Balzac Straat

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History of the band...

In 2006, brothers
Anton and Martin Roos (who where a two-piece “cover-band” called
ROOSTERBROOD),
decided to showcase their original songs in a full-band outfit side
project with the Butler brothers Sydney (who also played lead for
Sonsteek) and Quintin. The band was to be called 4
HERTZ. But Anton quickly lost interest
and withdrew. Subsequently, 4 HERTZ never
felt the warmth of the stage lights.

Martin, Sydney and
Quintin “jammed” in the rehearsal room for kicks, but soon
realized they had something going for them. With no bassist, Quintin
who was in the Campus For Performing Arts
(COPA),
rounded up one of his classmates, Albert, to play bass guitar in the
band. That was in November 2006.

Several band names
were suggested, but none of them had that special “ring” to it.
Then, one day, Martin saw a street name in Vanderbijlpark namely
BALZAC STR.,
and decides to take a picture of the street sign because he found it
amusing. He then suggested to name the band BALZAC
STR. But before the proposal was
excepted by the members, a Google search
was initiated to determine whether there was connections to any
obscenity regarding the name. There they saw that there was a famous
18th
century French writer called Honore De
Balzac whose written work and outlook on
life and society matched theirs, and there and then decided that the
name would be BALZAC STRAAT.

In February
2007 they record their promotional EP at
B Sharp Studios
in Boksburg, and gave out copies at their shows to lay a supporters
foundation for the release of their full length album at a later
stage. Martin quits ROOSTERBROOD
that same month.

A year later, they shoot the
music video of their song “Nuwe Wêreld” in Potchefstroom.

In February 2009
Sydney quit BALZAC STRAAT to further his psychology studies, and is
replaced by Machiel van Niekerk (who also studied at COPA
and plays lead guitar for the rocking band, Erebus)

Their debut album
"Haat jou Kultuur" was
recorded at B Sharp Studios in
April 2009 and mastered by Lapdust Studios
in Randburg, and is available at shows.

Shows of note...

 Thabazimbi
Wildlife and Tourism Expo – Thabazimbi - 2007

 The
“3 Decades of Rock” show - Carnival City's Mardi Grass theater -
2007

 Hoërskool
Die Anker's “Afri-weekend” - Brakpan – 2007

 World
Song Contest – Carnival City's Big Top Arena – 2007

 Aardklop
– Potchefstroom – 2007

 Aardklop
– Potchefstroom - 2008

Aardklop –
Potchefstroom - 2009

Achievements...

 Nuwe
Wêreld gets airplay on PUK FM and
reaches #9 on
the SA TOP 20 and
stays there for six weeks - 2007

 At
the COPA Music Awards
the were awarded the following...

Songwriter
of the year 2007

1st
place – Song of the year 2007 for “Doem-o-krasie” - Judges
choice

2nd
place – Song of the year 2007 for “Nuwe Wêreld” - Judges
choice

3rd
place - Song of the year 2007 for “Nuwe Wêreld” - Audience
choice

 BALZAC
STRAAT reach the TOP
30 mark in the Semi
finals of the World
Song Contest - Africa
leg - 2007

 They
were approached by the ATKV to
participate in the “Klipspinnekop”
battle of the bands, and won the
competition – 2008

 Another
battle of the bands that they were competing in is the “Open
Mic Night” where they played the finals
on the 11 of October 2008 at Back2Basics
in Westdene, Johannesburg, where they came in on third
place and Sydney won the “Best lead Guitarist” prize.

 They
also ended up in the Top 10
of the SABC RBF Emerging Sounds
Compitition.

 Ended
sixth in the Klipdrift Ultimate Battle.