One night with Juggernaught

Picture four hairy men from the mountains … now lure them to the city with sex, whiskey and some good ol’ rock & roll, then tech them how to play a couple of instruments before letting them loose on a stage near you, and you’ve got Juggernaught – A groovy powerhouse display of original hardcore, in-your-face, southern metal, or – “Man Rock!”

Juggernaught invited me over for a chat and to sit in during a rehearsal, but even though they’ve jammed huge gigs such as Oppi, Witchfest, MotherFUDD and more recently, the 2009 Festivale, to my shame, I had never caught them live before. So I went into the interview rather blind and not knowing what to expect. However, all feelings of uneasiness soon resided after sharing a couple of laughs and a cold beer or two… or three.

Entering a rock venue or any band room can be compared to a religious man’s experience at his temple of worship – And that is exactly what it feels like walking into the house of Juggernaught. The first door leads into a dark little room with another door on the opposite end. Next to that door, behind a horizontal glass slit, lies the actual altar of sacrifice, where the band lays down their prayers before the gods of rock – hoping to be blessed with sex, whiskey and more good times. Back in the first room, the rest of the walls were covered with posters and other novelty, paying homage to those who have, and still carry on rocking us with their glorious messages. They varied from old-school legends such as Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC to the metal giants Motorhead, Megadeth and Black Label Society and many more. “The individual influences of the band are enormous. We argue a lot about which bands are cool and which ones suck. But that’s where our originality comes from.“

I pulled up a chair in one corner and surrounded by amps, drums, guitars and chords I looked up in anticipation as the musos took up their respective stations… “The children have gone hungry… Jesus left this land” howled through the air, in a voice which immediately reminded me of Zakk Wylde’s, followed by a crashing of cymbals and guitars. But my pen simply can’t describe the explosive sounds that were to follow. Simply put by the One eyed dog, when asked why they choose to play their music: “Because it rocks!” Check out “My daddy’s land” on this month’s track selection dis. “It’s basically about sex, drugs and whiskey.”

I stepped outside for a minute to get some fresh-air… but before stepping back inside again, I stood by the door; a couple of paces away from where the four goliaths were, and used the opportunity to study them all in a single frame: They stood there gathered around the table like a unit of fierce Berserkers, slaking their thirsts after a hard-day’s slaughtering of New World natives; planning their next conquest – “Our main priority at the moment, is getting our (debut) album released.”

The dudes didn’t want to name anybody regarding production and recording, because the band is still “weighing all its options,” but the good new is that the album can be expected in stores by “the middle of this year.” For now, Juggernaught is looking at getting their name out there the “traditional way” – which includes, of course, a rigorous touring schedule, and ear-deafening volumes. However, they also make use of modern-man’s technology, so you can check them out at www.juggernaught.co.za, or follow them up on MySpace and Facebook.

As the dudes say, the story of them getting together, and the term Man-Rock is a “murky” one. And I am sure there are a lot of cloudy memories involved. So this will only inspire more confusion, but, in-short, it involved two men, a London flat, two dangerously “cheap bottles of wine,” “lipstick” and a lot of “girth.” – Trust me when I say: “it sounds much worse than it actually is.” That was the story about “Man-Rock.” The story of how the band got together is way more complicated that that. Quite frankly, it’s got me more confused than an Alabama hick trying to complete his family tree. What I can say though, is that the current line-up looks solid, and has been going strong for “about a year-and-a-half” now.

It’s hard to recollect what happened after we got back to the digs. (Shebeen top up) The rest of the beer had erased most of my memory, and it became apparent that the interview was over. The damage was done. We had a couple more laughs and the last of our beers. One by one, everyone got into their cars and left for home. After a failed attempt at getting my scooter loaded into the back of a bakkie, I agreed to spend the night on the couch… The next morning I woke up with a beer stained T-shirt and dirty hair, and just before getting on my scooter, one of the band adages – which I feel describes them best – came to mind; putting them past the self-conscious image rock, or “pussy-rock” that seems to be infesting every stage around the country: “When women rock, they rock. When men rock… they Man-Rock!”

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