04 Sep 2014

Metal fans will, on September 6, get a chance to hear Botswana’s own metal group Skinflint’s latest offering at Mopipi garden in Tlokweng as they look to rekindle their metal heads movement.

Clad in their trademark leather, spikes, and chains and topped off with cowboy hats, Skinflint has been in Botswana’s music scene for a while now, and it is only right that they will get a chance to rock away this coming weekend as they also celebrate another milestone of having an album out.

With their latest offering titled ‘Nyemba,’ the album has eight songs and it is straight up heavy metal. The album embodies very aggressive elements of metal which according to metal heads is an expression of power.

Speaking in an interview, lead singer of Skinflint Giuseppe said the launch of their album will be every rockers dream and promised to give a top notch performance.

“The metal nation knows no racial boundaries. We are the same person and we all speak one common language and it is called heavy metal,” he said.

He indicated that metal is music about power, independence and freedom.

“That is what I believe in, fighting for what you believe in no matter the consequences. Standing up for what you believe in and showing individuality,” he said.

The album has songs such as The Witches Dance, The Wizard and his Hound and The Pits of Wydah. Metal heads in Botswana have a way of expressing themselves and one can bet that they will show support to one of their own over the weekend.

One man who has followed the metal movement in Botswana is photographer Frank Marshall who has captured the rockers in all their Hell’s Angels-style glory as part of Renegades exhibition at the Rooke gallery in Johannesburg.

According to Marshall, who was being interviewed by CNN for an article titled “Rebels with a cause: Botswana’s heavy metal heads”, said there is a strong sense of camaraderie amongst metal heads.

“That is the first thing you will notice about them as an outsider coming in. They have got a very strong bond and friendship with each other,” he said.

Marshall indicated that they are very physical and at shows you do not just shake their hands, they will grab your hand and shake you around.

“Everything is an expression of power for them, from the clothes to the way they speak to the way they walk and they walk with very deliberate lurching strides,” he said, adding that to the metal heads it is perfectly normal. ENDS