MaxX & Love are set to captivate blues enthusiasts with their latest release, These Blues Might Get You Too. In support of their album launch, MaxX Monticoe (guitar) and Sechaba Ramphele (vocals) will be hitting venues around the Cape, starting with Harringtons on Thursday, 20 June.
These Blues Might Get You Too is a tour of face-scrunching riffs both old and new. Tracks like ‘Good Time’ and the slowly-building waltz of ‘Escape’ show off solid contemporary blues rock, while tracks like ‘I Want To Talk To You Baby’ evoke a much more traditional sound with its bouncy slide guitar.
Sechaba explains that their music was “foundationally blues-inspired,” and now also draws from soul, gospel, rock and roll, and West African blues. Both members were drawn to the blues by its raw emotion and storytelling. “It’s the storytelling from the traditional Delta blues that starts as simple as, ‘I woke up this morning and my baby done left me,’ and then the song takes you on this journey about how you feel about it and what you’re going to do with it and what your next step might be.”
MaxX and Sechaba’s partnership began in 2021, but their friendship dates back 11 years. Both were pursuing separate musical paths — MaxX with a band he had started and Sechaba with his solo project. However, neither was satisfied with the way things were going, and they decided to tackle an open mic night together. However, MaxX had only started playing guitar two years prior in 2019, and he tells us that Sechaba had to push him to perform despite his nervousness.
MaxX has found his feet on stage since then – both figuratively and literally, as he could only perform sitting down at the beginning. “He hated that, by the way,” MaxX laughs about leaving Sechaba to be the only one standing.
“Now I’m a bit too much on stage. And if I’m not too much, he’s too much. We compliment each other like that,” MaxX tells us.
MaxX explains that he was inspired to begin playing guitar by Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, before delving deeper into the blues with influences like Lightnin’ Hopkins, R.L. Burnside, Muddy Waters, and modern blues artists like South Africa’s own Dan Patlansky.
When we ask what they want to bring to audiences with their live sets, they both answer succinctly: “Truth”.
MaxX adds, “We want to bring to them us in our raw-est self, as bare and as truthful as we possibly can be.”
The duo has shared the stage with several notable musicians, including Dan Patlansky, The Black Cat Bones, and BCUC. “We opened a couple of times for Albert Frost. I really, really enjoyed that,” Sechaba tells us. “Whether he’s playing with a band or he’s doing a solo show […] the atmosphere and the soundscapes he creates is amazing,” MaxX continues.
MaxX & Love will be kicking off their Cape album launch tour at Harringtons on Thursday June 20th. The duo will then be heading to Alma Cafe on June 21st, At The Courtyard out in McGregor on June 22nd, and finally The Daisy Jones Bar in Stellenbosch on June 23rd.
These Blues Might Get You Too is available now on vinyl through M-Pire Music and can be streamed on all major music platforms.
