa’s angry teenagers for over a decade and any new material from the trailblazers should be welcome with open arms. Except, is everything as it seems?
The band were formed with the spirit of youth rebellion in mind. Everything from their name (which literally means fuck off police car) to their songs burned with the fire of a thousand conflicts with authority. They’ve always been about sticking it to the man, but has that fire and that anger cooled now the band has matured?
Musically it certainly has. Selfmedikasie has hints of the band’s past about them, like the alcohol vapour that drifts out of the neck of a long-finished bottle of spirits. Dis In My Bloed, Baby opens up the record and it gives a nudge and a wink at their past sound before slipping through your fingers like grains of Cape Town sand.
Jack Parow continues to show his everlasting class on Afrika 4 Beginners
This has always been a band that values their independent spirit and this album was solely made by the band after crowdfunding raised 100% of the cost of putting the record out on the shelves. It was even recorded and produced at guitarist Johnny de Ridder’s studio in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town.
The sound might be different but the Brand Suid Afrika taste for talking about the hard topics and commentating on the complex socio-political landscape that South Africa sits in still features heavily across the whole album.
Members of the band believe that belonging to Fokofpolisiekar has had a therapeutic influence on their lives, and if they help one other person through the music it’ll be job done.
Never mind if the anger and raw power of Angs Aanval is no longer there, this band has matured and you’ll still love them for what they are now.
RUSHONROCK RATED: 7/10 Fokof critics