Which bands do you associate with great live music; full of energy and oozing with talent? U2? The Rolling Stones? The Beatles? Here’s one; Plainsite! Durban’s hottest up and coming rock band are currently in studio recording their self-titled debut album, ‘Plainsite’. But where has this band come from? Let’s take a look at their journey so far...

The band came together rather rapidly in November 2005. Mike Strauss and Stefan Myburgh wrote a couple songs which they recorded at a friend’s house. They entered those songs into a competition called ‘Jump Start Your Band’ sponsored by JJS, a Christian music festival held over New Year. Upon finding out they had made it to the finals they set about finding band members. Long hours and plenty of effort went into practice sessions. Unfortunately, the band did not win the competition but from there the members were fueled with passion and energy to embark on this musical adventure.

Plainsite got stuck into writing the music for their demo album which was recorded at Sesalos Recording Studios in late 2006. The demo has since been sold at gigs around the greater Durban area. All money raised has gone back into the band and has been valuable in paying for studio time to produce their album.

With the good times come the bad times. Members have come and gone which proved to be difficult times for the band. However, the now four-piece band share one goal; and that is to compose “great music that is accessible to people”.

We threw a few questions at lead vocalist, Mike Strauss, and this is what he had to say on behalf of the band...

Have you enjoyed your studio time?

“Yes it was a lot of fun! It was a lot of hard work. We pre-recorded everything and did all our pre-production on a computer at home. So we landed up spending a lot of time before studio just getting ourselves ready and making sure that we could make the most of our time that we spent there. And when we got into studio we just got down and worked really hard, but it was a lot of fun to do.”

What’s your opinion about treating a band like a business?

“I think it’s very important to treat a band like a business. To make good music is one thing but to actually be able to make a living out of it and support ourselves we have to see it as a business.”

What marketing do you do as a band?

“We create awareness through our website www.plainsite.co.za. We’re on Facebook and My Space. We have links with the JJS website and Sesalos. We sell merchandise at gigs, like demo CDs and T-shirts. We’re also looking at getting sponsorships from corporate companies. We have a licensing agreement and distribution deal lined up.”

What’s Sesalos?

“Sesalos is a multi media company and recording studio that we’ve worked with over the past couple of years.”

How has marketing helped you achieve the band goals?

We’ve played at a lot of gigs in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Amanzimtoti, we always try play in different areas to create wide spread awareness. We also get involved with other bands to draw crowds and share support bases. Its good exposure for both us and the other band.

What's your most valuable asset as a band?

“The biggest thing we have in our favor is that each member of the band believes in the vision of the band.”

What's your next move?

“We’re concentrating on the album launch at JJS on 31st December. So we’re preparing ourselves for that.”

Plainsite have two goals that essentially contribute to one vision. That vision is to glorify God. They’re focused on composing great music that will grow their ministry in the music business.