Q&A: Benoni and western

Steve East talks to Andrea Nagel about alt country music and spilt beer

Who is Crystal Park?

This is complicated. We were a seven-piece until a few weeks ago. We're going through some lineup changes and are currently down to five. We are: Tenn Elliot on vocals and tambourine; Joe Cole on vocals and acoustic guitar; myself on voice and bass guitar; Calvin "The Kid" van der Merwe on drums; and Brad Wooldridge on harps and percussion.

How would you describe your music?

Alternative country folk. We want to make country music more alternative, more rock.

Who writes your songs?

Generally, whoever is singing the lead vocal on the song wrote it.

What are your songs about?

Most are written about our home town, Benoni, and about city/suburban life in general. On our first album the song One Wolf is about the famed Benoni werewolves from the 1980s; Park & Railway is about modern-day prostitution.

Our new album, The Stables Fade, deals with change, loss, growth and renewal. The songs revolve around old memories of East Rand legends. Looking for Carter is about the Rand Revolt that happened in Johannesburg and surrounding East Rand towns in the early 1920s; John William Travis is a song harking back to Benoni's horse-racing and stables heritage, which is now almost non-existent; and The Chimes They Are a-Changin' is a Bob Dylan-inspired song about one of the oldest pubs in Benoni, the now almost-dilapidated Chimes Tavern. We use old, famous Benoni landmarks to inspire songs. Others deal with changes in relationships, love and even addiction.

Do you do covers?

We try to avoid doing covers - we have over three hours' worth of original material. But if we had a gun to our heads, we'd cover The Band, The Beatles, Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, Band of Horses, CCR and Bright Eyes. Last week we did a cover of Avicii's Hey Brother, which was horrendous. I mean people dug it, but we f**ing hated it.

Which was the first song you ever really loved?

Bon Jovi's Bad Medicine.

Any 'alternative' instruments in your sets?

Brad has loads of weird shakers and a harp in every damn key. Tenn has a powerful tambourine arm. He and Joe do whistling harmonies in a few songs too.

What can we expect from your live shows?

Tight performance, catchy songs that tell great stories and lots of fun. Beer will be spilt.

• Crystal Park will be performing from 2pm tomorrow at The Beer Yard, 44 Stanley Avenue, Johannesburg