WARMER MIXTAPES #1313 | by Chris Van Niekerk, Beukes Willemse, Jakob Nebel and Phil Magee of Livingston
SIDE A | by Chris Van Niekerk
1. Depeche Mode | Strangelove
I am very lucky to have 3 older brothers with a very diverse taste in Music. I am the youngest and from a young age they introduced me to a lot of Music that hugely influenced and inspired me growing up. Strangelove is the first song that I consciously remember giving me chills. Depeche Mode went on to become one of the most influencial bands for me growing up. I could probably add dozens of their songs to this playlist, but I will try to restrain myself.
2. Bon Jovi | Livin' On A Prayer
My brother Andion taped this song off the radio. Little did he know how it would effect me. After listening to this song about a zillion times (I was a kid, I had time), I decided I wanted to be a Rock Star. I became obsessed with the idea, and started drawing countless pictures of poodle-haired tattooed guys with their guitars plugged into the wall-sockets (I heard they were called Electric Guitars, so they obviously needed Electricity).
3. Queen | I Want It All
My friend's dad played this song to a group of us. I guess he wanted to educate us in the genius of Queen. I think he regretted it afterwards since we played the vinyl to death.
4. AC/DC | Hells Bells
Another band that had a huge influence on me, AC/DC was probably the first band I can remember that taught me to channel my anger through Music. And they opened the doors to my later passion for heavier Rock Music, Metal, Grunge, Alternative, etc.
5. Depeche Mode | In Your Room
My first year in High School I became terminally ill. Spending months in bed with nothing except my cassette player and some headphones, Music became my Universe. One of my brothers gave me the album Songs Of Faith And Devotion and In Your Room became my anthem. Thankfully I survived, and no, I’m A Survivor is not my new anthem.
6. R.E.M. | The One I Love
My introduction to the Seattle Scene, they were my gateway drug to probably my longest lasting Musical infuences like Pearl Jam, Temple Of The Dog, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Henry Rollins Band, etc. The list is too long to name them all.
7. Moist | Resurrection
A High School friend of mine who grew up in Canada introduced me to the band Moist. My best friend and I spent nights at his place playing pool, getting stoned and listening to that great album.
8. Björk | Army Of Me
My thoughts on this song are as abstract as the song itself. Björk is a genius. Just listen to it. Do it! Do it!
9. Tori Amos | Cruel
Tori Amos' album From The Choirgirl Hotel was way, way ahead of its time. I guess my choice of songs were between Cruel and Hotel, but the whole album is fucking awesome. Such a great marriage between elements of Electronic, Classical, Pop, Rock, etc.
10. Pixies | Where Is My Mind?
My last year of School with such a fantastic group of people. We did everything together, we had our own little world and that world was sometimes so seperated from the Real World that I guess we felt sometimes like we had lost our minds. This was without a doubt our anthem.
SIDE B | by Beukes Willemse
1. Sinéad O'Connor | Nothing Compares 2 U (The Family Cover)
I listened to this song during the whole of my A-levels studying. The video is unbelievably emotional.
2. Björk | There’s More To Life Than This (Recorded Live At The Milk Bar Toilets)
A friend gave me this record for my birthday and it ended up having a huge hand in me becoming a Musician. Incredible album. I know very few people who don’t know it.
3. Depeche Mode | Stripped
My sister got me into them. At this point I was in a very strict School in South Africa and we actually had a list of Music we were not allowed to listen to as they where supposed to be Satanic. Depeche Mode was right at the top. Probably the main reason I loved them at the time.
4. Nirvana | Smells Like Teen Spirit
At a time when everything in Music was very dramatic and poser, Nirvana seemed to be the only real thing out there. Automatically resonated with me and countless others. I can still remember every word on that album. Changed my life.
5. Pearl Jam | Last Exit
Eddie Vedder is probably the best male singer in the World as far as I'm concerned. No one delivers live like him and this song in particular is just breathtaking.
6. Peter Gabriel | Sledgehammer
This song, but actually the whole album, has the power to take me straight back to when it came out. I loved it and listened to it over and over and over.
7. Type O Negative | Gravity
I went through a darker phase and this album and song filled that hole with perfection. So angry and dark. Exactly what a rebellious teenager needs!
8. Silverchair | Ana's Song (Open Fire)
I went backpacking through Australia and met a surfer dude on the beach in Byron Bay who put me onto them. Best Aussie band ever in my opinion.
9. The Verve | Love Is Noise
I’m big on lyrics and Richard Ashcroft is the best. He’s just incredible, how he shapes pictures with words. Needless to mention him live. I’ve seen him live twice and you’d be pushed to find a more captivating frontman.
10. Pixies | Gigantic
Every person I grew up with knows this song. And I grew up in South Africa. For a band to have reached all the way there back in the 90’s they had to be incredible and they definitely where. So many drunken nights singing as loud as I could, GIGANTIC!!
SIDE C | by Jakob Nebel
1. Bruce Springsteen | Thunder Road
One of the most romantic run-away rebel stories in Music. So much Longing, Love and Positivity. Leave this town and leave all the phonies around you behind, to start something new, something big. Totally struck a chord with me when I was 15. I bought the album Born To Run in May ’92 and listened to it all summer, day and night. It also made me pick up the guitar in the first place.
2. Nirvana | Smells Like Teen Spirit
On my 16th birthday I had a big party at my place. I got Nevermind on CD from my best mate. We then played our very first gig (my first ever band, the Empty Brains) in my family’s lounge. One of the tracks was Smells…. The house got flooded with people, most of whom I didn’t know. One of them destroyed my Stereo, one of them stole my new Nirvana CD. I hadn’t even unwrapped it. Still didn’t stop me from becoming a big sucker for Grunge Music.
3. Ben Harper | Power Of The Gospel
An incredibly intense piece of Music. Swallows me whole. His slide guitar playing had a big influence on my guitar style. So raw and energetic, not following any traditional guitar playing rules.
4. Jimmy Eat World | Sweetness
A track I dug out a few months ago. We ended up listening to it quite a bit during our last tour. Very powerful and catchy song, always puts me in a good mood. Jimmy Eat World were my favourite band for a long time, they had a huge influence on my playing and song-writing style.
5. Rage Against The Machine | Take The Power Back
When I was 14, I started to get drunk at parties. The kind of parties that are just a vehicle for getting drunk and stoned and for listening to loud Music. Back then my friends would get stoned to either The Doors or Bob Marley. I couldn’t stand either of them. The third option was RATM who where incredibly exciting to me. A whole new sound, so aggressive and in your face, yet incredibly groovy and tight. I didn’t really get Metal at the time, but this I really got. It also was perfect for the age I was at, my rebellious stage. Their guitarist is still one of the most unique players around.
6. Spin Doctors | Two Princes
Not necessarily one of my Top 10 favourites, but a great tune nonetheless. More importantly though, it includes the first guitar solo I ever learnt to play! Very exciting times. I used to crank up my Stereo, crank my shitty little amp and played along to the solo for hours. I still don’t how my mum put up with years of me playing guitar in the attic.
7. Foo Fighters | Best Of You
Another band I used to listen to all the time. Another influence on my guitar playing. They still kick arse live, more than 95% of the bands out there. We met Dave Grohl backstage at a festival once. Great guy, very sweet. Then we watched him destroy the drums with Them Crooked Vultures. A night to remember!
8. Kings Of Leon | Closer
When they came out with this record, there really wasn’t another band around like them. We were all into it big time. I love the mood of this track, love how it sets up the record.
9. Ben Howard | Black Flies
Another intense track, similar to the Ben Harper one. Part of my favourite album of the last two years. So unique and dark, it totally draws me in. The way it develops is beautiful. One of the most stunning pieces of Music I know.
10. Bruce Springsteen | You’re Missing
Best song ever written about the events of 9/11, in my opinion at least. So sad, hard not to cry every time I hear it. Once I saw him and his band live and one of the guys in the band started crying whilst playing this song. The effect that this had on me and the whole stadium around me was electrifying. It does happen to me sometimes, when we play a show and a particular song gets to me. Sometimes it’s also how the audience reacts. We have seen many beautiful moments on stage that have brought tears to my eyes. Makes me remember that moment in that stadium back then. Makes me feel like it’s OK.
SIDE D | by Phil Magee
1. Pink Floyd | The Great Gig In The Sky
A song from one of the two albums I grew up with and which probably started my love of Music. I think I could have picked any song of this album, but this track has always stood out because of the amazing vocal performance by Clare Torry.
2. Queen | Don’t Stop Me Now
Greatest Hits 1, the second album from my youth. Again, I could have chosen any song from the album, but I went with this one.
3. Motörhead | Overkill
I’ve always loved the energy of this track and you can’t beat the re-intro at the end. It's just a great song from a bad-ass band.
4. Faith No More | Everything’s Ruined
I think Faith No More shaped a lot of my taste in Music when I was a teenager and I think they would be up there with my favourite bands of all time.
5. The Beatles | Eleanor Rigby
Back in the days of cassette tapes this song was at the end of an album which I had copied from somewhere and I would always hear just the first verse and chorus before the tape stopped. I loved it for years, but had no idea who it was until somebody played me some Beatles albums.
6. The Walkmen | The Rat
This is just raw, energetic and full of attitude.
7. At The Drive-In | One Armed Scissor
When I first heard this song and the album Relationship Of Command I think I had to put the Stereo straight to 11 and leave it there.
8. The Prodigy | No Good (Start The Dance)
When this song came out I would often sit up all night watching MTV and this track was always one of my favourites. I would say it’s probably responsible for getting me into the Electronic/Dance side of Music.
9. Queens Of The Stone Age | A Song For The Dead
Kick-ass riffs, kick-ass drums!!
10. Tool | Lateralus
This song is hypnotic and powerful and just takes me on a journey.
1. Depeche Mode | Strangelove
I am very lucky to have 3 older brothers with a very diverse taste in Music. I am the youngest and from a young age they introduced me to a lot of Music that hugely influenced and inspired me growing up. Strangelove is the first song that I consciously remember giving me chills. Depeche Mode went on to become one of the most influencial bands for me growing up. I could probably add dozens of their songs to this playlist, but I will try to restrain myself.
2. Bon Jovi | Livin' On A Prayer
My brother Andion taped this song off the radio. Little did he know how it would effect me. After listening to this song about a zillion times (I was a kid, I had time), I decided I wanted to be a Rock Star. I became obsessed with the idea, and started drawing countless pictures of poodle-haired tattooed guys with their guitars plugged into the wall-sockets (I heard they were called Electric Guitars, so they obviously needed Electricity).
3. Queen | I Want It All
My friend's dad played this song to a group of us. I guess he wanted to educate us in the genius of Queen. I think he regretted it afterwards since we played the vinyl to death.
4. AC/DC | Hells Bells
Another band that had a huge influence on me, AC/DC was probably the first band I can remember that taught me to channel my anger through Music. And they opened the doors to my later passion for heavier Rock Music, Metal, Grunge, Alternative, etc.
5. Depeche Mode | In Your Room
My first year in High School I became terminally ill. Spending months in bed with nothing except my cassette player and some headphones, Music became my Universe. One of my brothers gave me the album Songs Of Faith And Devotion and In Your Room became my anthem. Thankfully I survived, and no, I’m A Survivor is not my new anthem.
6. R.E.M. | The One I Love
My introduction to the Seattle Scene, they were my gateway drug to probably my longest lasting Musical infuences like Pearl Jam, Temple Of The Dog, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Henry Rollins Band, etc. The list is too long to name them all.
7. Moist | Resurrection
A High School friend of mine who grew up in Canada introduced me to the band Moist. My best friend and I spent nights at his place playing pool, getting stoned and listening to that great album.
8. Björk | Army Of Me
My thoughts on this song are as abstract as the song itself. Björk is a genius. Just listen to it. Do it! Do it!
9. Tori Amos | Cruel
Tori Amos' album From The Choirgirl Hotel was way, way ahead of its time. I guess my choice of songs were between Cruel and Hotel, but the whole album is fucking awesome. Such a great marriage between elements of Electronic, Classical, Pop, Rock, etc.
10. Pixies | Where Is My Mind?
My last year of School with such a fantastic group of people. We did everything together, we had our own little world and that world was sometimes so seperated from the Real World that I guess we felt sometimes like we had lost our minds. This was without a doubt our anthem.
1. Sinéad O'Connor | Nothing Compares 2 U (The Family Cover)
I listened to this song during the whole of my A-levels studying. The video is unbelievably emotional.
2. Björk | There’s More To Life Than This (Recorded Live At The Milk Bar Toilets)
A friend gave me this record for my birthday and it ended up having a huge hand in me becoming a Musician. Incredible album. I know very few people who don’t know it.
3. Depeche Mode | Stripped
My sister got me into them. At this point I was in a very strict School in South Africa and we actually had a list of Music we were not allowed to listen to as they where supposed to be Satanic. Depeche Mode was right at the top. Probably the main reason I loved them at the time.
4. Nirvana | Smells Like Teen Spirit
At a time when everything in Music was very dramatic and poser, Nirvana seemed to be the only real thing out there. Automatically resonated with me and countless others. I can still remember every word on that album. Changed my life.
5. Pearl Jam | Last Exit
Eddie Vedder is probably the best male singer in the World as far as I'm concerned. No one delivers live like him and this song in particular is just breathtaking.
6. Peter Gabriel | Sledgehammer
This song, but actually the whole album, has the power to take me straight back to when it came out. I loved it and listened to it over and over and over.
7. Type O Negative | Gravity
I went through a darker phase and this album and song filled that hole with perfection. So angry and dark. Exactly what a rebellious teenager needs!
8. Silverchair | Ana's Song (Open Fire)
I went backpacking through Australia and met a surfer dude on the beach in Byron Bay who put me onto them. Best Aussie band ever in my opinion.
9. The Verve | Love Is Noise
I’m big on lyrics and Richard Ashcroft is the best. He’s just incredible, how he shapes pictures with words. Needless to mention him live. I’ve seen him live twice and you’d be pushed to find a more captivating frontman.
10. Pixies | Gigantic
Every person I grew up with knows this song. And I grew up in South Africa. For a band to have reached all the way there back in the 90’s they had to be incredible and they definitely where. So many drunken nights singing as loud as I could, GIGANTIC!!
1. Bruce Springsteen | Thunder Road
One of the most romantic run-away rebel stories in Music. So much Longing, Love and Positivity. Leave this town and leave all the phonies around you behind, to start something new, something big. Totally struck a chord with me when I was 15. I bought the album Born To Run in May ’92 and listened to it all summer, day and night. It also made me pick up the guitar in the first place.
2. Nirvana | Smells Like Teen Spirit
On my 16th birthday I had a big party at my place. I got Nevermind on CD from my best mate. We then played our very first gig (my first ever band, the Empty Brains) in my family’s lounge. One of the tracks was Smells…. The house got flooded with people, most of whom I didn’t know. One of them destroyed my Stereo, one of them stole my new Nirvana CD. I hadn’t even unwrapped it. Still didn’t stop me from becoming a big sucker for Grunge Music.
3. Ben Harper | Power Of The Gospel
An incredibly intense piece of Music. Swallows me whole. His slide guitar playing had a big influence on my guitar style. So raw and energetic, not following any traditional guitar playing rules.
4. Jimmy Eat World | Sweetness
A track I dug out a few months ago. We ended up listening to it quite a bit during our last tour. Very powerful and catchy song, always puts me in a good mood. Jimmy Eat World were my favourite band for a long time, they had a huge influence on my playing and song-writing style.
5. Rage Against The Machine | Take The Power Back
When I was 14, I started to get drunk at parties. The kind of parties that are just a vehicle for getting drunk and stoned and for listening to loud Music. Back then my friends would get stoned to either The Doors or Bob Marley. I couldn’t stand either of them. The third option was RATM who where incredibly exciting to me. A whole new sound, so aggressive and in your face, yet incredibly groovy and tight. I didn’t really get Metal at the time, but this I really got. It also was perfect for the age I was at, my rebellious stage. Their guitarist is still one of the most unique players around.
6. Spin Doctors | Two Princes
Not necessarily one of my Top 10 favourites, but a great tune nonetheless. More importantly though, it includes the first guitar solo I ever learnt to play! Very exciting times. I used to crank up my Stereo, crank my shitty little amp and played along to the solo for hours. I still don’t how my mum put up with years of me playing guitar in the attic.
7. Foo Fighters | Best Of You
Another band I used to listen to all the time. Another influence on my guitar playing. They still kick arse live, more than 95% of the bands out there. We met Dave Grohl backstage at a festival once. Great guy, very sweet. Then we watched him destroy the drums with Them Crooked Vultures. A night to remember!
8. Kings Of Leon | Closer
When they came out with this record, there really wasn’t another band around like them. We were all into it big time. I love the mood of this track, love how it sets up the record.
9. Ben Howard | Black Flies
Another intense track, similar to the Ben Harper one. Part of my favourite album of the last two years. So unique and dark, it totally draws me in. The way it develops is beautiful. One of the most stunning pieces of Music I know.
10. Bruce Springsteen | You’re Missing
Best song ever written about the events of 9/11, in my opinion at least. So sad, hard not to cry every time I hear it. Once I saw him and his band live and one of the guys in the band started crying whilst playing this song. The effect that this had on me and the whole stadium around me was electrifying. It does happen to me sometimes, when we play a show and a particular song gets to me. Sometimes it’s also how the audience reacts. We have seen many beautiful moments on stage that have brought tears to my eyes. Makes me remember that moment in that stadium back then. Makes me feel like it’s OK.
1. Pink Floyd | The Great Gig In The Sky
A song from one of the two albums I grew up with and which probably started my love of Music. I think I could have picked any song of this album, but this track has always stood out because of the amazing vocal performance by Clare Torry.
2. Queen | Don’t Stop Me Now
Greatest Hits 1, the second album from my youth. Again, I could have chosen any song from the album, but I went with this one.
3. Motörhead | Overkill
I’ve always loved the energy of this track and you can’t beat the re-intro at the end. It's just a great song from a bad-ass band.
4. Faith No More | Everything’s Ruined
I think Faith No More shaped a lot of my taste in Music when I was a teenager and I think they would be up there with my favourite bands of all time.
5. The Beatles | Eleanor Rigby
Back in the days of cassette tapes this song was at the end of an album which I had copied from somewhere and I would always hear just the first verse and chorus before the tape stopped. I loved it for years, but had no idea who it was until somebody played me some Beatles albums.
6. The Walkmen | The Rat
This is just raw, energetic and full of attitude.
7. At The Drive-In | One Armed Scissor
When I first heard this song and the album Relationship Of Command I think I had to put the Stereo straight to 11 and leave it there.
8. The Prodigy | No Good (Start The Dance)
When this song came out I would often sit up all night watching MTV and this track was always one of my favourites. I would say it’s probably responsible for getting me into the Electronic/Dance side of Music.
9. Queens Of The Stone Age | A Song For The Dead
Kick-ass riffs, kick-ass drums!!
10. Tool | Lateralus
This song is hypnotic and powerful and just takes me on a journey.
