Monday, February 1, 2010

Beetles & Butterflys - Mountain Rock Valley Roll - The Barrydale Album





Mountain Rock Valley Roll - The Barrydale Album. 
Listen online @



Acoustically conceived in the mountains and valleys of the Little Karoo, Beetles & Butterflys…

Their debut album is appropriately entitled Mountain Rock Valley Roll, mostly written in the quaint mountain valley village of Barrydale along the scenic Route 62, South Africa. It features 11 original songs laden with memorable melodies and layered with natural acoustic resonances of vocals, acoustic guitars and harmonica blended with authentic African rhythms.

Kent’s musical approach is definitely acoustic and looking for a “live” energy, multi percussionist Patrick Dilley was invited to add layered percussive world rhythm tracks to the songs. The rhythmic backing is distinctively West African flavoured but also encompasses instruments from as far afield as The Middle East and China. Patrick’s solid and clever world rhythms make an interesting combination, subconsciously demonstrating the very roots of modern music.

The next step was to find the right vocalist and Kent approached long time friend Louise Leggatt, who he worked with successfully in Rubber Soul, HappyFourTwenty & solo to make up the trio. Their vocal styles complement each other beautifully with intelligent and meaningful lyrics, some of which are also a contribution from Louise, who surprised with her expression-filled songwriting. 

The songs of Beetles & Butterflys can be entrancing, with dynamically placed hooks and polyrhytmic cross riffs on guitar, harmonica and drums. Louise combines with Kent’s almost rough Lou Reedish voice to add smoothness and flow to the eclectic mix on Mountain Rock Valley Roll. Considering O’Shea and Leggatt have been singing together for 15 years (with Rubber Soul in the 90’s) this is not really a surprising evolution of these two talented vocalists.

After Rubber Soul disbanded in ’96, Patrick was impressed with the songwriting skill of O’Shea and Alan Benatar (bassist for Rubber Soul) and joined with them to form 3 piece rockers The Holy Rollers, eventually expanding to become hemp rock activist band Happy Four Twenty.

After the parting of Rubber Soul and Happy Four Twenty respectively, the members of these alternatively progressive bands went their own ways. Most importantly, Kent moved to Barrydale where he has been able to hone his songwriting skills, much as Louise moved to the scenic forests of Wilderness. Patrick traveled to West Africa to immerse himself in the influential music of that region which has since had a major influence on his drumming style and given him a deeper and mature understanding of rhythm.  

And so this idea of Kent’s came to fruition and Beetles & Butterflys began recording in June 2009 at Alley Road Street Level studios in Cape Town. Kent, with an almost retro approach to capturing the most natural acoustic sound possible, together with the skilled and experimental audio painting of Cal Milne has resulted in a creative process that has applied diverse innovative ideas.

B&B with Audio Painter Cal Milne 

With all the different influences, the music is still uniquely South African and punters in The Klein Karoo and throughout the country are going to easily relate to the Beetles & Butterflys rendition of an Afrikaans classic, Sonja Heroldt’s “Ek Verlang Na Jou”. 

Beetles & Butterflys debut album Mountian Rock Valley Roll features 12 tracks (11 originals & 1 cover) to be released in October 2009. 

Louise Leggatt - Vocals
Patrick Dilley - African drums & percussion 
Kent O'Shea - Acoustic guitars, Vocals, Harmonica & Bass
Emile Duse - Bass
Audio Painter - Cal Milne
Produced by Kent O'Shea

The trio performed their debut show with Emile Duse on Bass at the Strawberry Festival in George 25th&26th September 2009 & and then at Swing Café in Knysna on the Saturday 26th September. The band was warmly received by the audiences at both events and had the Swing Cafe crowd on their feet during their last set.

B&B performed in October 2009
in Cape Town:
27th Tuesday at Zula Bar in Long Street from 9.30pm
28th Wednesday at Speedway Cafe in Gardens from 8.30pm.

& in the Little Karoo
31st Saturday at Joubert-Tradauw Private Cellar in Barrydale, Tradauw Valley.

Previous Albums by O'Shea, Leggatt & Dilley




Pics: Andries Joubert
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