“There were times when I would suddenly realize making music is a crazy pipe dream. I would see bands that did super well in South Africa still struggling to survive, or even people on the international level who are doing well but financially can't really support themselves.” PeopleWellsStillsDreamRealizingLevelsSupportStruggleCrazyBandMusic IsSouthInternationalSouth AfricaPipePipe DreamsStruggling To Survive Author:St. Lucia
“When I was growing up, it was still during Apartheid, so the country was very shielded from the outside artistic world. Anything that was too subversive was basically banned. All the music that we got from outside of South Africa was the poppiest, least subversive music that you could get.” WorldStillsCountryGrowing UpGrowingSouthArtisticSouth AfricaApartheidSubversiveBanned Author:St. Lucia
“I feel like kids that grew up in New York City or in L.A. were exposed to all these subcultures and subgenres, whereas I was only exposed to the poppiest of pop music so I never had this negative connotation towards pop music. That's not South African music having an effect on me, but just how international music was filtered through South Africa affected me. It gave me a not-negative connotation towards pop music growing up.” FeelsKidsCitiesGrowing UpGrowingEffectsNew YorkGrewGrew UpNegativeSouthInternationalPopsAffectedNew York CityExposedSouth AfricaPop MusicConnotationSubcultureAfrican Music Author:St. Lucia
“I think I was just too young to even understand what was going on. When I was still living in South Africa, there was still so much racial tension.” ThinkingStillsYoungSouthTensionSouth AfricaRacial Tension Author:St. Lucia
“The racial conversation in the States is so multifaceted and multilayered. Obviously it's not always a positive conversation, but it's just so much more detailed than it was when I was growing up in South Africa.” StatesGrowing UpGrowingConversationSouthSouth Africa Author:St. Lucia
“I was extremely frustrated, almost at the point of giving up on coming up with a name for the project (because I'm awful at it), when I decided to play the 'put a pen somewhere on a map with your eyes closed' game with South Africa. About the 5th try was St. Lucia in South Africa, which coincidentally also happens to be an idyllic sub-tropical seaside resort town. The name seemed to fit with the mood of the music, and so after a while it just stuck.” GivingTryingPlayHappensEyeGamesNamesFitGiving UpProjectsDecidedTownsSouthStuckMoodAwfulMapsPensSouth AfricaFrustratedResortsTropicalIdyllic Author:St. Lucia
“My family still lives over there [ in South Africa] .I miss them terribly. I would say that most of my life over there was probably very similar to the sort of life someone would experience growing up somewhere like Australia or in the US.” StillsGrowing UpGrowingMissingMy FamilySouthAustraliaSouth AfricaStill Life Author:St. Lucia
“When I was 10 I went to the Drakensberg Boys Choir School, which is this idyllic Harry Potter-esque music boarding school in the mountains in South Africa, and that's when everything started to change for me and I realised that music is my thing.” SchoolBoysMountainMusic IsSouthSouth AfricaHarry PotterPottersRealisedChoirIdyllic Author:St. Lucia
