New Academics is a four-piece

Funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer sta ...

band formed in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. They are currently based in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. They are known for their mixture of

Afro-beat Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rh ...

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and Hip hop in their music and have built a solid a following in South Africa and Europe with their debut album ''City of Strange''. In 2008, the New Academics were nominated for a SAMA (South African Music Award) in the category of "Best

Alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

Album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Members

Current

Joe Penn — vocals (2004 – present)
David Baudains — guitar (2004 – present)
Brendon van Rooyen — drums (2007 - 2009, 2020 - present)

Rob Smith — drums (2014 – 2019)
Jacques Du Plessis — bass guitar (2016 – 2018)
Hugh Hunt — bass (2014 – 2016) Sean Strydom — bass (2010)
Howie Combrink — drums (2006 – 2007, 2009 – 2010)
Martin Labuschagne — bass (2006 - 2009)
Damian Staz — drums (2006)
Richard Broderick — drums (2004 - 2005)

Discography

* 2023 - ''The Great Romancer'' * 2016 — ''Growler Front'' * 2006 — ''City of Strange'', Seed Music/

Sheer Sound Sheer Sound is a South African independent record label formed in 1994 by Damon Forbes. History Sheer Sound was formed in November 1994, shortly after South Africa's first democratic elections. The label was initially a home for jazz and world ...

* 2008 — ''The Apple''

References

{{Reflist South African rock music groups

Members

Current

Previous

Discography

References