Fokofpolisiekar Interview

“Absolutely brilliant! What an awesome interview for an absolutely brilliant band.” – Catherine 5FM

Interview with Fokofpolisiekar

BAND MEMBERS :

Francois van Coke – Vocals

Hunter Kennedy – Guitar

Johnny de Ridder – Guitar

Wynand Myburgh – Bass

Jaco (Snakehead) Venter – Drums

Fokofpolisiekar’s vocalist talks to Headbang Today about what their band name was meant to be, their upcoming rock documentary which launches on th 23rd of October 2009, and how to effectively deal with bar brawls… and still emerge victorious!

Say what you will. FPK are what legands are made of. Klaar.

Francois Van Coke

Interviewee’s Name: Francois van Coke – Vocals

Interview by: Scream

Published: 2009-09-08

Headbang Today: We roll out the very red Headbang Today-branded carpet for South African rock legends Fokofpolisiekar and bow down before them. They took a couple of golden minutes out of their busy schedule to do the biggest exclusive interview with Headbang Today… Welcome my friends! We are delighted to have you featured. Let us not waste any more of your time and get started!

We’re expecting your documentary “Fokofpolisiekar: Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do” by Fly On The Wall Productions, which was meant to be officially released nationwide on the 4TH SEPTEMBER 2009. Many have branded this documentary as ‘Fokofpolisiekar The Movie’. Can you give us the inside scoop on what fans and non-fans alike can expect from your documentary?

Francois: Ja, the release date has been changed to 23rd of October , so more marketing can be done and so that it is not competing with District 9. I think fans will definately enjoy the movie and people that dont know the band will understand us a bit better. It place Fokof within the political climate of the time, so it is a more than just the band. The movie is subtitled, so english speaking folk can understand were we are coming from an understand our lyrics a bit better. It was also directed by an English director.

Headbang Today: We’ve been in touch with a number of your fans and decided to do this interview a bit differently. We gave them the chance to ask you one question, straight from the horses’ mouths. Zane White asks: Will there be a DVD release after your documentary have made its rounds on the circuits?

Francois: Yip, Ster Kinekor is handeling all of that. We are not sure when the DVD will be availible.

Fokofpolisiekar

Headbang Today: One of the questions that kept popping up is how your name Fokofpolisiekar (f*ck-off-police-car) originated. This is a question asked by another die-hard fan, Luan Van Zyl from Cape Town. I’m pretty sure you guys get asked this way too often, yet the answer remains unclear to many of your fans today!

Francois: Ja, we were always joking about starting an Afrikaans punk band. All of us played in English bands at the time. Me & Wynand were driving one day and a family sedan pull in front of me and I said: ‘Fok off familiemotor’. We called Hunter and tuned him that we him we have a name for our band. He called back a week later and asked:’ What is our band’s name again, Fokofpolisiekar?’ We smoked shitloads of weed at the time and we really thought it was funny.

Headbang Today: With regards to the numerous bar fights you guys have gotten yourselves into before, during and after gigs, what are your fighting scorecard results?

Fokofpolisiekar: (Francois): Number noses you’ve broken: 0

Amount of teeth you’ve moered out: 0

Number of clean knock-outs: 0

Trouble seems to find us and we are not really brawlers.

Headbang Today: You’ve proven to many South Africans as well as the rest

of the world that you don’t need a black belt in Jui Jitsu to start bar brawls and succeed; We are eager to hear about (at least) one of the most hardcore fights you had at a gig? What the hell happened there?

Francois: You make it sound like like we are always rolling, ha. The first/only fight we ever had as a whole band was in Nelspruit. I am not sure what happened, but boere were moering me and Wynand. We ran away, went back and got moered again. Everyone was punched and I bit a boer on his upper thigh while there was 2 boere moering away on top of me. We eventually ran away again.

Headbang Today: Despite the fact that members of Fokofpolisiekar have gone out and started premium bands like Van Coke Kartel, aKING and Die Heuwels Fantasties… FPK will forever reverberate down generations to come and your name to be a topic of conversation among all of your fans for as long as they live. Now, according to Wikipedia, ‘A lot of fans have questioned if you are still on a hiatus or rather just being selective over the amount of shows and press you do’, but the way we see it, according to your recent VANFOKKINGTASTIES gig in Stellenbosch, you guys are still continuing to rock it! What does the future of Fokofpolisiekar have in stall for the fans? Can we expect more albums in the pipeline?

Francois: Ja, were are not on a break anymore. We are doing 2-5 shows a month, but more festivals and bigger show. After the realse of ‘Antibiotika’ we would really like to do another full lenght album, probably next year.

Headbang Today: Where do you get your inspiration and influences from?

Francois: Life, I guess. We were very much into punk rock when we started Fokof, but got more into rock after the first album. Now we listen to anything.

Headbang Today: Do you think you guys are able to write an Afrikaans death metal song? (We know you can pull that off!)

Francois: For sure, we will call it – Blasphemous Demon Whore.

Headbang Today: HA! brilliant! You’ve recently released an EP ‘Antibiotika’ along with a DVD that contains 8 music videos and a preview of the full-length Fokofpolisiekar documentary. What has the response been like from your fans compared to your earlier releases?

Francois: Cool, some of our fans were dissapointed with only 4 tracks. Hopefully we will do the full length next year.

Headbang Today: Are any of you allergic to apple juice?

Francois: Nope

Headbang Today: Are there any songs on ‘Antibiotika’ that might or already have caused as much contoversy as some of your earlier songs like your hit song: ‘Hemel Op Die Platteland’?

Francois: No, I think the big shock is over.

Headbang Today: Tell us about the craziest shit that has ever happened to any of you while on tour?

Francois: Snake jumped out of a moving tourvan and was out for six months.

Headbang Today: Name famous international bands or artists that you have met during your rocking career?

Francois: We have played on the same festival with massive bands. Metallica, White Stripes, Faithless to name a few. But, you dont really get to meet the big guys. We did meet Violent Femmes, Franz Ferdinant and Razorlight though.

Headbang Today: What has been your biggest challenge for Fokofpolisiekar as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Francois: I dont think there was any massive challenges, we were at the right place at the right time fortunately.

Headbang Today: What are your rehearsals generally like for Fokkofpolisiekar? How on sweet mother earth do you keep up while being in other bands?

Francois: Our practises are more like little get togethers, we just rehearse before we have shows.

Headbang Today: If you will, please supply us with some advice that you may have for new bands that recently started battling their way to the top?

Francois: Practise every day (when you start out) and play with guys you get along with.

Headbang Today: Give us the first thought that jumps to mind as we mention…

Francois:

Oppikoppi: Dust

Police Cars: Trouble

Touring and the road ahead: Hangovers

Your Fans: Crazy

Future Bar Fights: Run

Headbang Today: As I’ve mentioned before, we got hold of some FPK fans and gave them the chance to ask you one question each! Jean Barendse from George asks: What made you write your lyrics in Afrikaans right from the start? and Headbang Today would like to add; did you have any idea that it would bring you fame?

Francois: It started as a joke, but we realised we could be completely honest in Afrikaans. In the begining we were very focused and had long term goals. One of the long term goals was to become a big band and we worked towards that.

Headbang Today: Final Question from one more fan! Armand Coetzee asks: Het julle al ooit gedink om oorsee toe te fokof?

Francois: No, we have toured oversees. But, we are a Afrikaans band and we understand that Afrikaans is not English.

INTERVIEW BY:

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