Ladies and gents, we’re excited to have South African Pop-Punk boys for a quick chat. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us guys.
Could you tell our readers a little bit more about MFB? What’s more to know behind the catchy hooks and happy tunes?
Suuup – no worries, thanks for being such lads. Mmmm if we gotta let you in on the real us… we are just a couple of handsome men from Jozi who live and breathe Pop Punk, sip down dank herbal teas and snack on spicy wings daily. Behind all our catchy hooks are a ton of tears, giggles into our pillows and stress cause being this good is HAAARD!!! 😛 😛 😛 Honestly we just doing our thing and hope that no one throws rocks at us for it.
I’m super fascinated by your D.I.Y approach to producing music and even shooting videos. Is there a specific reason behind this approach? Do you guys prefer to have full control over your creative outputs or are there more behind this approach?
This approach is 100% fueled by desperation mate. We got no labels, investors or rich dads behind us so we had to take the reigns to get we wanted – so it’s less a control thing more a necessity. Learning from scratch what it takes to produce albums, conceptualize and run events, design flyers/merch and create release strategies etc. ourselves really built our confidence when coming up with ideas for Future Broadway. Behind the scenes we are also lucky enough to have solid friends and family who are lords themselves to help us elevate/ execute our visions when we have maxed out our skills.
How would you guys sum up the Pop-Punk scene in South Africa in a nutshell?
The Pop Punk scene isn’t massive in SA, 100% it could fit into a nutshell. 😛 There are die-hard fans (you’re looking at 2 of ‘em) and a stack of super supportive pop-punkers that slide into our DMs from time to time. Normies in SA associate Pop Punk with nostalgia, Blink-182 and the good old days (Aaah memories <3). From day one we have flown the Pop Punk flag as high as we can in SA and we would like to believe Pop Punk has found a comfortable home here as a result <3 At shows you can expect a vibe of great people in colorful shirts and Vans Old Skools. Bands like Held On Till May, CrashCarBurn, You, Me and the Harmony and I Believe in Giants doing their thing and raising the game in a big way.
What’s your take on merchandise in South Africa? More bands seem to be doing merch in the last couple of years. Do you think the industry is on the rise this side?
Our whole merch game has been a wild rollercoaster man, we have done everything from shirts to coffee cups to middle finger foam hands to rubber wristbands. Lately there have been some real banger merch ideas from our local acts and you can see which artists are putting the work in. For us, sales of merch has kinda been restricted to shows cause we think buying merch online has only recently earned the trust of folks. It’s tough to gauge a rise or fall in the industry, it’s really up to every band how they market themselves. But we have noticed if the merch is hot peeps will drop $$, but we’re idiots so don’t listen to us.
What were the highlights of your tour to America? Any crazy stories you guys don’t mind sharing with our readers?
The highlight for us was the touring band culture. Every band we met was so driven to be the best band and every person attending a show was completely absorbed in the scene. We played shows with guys fresh out of school that were just touring the country full time in a van – massively inspiring. We also had some people drive 3 hours to watch us play a show in a different city, completely blew our minds and gave us a taste of what’s possible! Outside of what the experience showed us as artists, we have so many ridiculous stories that we can’t really share to protect our names and families… What else would you expect from four naughty best friends let loose in a city built on excess? 😛
What’s in the pipeline at Broadway land for 2020?
Broadwayland will be served multiple banger songs this year, the first 2 singles are already spinning on Spotify so go get them on your daily playlist <3 The new songs are a far cry from the classic MFB sound, while we have kept the cheeky upbeat hooks, we have sprinkled in some Pop, a lil splash of DnB and some real emotions too mmm mmm mmm baby! We have many things in the works but we gotta keep our secrets. All we gonna say is expect more sweat, dope merch (thanks Bois) and more music. Keep dem eyes peeled <3
Where do you think merch will be heading in the next 10 years? Do you think there’s some crazy changes that we can expect?
Dude, that’s time-traveling bro – we don’t do that 😛 but for real, we’re expecting artists to find new ways to personalize merch and the Fan Experience. More hand-made, once-off, pieces and VIP packages that include unique items for high tier ($$ bang bang) fans.
Where can our readers check out some of that Broadway goodness? Any new
videos or tunes that you guys would like to share?
Oosh that Broadway goodness is everywhere bruuuuh! You can listen to our latest bangers on repeat on Spotify, Apple Music and every other music streaming service. All of our new videos are up on the YouTube baby. All of our social media handles are ‘@madeforbroadway’ <3. Dr’s recommend you dive into our two latest singles ‘Turn It Up’ & ‘All Your Love’ daily.