Tuesday last week was a very very busy day for me - as a speaker, actress & singer. At 9am found myself being welcomed to the second day of the SA Music Exchange where I was invited to be on the panel for 'Keeping It Real - South African Success Stories'. I found myself in the esteemed company of Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse, Neo Muyanga (Blk Sunhine), Andy Mac (Mac Stanley) and Doug Davenport (Evolver One). We all took our seats on the stage and then one by one shared our stories and experiences in the music industry with the audience. It was a forum for everyone gathered to learn more from our respective journeys and also ask questions on how to get around common obstacles facing musicians. Sitting next to Sipho was an incredible honour - even if just to soak up his humble presence and to get how passionate he is about this industry. He kept referring back to my story of pre-funding 'Journey' and saying how the only way for artists to get ahead is to invest in their own dreams. It was a huge vote of confidence!
I left the Exchange very inspired and had to dash to Stellenbosch to spend the rest of the day shooting on the MNET Mini-Series 'League of Glory' that I have a really great role in. It is proving to be a fantastic experience - with a great script, fab cast and crew and a really good challenge for me as an actress, so I cant wait to actually watch it when it starts flighting on April 21st! We wrapped at around 6.30pm and I screeched back into to town to sound check for the Music Exchange Showcase at Mercury Live. The band decided to use our 30 minute slot to let everyone in the industry to get a taste of our new upbeat sound. At 10pm we kicked off with 'One Of These Days' and from there took everyone in the room on a true Verity & The Shades afro-pop/dance/rock journey! We came off stage absolutely drenched from playing our hearts out and exhilirated to have had the crowd calling for more.
The feedback from everyone on our new songs was awesome and best of all was that Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse kept saying we had blown him away!!! All in all a very good day after what has been a very difficult start to the year. It felt good to get back to the work I love!
