SHAUN JOHANNES

I first met Clement Benny in 1998 at the Jazz Workshop. He never really spoke much and always seemed to be late for lessons. But I always remembered how he’d make a point of greeting a 16yr old me. I always marvelled at his peroxided hair, blue jacket, Adidas takkies and tracksuit that seemed to be his ‘office clothes’. Later in that time I realised that he was also the drummer at Lighthouse Church (Parow) at some point and that I had seen him play there.

Fast forward a few years after his return from studying in the US. I’m a 2nd year student and I get thrust into a mind-blowing band of Mark Fransman (Sonik Citizen) (Sax), Wayne Bosch (guitar) Clement on drums and youngster me on bass. I had my ass handed to me daily by all of them and over the span of a year or so I would be schooled by Clement on everything from odd-meter playing to salsa to playing in 5 while playing in 7 and everything else that would eventually become the bedrock of my own learning and teaching.

Our first gigging/band vibe opportunity to be the backing band for the legendary Mynie Grove on my very first tour to KKNK as ‘(M)AmaGroove & Stoom’. The band comprised of Quinton Jansen (guitar) and Clement (drums) and myself on bass (The smudgy picture with Quinton in the middle).

The only thing we managed to get done was a photo shoot!! Tragedy struck when Quinton lost his life when he was stabbed while trying to protect someone he didn’t even know. That was a bitter blow for so many of us (Athina Jansen)…thinking of you too, Chris Tait! Eventually we got the amazing Keith De Bruyn (drums) and Celeste Williams (keys/vocals) and I to be the backing band. I embarrassed myself spectacularly and was humbled (yet again!) but luckily they were kind enough to let me suffer through it anyway.

I spent my 21st birthday in rehearsals and on the day was staying on a ‘big 5’ game farm in a spectacular room with Egyptian cotton sheets being treated like royalty. This luxury would NEVER be seen again at KKNK for me And I got to meet Kim Cloete who came to interview us at the farm (you won’t remember and we will never forget!).

Our first big gig together came in the form of the ‘DA Band’ (Darryl Andrews) performing regularly at 021 Lounge at Swingers. I got my ass handed to me here too as we played almost exclusively salsa music with a ten-piece horn section, full rhythm and Denay Willie on vocals upon her return from a contract gig in UAE. To say I was out of my depth was a massive understatement.

Later on we would be the founder members of the group ‘Galumphing’ lead by Shannon Mowday. I would be hired and fired from that group several times and ended up being the most ‘regular’ member (unbelievably!). It was a star-studded group with Deborah Tanguy (vocals), Julio Sigauque (guitar), Honoring Andre Petersen (piano) and Tony Paco (Drums). The last version I played in went on tour to Berlin in with my brother Jeremy D Olivier (guitar), Kevin Gibson (drums) and Lars Andreas Aspesæter (piano). It was an amazing ensemble that taught me a great deal about how to be and not to be in a band. I will forever be grateful for the lessons learned there and for the opportunities to make music that it afforded me.

Over the years Clement would become a close friend and mentor to me never making me feel less than his equal while obviously being lesser on so many levels. I spent countless hours having coffee and biscuits at his mom’s place in Parow and I got to hang with his wonderful sisters Genevieve & Camella who are amazing vocalists too. Clement taught me about being honest about mental health and talking about how you feel.

Later Clement would relocate to JHB and we’d send each other the odd soccer score or some amazing drum video we saw. I got to see pics of his family and kids growing. Clement’s life was not an easy one and he chose to share with me the many losses he suffered. While I have adored Clement’s musicianship and hated how underrated he was when he was easily the most ridiculously gifted drummer I have ever met and learned from, he had demons that he suffered and it would overwhelm him. Even then Clement would never let you know that he was hurting and forged ahead regardless. He relocated back to CPT to be near his kids even without the prospect of work. He would man up because they needed him. I was all too happy to have my friend and mentor back and we did some sporadic gigs around town and I always pushed for him to get back into the scene but it never really took off again.

Today rocked me and brought back so many memories of so many things of my career as a musician. But the greatest of it all was reminding me of how eternally grateful I am to have been allowed to live my life doing what I love with amazing people who I would otherwise never have met if it wasn’t for music. People like Clement Gerard Benny. I will miss you, boeta. We all will…

An interview with Shaun Johannes is here.