AFTER entertaining fans abroad, local band Mi Casa are back in South Africa and will launch their new album Home Sweet Home at GrandWest’s Grand Arena tonight at 9.30pm.
“It’ll be kind of a private listening session, with a couple of thousand die-hard fans,” says vocalist and guitarist J Something. “We chose Cape Town specifically because that’s the place we’ve received the most love. We want our fans there to understand how much we appreciate them.”
And that’s an impressive nod of approval to local fans, considering that the band’s recent tour to the UK, Italy and Portugal saw most of their shows sold out. “The tour was incredible, mind-blowing and jaw-dropping,” says J Something, adding that they hadn’t expected such a great reception, they averaged on 1000 people at each gig. The award-winning outfit which features J Something, producer and pianist Dr Duda and trumpeter Mo-T, is known for hits like These Streets, All the Glory and Jika.
“We started off in the UK with three shows in London. We expected a lot of South Africans, and it felt like we were playing at home – we didn’t really feel challenged,” says J Something. From there they went to Holland where they played two packed shows. “There were no South Africans, and they were all singing along with the songs – it was incredible.” Their performances in Italy, where they had built up a good name for themselves on a previous visit, saw about 5500 people join in the party. They also had five shows in Portugal. “That’s my home, that’s where I was born. It was great,” says the guitarist. “That was the best part of the tour for me. In terms of fans and the support, Portugal was the highlight.”
The overseas tour was largely about growing their fan base. It was about more than “play the gig and run”, and it involved a lot of fan interaction, meet and greets and label meetings.
But now they are turning their attention to getting the word out about Home Sweet Home. “We’re really excited. It’s one of those flagship moments in one’s career. We’re releasing new music into the world. We not only get to perform new stuff and have a new energy on stage, but we also get to give supporters something new,” he says.
It’s their biggest album to date and includes more than 20 tracks over two discs. It was largely recorded while they were on the road. “In hotel rooms and airports – wherever we could get decent spaces and acoustics.”
Each track has a story, and fans can find out more in the album booklet. They’ve outlined how each song was birthed, sharing when and how they were brought to life. While recording in Amsterdam, they heard a young woman singing in a nearby studio and asked if she would like to add her voice to one of their tracks. The development of Home Sweet Home was organic and saw them collaborating with a variety of different artists.
“Every album is different – with new and fresh content,” says J Something. “This one is probably the best, but that’s what we say with every album. Because we’ve grown and learnt a lot over the years.”
With their first album, Mi Casa, the band was told that the debut album is always the most important. Their thinking behind that first offering was “this is our house, this is what we do”. Then, when it came to working on Su Casa, they were again told it would be their most important release, because it would be their chance to prove themselves to the fans and industry. “The message behind that one was ‘this is your house’. We looked at the sounds people wanted to hear and the songs they liked,” says J Something.
“This third album is about us as a collective: the band, our fans, our people. The people that support us, who aren’t there to judge us,” he says. “There’s a difference between a house and a home. You buy a house, and you build a home. We’re not trying to ‘be’ anything, we’re just trying to build our music.”
The band is new to staging their own performances, most often being booked for gigs, showing up and hitting the stage. But this will be a Mi Casa-produced show, “with really cool visuals and a full band set up”.
“It sounds cheesy, but it’s true: this will be an energetic, amazing show and we’ll put our hearts onto that stage,” says J Something. “Come because you want to be the first to hear the new music. But more than anything, it’s a moment we want to share with the people who mean the most to us.”
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