Rock Out Radio

We were waiting around the Purple Turtle for sound check to finish so that we can have our chat with Arno Carstens. That is the chat we planned for and to be honest, it was quite exciting for myself and the trusty ROR presenter Sunny Osman. It's not every night where you get to share drinks with the greats of South African music, the musicians we actually grew up listening to. What do you ask someone who has probably been asked every textbook interview question possible? We could ask the normal stuff and probably bore Arno out of his skull and  get the answer every other journalist has OR we could ask the questions that we really want to know. The latter strategy was successful because Arno not only gave answers that were really interesting and genuine but seemed to become a presenter himself in this little "show". The content of this interview is available on podcast and you listen and judge the man and I can assure you, that's Arno. A true gentleman and an awesome yet humble character. We can write all we want about his award winning music, his time with the Springbok Nude Girls but this is a mere plus for someone who genuinely has stayed true to himself. Most of the times musicians peak and then disappear into thin air but not Arno. Arno is still peaking and maturing like a fine wine. After years of not seeing the SNG play live and Arno being in the UK for 3 years SA music really seemed to be missing something special. Have no fear though, Arno is back with his new album Wonderful Wild. Very good news indeed.


After chatting to Arno about certain aspects of his life and personal pleasures, he introduced us to Ard Matthews , the vocalist of Just Jinjer. Arno was kind enough to con Ard into talking to us. You see in the music industry fellow musicians support each other and no matter how successful you are, the friends you make tend to stick in your corner cheering you on. Ard was at Purple Turtle supporting Arno Carstens for his gig. Ard Matthews, in a sailor hat sipping on his brandy and coke, now that ladies and gentlemen is the personification of "relax". As with Arno, it was really great to speak to another of South Africa's legends in the music industry (and in the hearts of many ladies I'm sure). It was also great because never in our wildest dreams did we expect to have a chat with both Arno and Ard in the same night. Our conversation with Ard was quite relaxed and fun, and we even covered his taste in shirts, not stuff you'll hear on mainstream entertainment news. We also spoke about his solo album which sounds quite promising. It was really hard to hold the mic for this conversation because Ard really is a funny guy and quite a nice chap. But I won't say any more because you can hear more of it on the forthcoming RORcast.