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Yesterday's Pupil

  • Latest Release: Part 2 - DUEL! (From second album released in five sequential parts.)


YESTERDAY’S PUPIL is the solo project of gifted musician Peach van Pletzen who played his first live show under this name in October 2007. He released his first full-length album (appropriately titled Errors of Enthusiasm) in October 2008. Rogan Kelsey of Lapdust Audio Mastering called it ‘the most eccentric album’ he had ever mastered. From that moment, a tidal wave of uncertain origin swelled and broke around Peach and cascaded him into a two-year mission of almost unbelievably diverse collaboration, performance and production in every corner and niche of the South African music scene, crowned with a scattering of international shows.

Now, three years since the release of his debut album, Peach van Pletzen (also from Bittereinder, Tumi Molekane, Joseph Clark and Oorlog Frankenstein) is back with music which not only undoubtedly reflects the change and growth in his sound, but also portrays his maturation as producer and artist.

More about Peach van Pletzen:

Peach was born into a remarkably talented family and already wielded drumsticks like extended limbs of his own as a toddler.

His high-school band, SHU, won acclaim as one of the finest alternative rock bands in South Africa, and it is worthwhile to note that after seven beautiful years together, the other members of SHU formed and joined other such notable and progressive acts as Wrestlerish, Kidofdoom and Sesling. SHU’s first album, Ars Poetica, was voted album of the month and received a five star rating in Blunt magazine in 2006.


More about Yesterday’s Pupil:

Yesterday’s Pupil as a living, breathing musical entity was born somewhere near the peak of SHU’s timeline, and new listeners were immediately struck by the smooth, haunting vocals, the incredibly diverse production skills and the depth of the song-writing displayed by SHU’s drummer/backing vocalist. Peach had completed two years of a Music (Jazz) degree at the Tshwane University of Technology - specializing in Drums, Film music, Music Technology, Music as a Business and Music Appreciation - and was flourishing in all manner of production and recording in his very own Sleeproom Studios (which he founded in 2004). 

Since 2007, Peach has worked on the following projects (amongst many others):

    •    Producing Van Coke Kartel’s “Skop Skiet en Donner” album (as well as playing drums on on the album), the album won a SAMA AWARD for best Afrikaans Rock Album of 2011
    •    Collaboration with Tumi Molekane (from Tumi and the Volume) in production and live performances (playing drums, synth, guitar and bass guitar)
    •    Producing Kidofdoom’s SAMA nominated album ‘my faith in war’
    •    Releasing the Oorlog Frankenstein EP, best described as a ‘social experiment and musical project’ between Yesterday’s Pupil and Francois van Coke
    •    Producing the wonderfully crafted track ‘Monition’ on Isochronous’ debut album
    •    Producing and playing live music for ‘2-21’ - a play featuring Francois Van Coke and written by Hunter Kennedy and Willem Anker and directed by Fleur du Cap winner Jaco Bouwer. This play was chosen as the flagship production at 2009’s KKNK and also did a run at Aardklop.
    •    Touring Poland with beat poet Ajax, playing 8 shows in 4 cities including Warsaw and Krakow
    •    Performing at TMDG, the world’s largest design conference held in Argentina, Mar del Plata - attended by thousands of people, and then playing some more shows in Buenos Aires
    •    Touring end 2009 as session drummer for Die Heuwels Fantasties and Van Coke Kartel
    •    Drumming for Joseph Clark’s spectacular production The Queen Experience, which has toured all over the world
    •    Selected to collaborate/produce a song and tour with UK noise pop band Johnny Foreigner at Red Bull Studios in Cape Town
    •    Nominated for an MK Neon Award for the music video of his song ‘Lines and Colours’ (which also reached the #2 spot on MK’s TOP 10), directed by Louis Minnaar
    •    Production on Bittereinder’s ‘conscious Afrikaans rap’ album featuring collaborations with Inge Beckmann, Louis Minnaar, Sev Statik (NY), Tim Beumers (Rotterdam), Ajax, Tumi Molekane and Jack Parow
    •    Performed at the Soccer World Cup Opening Ceremony with Tumi Molekane at Orlando Stadium in Soweto
    •    He won a SAMA Award with his newest band Bittereinder for Best Alternative Afrikaans Album of 2011

And to add to this magnificently daunting list of artists, Yesterday’s Pupil has also shared the stage with the Black Eyed Peas, Shaggy, MaxNormal.TV, Die Antwoord, Fokofpolisiekar, Harris Tweed, John Legend, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Unit-R, The Narrow, Tidal Waves, Sweat-X, Desmond and the Tutus, Bonga, Cassette, Blk Jacks, and Gazelle amongst countless others.
 
He has performed at festivals such as Oppikoppi, Woodstock, KKNK, Aardklop, Grahamstown Jazz Festival, Vortex, Lowlands (Netherlands), Volksbladfees, Cultivaria, the Afrykamera Film Festival (Poland), Inni Bos Fees and Ramfest and countless others.

Yesterday’s Pupil in 2012:

The first part of Yesterday’s Pupil’s second album, was released in November 2011. Part 1 is entitled SINGULARITY and features two singles, namely Too Tired To Disco and Goodbye. The album will be released in five   sequential parts with two month intervals between each part - every part as a FREE DOWNLOAD. Each individual part will consist of two brand new original tracks accompanied by an artwork for each track as well as the lyrics and artist notes.
The music video for Too Tired To Disco already reached number 2 on the MK Top 10 Music Videos chart, and was also nominated for a MK Award 2012 in the category ‘Best Indie’.

Part 2 - DUEL! was released on the 24th of January and consists of The Beast ft. Tumi Molekane and Harm.

For press queries, please contact:
Rachelle Crous
rachelle@rcpublicity.com