Music: Salad, wine & rock 'n' roll

Beatenberg would sooner raise the ghost of Beethoven than raise hell. By Leigh-Anne Hunter

It was the "berg" in the name that drew Cape Town trio, Beatenberg, to choose it for their band - a nod to the giant rock that Capetonians worship. But in fact, says drummer Robin Brink, Beatenberg is a town in Switzerland. "You're supposed to say 'Bee-yuten-berg'."

At first, when the three friends started playing "folksy" tunes six years ago, they called the band "Nice".

"Unfortunately, we are the good boys. There's nothing we can do about that," says Brink, in Joburg with the band to promote their album, The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg.

They don't fit the "reckless" boy-band stereotype, says bassist Ross Dorkin. "We like drinking wine and eating salads." Have they done anything outrageous? Dorkin thinks. "I had to play bass for Kurt Darren once."

"Nice" still fits: they have a preppy, Ken-doll vibe that matches mellow grooves and lyrics that border on sonic kitsch.

"I've found that humour is important in songs," says vocalist Matthew Field. "The stuff I used to write was emotional in this unbearable, melancholic way, and I've attenuated it with something a little more intellectual and at the same time tongue-in-cheek and irreverent and self-deprecating." He tosses his hair.

Last year, they hooked up with Durban house music heavyweight DJ Clock to create the summer "it song", Pluto (Remember You), which fuses pop with afro-house thump.

"I thought OK, obviously this is gonna have to be a love song," says Field, rolling his eyes, "because there's no other kind of song you can write."

Neil Sinclair of Virgin Records SA says the track, released in December, set the record for the most weeks (19) at No1 for any song on South African radio.

Dorkin says Pluto, which sizzled on dance floors from Nairobi to Abuja and hit the top spot on iTunes Botswana, has exploded their audience. "To have something do well on Metro and 5FM at the same time, for Clock and us, is a wonderful thing."

It took a day to record. "I've never had my hand shaken so many times," says Field. "Everyone was telling me: 'It's gonna be a hit.' I thought: 'Do people always tell you that when you make a song?'"

It's not the first such "pop-house" collaboration - for instance, pop duo The Arrows and DJ Kent teamed up to doSpin My World Around - and it won't be the last, says Sinclair. "Collabs are big. You're finding a lot more crossover music."

How has life changed? Brink, who spends his spare time doing yoga and reading philosophy, says: "Nothing's changed. In Cape Town." Dorkin, who tells me he loves swimming in his Speedo, adds: "Our lives are pretty similar".

Only now, they have groupies. Field sighs. "They're never good enough. There's a lot of barking and very little biting." Sure, they get stalkers, says Dorkin. "But it's great to see people so amped."

Field is pragmatic. "I don't have a romantic idea about being in a band. I just so happen to be in one because that's the way you get your songs out."

Post-Pluto, the band wants to come back down to earth. "There are artists who'd think they're onto a formula and carry on making house-oriented pop," says Dorkin. "But we have a lot of other stuff to get out there."

Released last month, their album features the sing-along Chelsea Blakemore (said to be an ode to Dorkin's ex), and their latest hit single, Rafael, which at the time of writing was beating Beyoncé on the Metro FM charts. In a nod to their roots there are tracks named Southern Suburbs and Cavendish Square, but Field says: "I don't see us as a Cape Town band, 'cos I don't know what that means."

They want to be known as a band who "actually play our own instruments". Brink says: "I'm proud of our musicality. With most bands, there's no art, really." Their influences span Afro-Cuban, Malian and contemporary Nigerian rhythms, classical music and jazz. "I'd love to collaborate with Beethoven. That would be cool," says Field.

Mix it all up and you get an Mzansi-alternative-indie-pop cocktail which one fan calls "chilled music you can bop to". It's a genre Sinclair says he hears often on demos, but isn't so easy to crack. "Everyone wants to copy Shortstraw."

Some say Beatenberg has given South African grooves from oldies like Paul Simon and Johnny Clegg a pop twist. Field reckons the Clegg comparison is "just 'cos we're white guys with a black audience". Brink says: "People think Beatenberg is a Zulu dude from Durban."

Brink is the only member to have held down a corporate job. "I just quit. Advertising is dreadful."

With plans to tour abroad and, for Dorkin, to "try grow a beard", they've come a long way since their garage-band days. "We used to rehearse at Matt's house - quietly," says Brink.

Field groans. "We're never gonna get off this topic of being the nice guys, drinking tea and playing quietly." Dorkin: "We don't like loud guitars that ruin our hearing, OK? 'Sensitively' is a better word." Field straightens a stack of CDs. "Neatly." LS

. Visit facebook.com/Beatenberg for details of upcoming shows.