South African indie duo Henry Ate will play three Gauteng shows in November as part of a national tour marking 30 years since the release of their 1996 debut album, Slap in the Face, a record that became the soundtrack for a generation of South African students.
Karma Swanepoel, who formed the band with Julian Sun, said the pair had been playing Monday night acoustic sets at Wings Beat Bar when record labels discovered them. “We were so young and completely unprepared for the music industry,” Swanepoel said. “We never really set out thinking this was going to be a career.” The 30 Years of Slap in the Face tour reaches The Whirlwind Theatre in Johannesburg on 7 November, Railways Café in Cullinan on 8 November and Railways Café in Irene on 13 November.
The album, which includes Just, Hey Mister, Henry and Waves of Salt, was recorded with producer Willem Möller, who preserved the raw energy of the original performances. “There were no click tracks or elaborate productions,” Swanepoel said. “The songs were allowed to breathe and exist naturally.”
Just, the band’s biggest hit, almost never made the record. “‘Just’ was an afterthought,” Swanepoel said. “The album was technically finished and we begged Willem to let us record it.” Many listeners have since taken it to be a love song, a reading Swanepoel said she had come to embrace.
Sun said the album’s lasting appeal lay in the memories it carried for listeners. “‘Slap in the Face’ became part of people’s lives,” he said. “It was the soundtrack to university days, friendships, first loves and adventures.” The shows combine performances with stories from the making of the album.
The tour is built around restaurants, a brewery and a theatre rather than large concert stages, however, and the duo has not announced further Gauteng dates beyond the three November shows.
The tour opens at Daisy Jones in Stellenbosch on 30 October and stops in Noordhoek, Knysna, St Francis, Gqeberha, Salt Rock and Hillcrest before ending on 15 November. Tickets for all dates are available through the band’s Linktree ticket page, with updates on its Facebook and Instagram pages.
“We want this to be a celebration, not just of the album, but of that whole era and the people who made it special,” Swanepoel said. “It’s about getting together and having a good time.”
Find more local stories on The Square news page, and browse the shops and services at The Square in the store directory.
