Hinds Brothers and 'The King of Zulu Guitar' Madala Kunene's Alvarez Guitar Endorsement

Hi folks, we are very stoked to let you know about an awesome Alvarez guitar endorsement that has been awarded to Hinds Brothers, as well as our friend, the legendary Madala Kunene. Below is the full story from our sponsors themselves - Classic Acoustics KZN, with photos of Hinds Bros by Tracy Anne Hinds. Big love to everybody!

Aden & Wren

Classic Acoustics KZN, the official appointed distributors of Alvarez Guitars in Kwa-Zulu Natal, are proud to announce an exciting Alvarez guitar endorsement for Durban based musicians Madala Kunene, 'The King of Zulu guitar', as well as acoustic/folk/indie/country/rock phenomenon The Hinds Brothers. Established in 1965 by St. Louis Music, Alvarez guitars have been one of the leading acoustic guitar brands in the U.S.A. And around the world for the last 50 years, but have only recently been introduced to South Africa. The Alvarez image is synonomous with quality and innovatioon, their guitars being well known for tone and feel, while many of the greats over the last five decades have gravitated towards the brand and its guitars. John Steenhuisen of Classic Acoustics KZN commented: “On hearing The Hinds Brothers debut album "Ocean of Milk, I was immediately impressed with their music ability and songwriting skills, which I consider ranks alongside their overseas counterparts. I have no doubt that the Hinds Brothers have a bright future ahead of them.” he went on to say “Madala Kunene is a legend at home, and even more so internationally, with pure music flowing through his blood. We feel both Madala Kunene and The Hinds Brothers represent the very best of what South African music has to offer, and we are very proud and excited that they have chosen to use and endorse Alvarez Guitars. Now the public and musicians alike can take the opportunity to see and hear the Hinds Brothers and Madala Kunene performing with their Alvarez Guitars at future gigs.” On receiving his Alvarez guitar the legendary Madala Kunene commented, “I am very happy”, and went on to call his Alvarez “the best guitar I have ever played”. Aden Hinds of the SAMA nominated Hinds Brothers said that “there is something quite special about these Alvarez guitars, just a beautiful tone... We're very stoked!” Brother Wren added “The pickups are the best I've ever heard in an acoustic guitar.” Alvarez guitars have been played by some of the worlds best known musicians including Joe Bonamassa, Johnny Cash, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ani DiFranco, The Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, Monte Montgomery, Carlos Santana and Radiohead. Another South African connection in the Alvarez story is Shaun Morgan of Seether, who also plays and endorses Alvarez guitars in their acoustic shows. “It is into this exclusive group of artists that we are proud to welcome Kwa-Zulu Natal's very own Madala Kunene as well as The Hinds Brothers.” says Steenhuisen. “Durban has always been the darkhorse city of South African music, consistently producing some of the best artists the country has to offer but never quite getting the recognition they deserve. We are very glad to be able to empower KZN music in this way, and hope this will help to get KZN music on the map even more.” Madala was chosen to represent South Africa at the “20 years of democracy celebrations” in New York later this year and will be performing at Carnegie hall on the 11th of October. He also has a new album titled '1959' that is set to be released soon, while the Hinds Brothers debut album 'Ocean of Milk', re-released by Sheer Sound on February 14th, has been receiving much critical acclaim in leading music journals, among them Rolling Stone and Audio & Video, and has also been nominated for a SAMA award in the 'Best Adult Contemporary' category. There are now also talks of a collaboration between Kunene and the brothers Hinds - watch this space.

Ocean of Milk Nominated for SAMA 2014 (South African Music Award)

 "We are very, very stoked to announce that 'Ocean of Milk' has been nominated for the Best Adult Contemporary #SAMA award 2014! Huge thanks to everyone involved in the making of this epic labour of love, we are very proud..." - Hinds Brothers

Two years in the making, the Hinds Brothers debut 'Ocean of Milk' has become an album of the heart with a living tale. Produced by the brothers themselves, the album was recorded in no less than 7 studios in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria, and features 19 of South Africa's top musicians. It was mixed by award winning producer Dan Roberts and mastered in New York by Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens, Roky Erikson). 

'Ocean of Milk' has a wholly cohesive depth to it that resonates with the great albums of yore, while brothers Aden and Wren Hinds' beautiful songwriting and arrangements are artfully complimented by the lush and acoustically textured production. The harmonic resonance of the two distinct voices, together with their reflective and honest lyrical sensibility communicates true profundity - bringing meaning and nourishment to an art form that has been somewhat neglected in recent times.

Here at the very beginning of 2014 there has been alot of good news and hype surrounding the Durban brothers, with the recent announcement of a record deal with Sheer Records, South Africa's biggest indie label & now the latest news that Ocean of Milk has been nominated for a SAMA (South African Music Award) in the category of Best Adult Contemporary Album of 2014. 

Ocean of Milk is available at hindsbros.com

Hinds Bros Announce Record Deal, A New Track, Plus 'Ocean of Milk' Re-Release in 2014 with Sheer Records

So we realize it's been a little while since we gave you an update on what we've been up to friends. Life moves along faster than ever, and we're already well into the year 2014, wow! Among other things, we need to fill you in on a new track we recorded while on tour in December (that we'd like to give away free to our loyal fans), a record deal and the 2014 re-release of our debut album 'Ocean of Milk'.

We ended 2013 with a mellow acoustic tour of the Cape, and had some great shows in Cape Town, The Crags and Knysna among other places. But along with a great show in Port Elizabeth, we managed to find an hour or so to record a song that we originally planned to be on 'Ocean of Milk' but somehow didn't make the cut. 'Gone & Grey' was recorded at Tanglewood Studios by John Dirker. We did a live take (which John filmed as well) before we had to race off to perform in Plettenberg Bay that night. We're really stoked with how it turned out, you can see the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r85Ame39gIE

Soon after returning from the Cape Tour, in early January as the heat was rising on the East Coast of Africa, we finalized and signed a licensing deal for 'Ocean of Milk' with South Africa's most successful independent label, Sheer Records. With the signing of the album over to Sheer, there will also be a 2014 release date, and the record will finally be available in the best music stores nationwide, as well as iTunes etc. In addition, we still have a few copies of the limited edition digipak left, which will be available at our shows or over here - http://hindsbrothers.bandcamp.com/

We look forward to connecting soon again, big love from us!

HB

Johannesburg 'Ocean of Milk' Album Launch & Update

Critical response after releasing 'Ocean of Milk' has been truly humbling, with amazing reviews in Audio & Video and Rolling Stone magazines among others. 'The Drifter' has been playlisted on East Coast Radio and 'Runaway Train' and 'World of Clones' are being rotated on quite a few independent radio stations in UK, USA and Germany. We are presently in negotiations for licensing the album to a local indie label, but we can't say anything more on that until the fat lady has sung.

Aside from that, we will be launching 'Ocean of Milk' in Johannesburg in just over one weeks time on Thursday 14 November at il Giardino, 44 Stanley Rd. Joining us on stage will be some of SA's finest musicians, including Wynand J Davel on violin, Sez Adamson on steel guitar & dobro, Brad Cooper on drums and James Sunney on double bass. Pre-sale tickets can be aquired for R80 each (R100 at the door) at Quicket and seats are limited to just 150. 

Hope to see you there Jozi! For more head on over to our website at http://hindsbros.com

Much love as always, Aden & Wren

'Ocean of Milk' Making Waves in The Musical Landscape- Rolling Stone Review

Some Free Music from 'Ocean of Milk' & Durban Concert Launch

Firstly a HUGE thank you to all who came along to our Durban live concert launch of 'Ocean of Milk' at UKZN last Saturday. We were humbled by the incredible support we received from you all, and honestly could not have asked for a better audience...

Just a week or so ago, we put a 4 track sampler of the album up for free download at one of our favorite websites, http://noisetrade.com - we are now excited to announce that this week we are featured on the Noisetrade homepage as well as in their weekly email as 'New & Notable'. It is a great way for you to share the music with friends and family because it's free... If you haven't already got your copy of 'Ocean of Milk' why not grab the 4 track sampler here!

Some upcoming KZN performance dates include an intimate performance at Bluestockings in Kloof called "Songwriters: An evening with the Hinds Brothers" on Friday 13th September where we will be performing songs from 'Ocean of Milk' and talking the the audience through the process of writing, recording and creating the album. The following week we'll be heading to the mountains for a full band performance at The annual White Mountain Festival in the Drakensburg on Friday 20th September. Come end of the month we'll also be performing at LIVE the Venue on Stamford Hill Rd (Friday 27th September) with an all star band including Bruce Baker (drums), Logan Byrne (bass), Ant Cawthorn-Blazeby (violin) and Richard Haslop (dobro & mandolin). Dates for the upcoming 'Ocean of Milk' nationwide tour will be announced shortly.

Thanks again for your support, if it were not for you where would we be? We'd love to connect again soon, please keep in touch!

Much love,
Aden & Wren

Ocean of Milk Launch Day - A Very Good Day Indeed

So today is a very happy day for us friends. Our debut album, Ocean of Milk, is now officially available for you to hear and share. We consider this to be the culmination of a lot of energy over the 4 years that we've worked together as Hinds Brothers. The journey has had it's difficulties no doubt, but today we feel that whatever they have been, it has all been worth it.

The time has come to listen to the record..........

If the sound is sweet to your ears, we have some beautifully packaged card digipack CDs with 16 page booklets that smell very good to the nose too... A digital download in any format you may desire is also available.

You know, this kind of love makes the world go round...
Aden & Wren