Louder Than The Music

As you may know by now, Reason are currently our Artist of the month at LTTM. They are also currently on tour in South Africa, and we are delighted to welcome Reason front man Jason Zeeman as our guest blogger. Jason has sent us the following tour diary from the RE:Generation Tour...

I fetched John (Ellis) at the airport on Thursday morning and after a quick visit to the sponsors store to fetch some gear we enjoyed a coffee and a breakfast before hitting the four hour road trip to Nelspruit. You could probably get there quicker, but why would you want to when John's sitting on your laptop making playlists from iTunes for the iPod in the car. It was all rock 'n roll from the minute we left Jo'burg.

I think the ride there set the mood for the first leg of the tour. We discussed South African politics, Christianity and our passion to see the image of our faith changed for the better. We soon realized that the RE:GENERATION tour was just that. A chance to find the generation that would stand for change and "regenerate" their role as followers of Christ. Putting behind them religion, it's rules and lack of passion for people. Somewhere we messed it all up. This was a chance to start somewhere in making a difference.

So we arrived in Nelspruit and after a chat with the bands and crew moved on to sound check. I, for the life of me have never been more irritated with my guitar tone. We tried everything! Rolling off all the tops, boosting the bottoms, changing amps. It just wasn't happening. And then Jake, from The Ambulants, discovered that I had my Wah - Wah pedal on and half open... I don't think I've felt less rock 'n roll in all my life. It was hilarious. It'll be a while before the boys let me live that one down.

So gig time arrived and The Ambulants opened the set. They're a great band. Jake ripped the solo's proper and the crowd lapped up every note of it. When they were done we were announced and started our set. We opened with "Salvation is here", a great song from Joel Houston. I think I chose that one 'cause I wanted people to know that this was a rock show, but Salvation was in the house from the word go. We moved on to "New has come", a new single off "The 11th Street Sessions". The song is doing pretty well in South African churches so far so it was a natural choice before moving onto our rendition of "Paint the Town Red". It's a great song and people really responded to it. We did 2 tracks off our upcoming album, "Mystery" and "No more" before closing our rather short set with U2's "Beautiful Day". That one sort of came out of left field - pretty unexpected, but it was an awesome tune to end our set with.

Mr Ellis arrived in true Tree63 style and opened with a slamming rendition of "king". I couldn't think of a better song to open his set with. But what really got the crowd's attention was "Sunday". Given the current political climate in South Africa it took some real guts to sing "Nothings sacred, the days are cheap, Zuma's our president now..." Ultimately, it's a song of hope and John based his entire set around that theme singing songs like "Alright" and covering Bob Marley's "Everythings gonna be alright". He did the usual great songs from the Tee arsenal and then closed off with U2's "Pride - In the name of love". Pack up. Bed. Wake up, and do it all over again.

The next night saw us at Liberty Church in Jo'burg. We all followed pretty much the same sets for this near sell out event, but I couldn't help but notice how the air was almost sucked out of the room when I said that we believe in a church that doesn't exploit the poor for money 'cause our God aint short of cash. I think people believe it, but you'll get an "Amen" for almost anything now days except words that challenge peoples thoughts, beliefs and comfort zones. I let that thought hang for a while before singing "No more" which is about exactly that. A call for a generation to take up their cross and stand for the truth. Some may say that the song is rebellious. I don't think it is. I just think it's honest and asks questions about where we're headed as a people.

John ran his set again and had everyone in the house singing "Treasure" and "Blessed Be" while he played guitar and smiled. He has an awesome stage presence and can really connect with people in a unique way.

So we finished up, had a quick breather and then headed to the signing table. The queue was out the door so it took a while, but it was really good to meet the people and hear their thoughts. Where would we be without them? I especially loved the kids. They're so into it. It makes all the work worthwhile. Pack up. Bed. Wake up, and do it all over again.

The road to Witbank was filled with classic rock tunes from Aerosmith, Jackson, Audioslave, Queen and more. Good times indeed. Two songs into the Ambulants set the power tripped. The bands and crew were all running around to resolve the problem. Me, I just tried to look busy. Trust me, you don't want me anywhere near a db board. That could mean the end of alot of things. My career and your life included.

The problem was resolved in a short while and the show went on. It was completely different to the other gigs. A lot more intimate in a theater type setting. Low lights and easy music. We rather spontaneously performed "To Your Name", in our set. A song we've not done live before and then "All I want is You" is where we ended it before handing over to the "Ellisband" as they became known this time around...Witbank was a great gig. The bands were relaxed and really interacted on a personal level with the crowd.

We drove home the same night and got into bed at around 2:00 am. I think some of the boys are still sleeping!

The end? Not quite. Part II of the tour kicks off soon. Music, travels and little sleep await us all...