The Sick-Leaves

"Written by Rachelle Crous after interviewing Eksteen Jacobsz in August 2008."

The Sick-Leaves is South African indie rock artist, Eksteen Jacobsz.

Introduction

The Sick-Leaves is songwriter/singer/guitarist and bassist Eksteen Jacobsz. After spending 2 years in London and learning his trade in the city, he returned to South Africa in 2004 and started The Sick-Leaves. Writing for the first album, Tunnel Vision, commenced and it was recorded end of 2005 with legendary underground producer Matthew Fink and drummer Warrick Poultney.

In June 2008, Jacobsz once again teamed up with Fink and Poultney, and the second album of this extraordinary rock band, Stone the Crow, was released to raving reviews. In September 2008 The Sick-Leaves also covered Missing, by Everything but the Girl, and is currently busy shooting a music video for this renowned song that will undoubtedly take the South African rock scene by storm.

Childhood

Jacobsz, who grew up in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, has always liked music from the very beginning and would hear a tune and then walk around for days singing it over and over again in his head. It wasn’t until much later that he actually started to find an interest in an instrument as such. His childhood memories are filled with the sounds of ABBA, Neil Diamond, Elvis, Creedance Clearwater Revival, etc. Jacobsz started taking piano lessons when he was 11 - he was fascinated by the fact that his two hands could actually produce a sound. However, his interest in piano didn’t last long and he stopped after a year. Today he regrets this decision, seeing as piano is the one instrument he would dearly love to be able to play.

Jacobsz started playing guitar at the age of 17 while attending boarding school, inspired by The Beatles’ Anthology movie on TV and the thought that the way John Lennon looked with a guitar, was absolutely brilliant. Fortunate enough he had a room mate who had a guitar and he asked him whether he would teach him a few chords. The thought that the strings could be swapped around didn’t even occur to him back then, and today Jacobsz plays guitar right-handed although he is left-handed. The first song he could play was Don’t look back in Anger by Oasis - by then he was hooked and there was no going back. Today Jacobsz prefers string based instruments and chooses guitar as his first and most beloved instrument.

History

In 2002, after receiving a degree in Investment Banking, Jacobsz left for the centre of the music scene, London. He met fellow band members – who ranged from a butcher to a member of the mafia - through music ads on Denmark Street, and together they formed the infamous rock band, The Infidels. The Infidels didn’t have a vocalist, so it is hard to believe that Jacobsz became one quite by accident. Jacobsz admits that it took him quite a long time to convince himself that he could actually sing. For the next two years, The Infidels roamed the clubs of London - there were good gigs and there were holocausts, all part of the trade - leaving Jacobsz with fond memories of “stage thrashing, audience abuse, outside club in-fighting, broken van, stolen van, late night rehearsals after work, endless late night tube ride back home after rehearsals, fitting six people, kit, guitars, bass and PA into small little van – driving back from gigs…brilliant.”

When his visa ran out after two years, Jacobsz came to the conclusion that he needed to become a better guitar player - he decided to come back to South Africa and start his own project where he had a bit more control and certainty about what is going on.

Birth of The Sick-Leaves

Upon his return to South Africa, Jacobsz formed the three piece rock band that set him aside from any other South African artist, The Sick-Leaves. Jacobsz met up with well-known SA producer, Matthew Fink, signed with Sheer Music and in 2006 his SAMA-nominated (for “Best Alternative Album” 2007) debut album – Tunnel Vision – emerged to conquer underground literate music fans.

Jacobsz clearly showed that he was a force to be reckoned with when two singles on TV were play listed on 5FM: All these foolish things (I’ve said) and Such a Waster, which went to nr. 11 on 5FM Top 40. Four singles were submitted to campus radio and all four reached the SA Top 10 chart on TuksFM and all four reached the UJFM Top 20. ATFTIS, as well as Such a Waster, became nr. 1 on the TuksFM SA Top 10.

TV further went on to be nominated for “Best Album” for the Blunt Awards 2006. Jacobsz, with his high pitched vocals – who lives by the motto “If you can’t do it, just fake it.” – is faking it, he certainly has everyone fooled.

Influences

Jacobsz, who has been musically compared to the likes of Suede, Kula Shaker and The Manic Street Preachers, describes himself as one of a kind: “I find a lot of inspiration from a lot of different people, but at the end of the day I’m pretty certain there isn’t anyone else remotely like me on this planet. Sane or insane.” People he looks up to for inspiration and who were also influential in their time and genre are Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher, Eric Clapton, Jack White, Roy Orbison and Bruce Springsteen.

Jacobsz describes his own music as “Rock ‘n’ Roll, guitar driven, alternative, intense, dense, ambiguous and devastating”. For him, The Sick-Leaves’ lyrics are mostly social comment and despair in the face of adversity. For this musical wonder child, making the choice between investment banker and full-time muso was easy: “Money is pretty important but that’s the last thing on my mind when I do music. It’s about creating art, something that did not exist before, something that’s me and that I can be proud of when I go to bed at night. I’m slightly biased, but every Sick-Leaves song blows my head off because I wrote it for me first and fore mostly. Not to satisfy anyone else. When other people like it it’s a huge bonus and you’re a very lucky person indeed when that happens.”

Stone the Crow

In June 2008, Jacobsz did not disappoint anticipating fans when he took his own game to the next level and released (this time under the record label Just Music) the much awaited second Sick-Leaves album – Stone the Crow. Whereas Jacobsz showed South African rock that he is a force to be reckoned with with the release Tunnel Vision, he now showed that he is here to stay. With his extraordinary voice, high pitched vocals and instruments, Jacobsz created a whole different dimension to rock‘n’roll in SA – making him not only the inventor of this game, but master of it as well.

STC clearly sets Jacobsz aside in a league of his own, making it nearly impossible for any other SA artist to produce a masterpiece even remotely similar or with the same magnitude. The first single of the album – Hustle Honey – was independently released before the signing to Just Music and already reached nr. 2 on the UJFM SA Top 20. At the end of July a distribution deal was signed with Look and Listen and soon the album will be available nationwide in their stores. The single – The Black Disciples – will be submitted to radio stations all over the country during early August.

Missing by Everything but the Girl

Recently The Sick-Leaves followed in the footsteps of much-loved South African rockers, The Parlotones, when they did a cover for “Missing” by Everything but the Girl to expand their coverage on national radio: “It’s a case of saying to national radio, Okay, so you won’t play a Sick-Leaves song but you’ll play a Everything but the Girl song sounding like The Sick-Leaves, which either means my song writing is bad or the joke is on them. Time will tell. I’m very proud of the way it came out and hope that people will do so too. It’s a Sick-Leaves sound with Everything but the Girl lyrics and chords. The way covers are supposed to be.”

The Sick-Leaves is currently busy shooting a music video for Missing, which will be released before the end of the year; undoubtedly set to transform the South African rock scene while silencing all critics whom are still sceptical about this musical brainchild of Jacobsz.

Tunnel Vision "(2006)" track listing:
1. Coffee Break
2. Kiss and Tell
3. Tunnel Vision
4. All these foolish things (I’ve said)
5. Across the line
6. Short Skirts
7. Such a Waster
8. The Usual Favours
9. To Below and Above
10. Tell you all
11. Par Avion
12. Overkill
13. Do
14. Articles from the Archive

Stone the Crow "(2008)" track listing:
1. I’ll Follow You
2. Valley Of The Dolls
3. Kaizen
4. Phantom Pain
5. Foggy
6. The Familiar Departed
7. The Black Disciples
8. Coppice Fire
9. Lock ‘n Load
10. Scotoma (Seein’ Ain’t Believin’)
11. Hustle Honey
12. Uncovered
13. Torpedoed Lifeboat

The Sick-Leaves’ albums are available at the following outlets:
* www.myspace.com/thesickleaves
* iTunes
* eMusic
* www.justmusic.co.za(STC)
* www.sheermusic.co.za(TV)
* Look&Listen(SA)(STC & TV)
* Musica, CD Warehouse(SA) (TV)

External Links

[http://www.myspace.com/thesickleaves The band's Myspace page]
[http://www.reverbnation.com/thesickleaves The band's Reverbnation page]
[http://www.xfmuploaded.co.uk/thesickleaves The band's XFM page]
Facebook group : I like the Sick Leaves