Head over to www.nativenoisecollection.com/desktop-wallpapers to download your favourites.

Back in 2002, Paul Seele launched a radio show on the University of Cape Town’s campus station. Native Noise focused on promoting South African music with an ethos of ‘thinking globally by support locally’. During a two year run, Paul interviewed over 165 local artists, promoting the country’s top acts as well as showcasing upcoming talent. The Native Noise radio show ended on a high note with the release of The Native Noise Acoustic Collection, a free MP3 album featuring some of the best songs performed live on the show.

In November 2009 Native Noise partnered with Musketeer Records for the release of ‘Native Noise Collection Vol. 1 – The Seether Sessions’. The album features a collection of rarities by South Africa’s most successful rock band on a 2CD set available exclusively in South Africa.

Disc 1 of ‘The Seether Sessions’ kicks off with the new song, ‘No Shelter’, a b-side from the gold selling hit album ‘Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces’. The disc continues with recordings from the band’s iTunes Originals sessions, previously unavailable in South Africa. Seether discusses their career from 1999 to 2008 alongside rare acoustic versions of songs including the hits ‘Fake It’, ‘Broken’ and ‘Rise Above This’. Fans will also be treated to covers of The Beatles’ ‘Across the Universe’ and Cole Porter’s ’I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ (made famous by Frank Sinatra) performed in Seether’s unique style.

A second disc captures the band’s live acoustic performance at the Grape Street Club, as featured in the 2006 release ‘One Cold Night’. The session includes hit singles ’The Gift’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Gasoline’ as well as a cover of Pearl Jam’s ‘Immortality’, fan favourite ‘Sympathetic’ and the early Saron Gas song, ‘Tied My Hands’.

No band could be more apt for the launch of The Native Noise Collection. Seether redefined the way people perceive South African rock and thanks to local support they went on to achieve global greatness. This exclusively South African release will be a valued asset to any Seether fan’s collection.

Last night South African music channel MK revealed the nominees for the 2009 MK Awards.

Seether’s No.1 hit single ‘Rise Above This’, is nominated in the category “Campus Hit of the Year”

The winners of the MK Awards will be determined by public votes.

You can vote via the following means:
Website: http://beta.mnet.co.za/fanclub/voteCategoryItem.aspx?ClubID=642&catID=25&pID=41 (limited to 1 vote per day)
SMS: Send “Hit4” to 33676 (R1,50 – limited to 5 votes per day)
Mxit: Login to cast your vote (limited to 1 vote per day)
Voting closes on the 13th February 2009. Go to mktv.co.za for full voting rules

“Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces” has been Seether’s most successful album to date.
Local successes over the past year include:
* Three No.1 singles (‘Fake It’, ‘Rise Above This’ and ‘Breakdown’)
* The first Seether album to be certified Gold in South Africa
* Nominated for 3 South African Music Awards – winning Best Rock: English
* Nominated for 2 Mtv Africa Music Awards – winning Best Alternative
* Sold out arena tour (5,000 people per venue) in June 2008

South Africa’s most successful rock band, Seether, claimed the award for Best Alternative. The broad genre of the category had Seether up against Coldplay, Goldfish, The Parlotones and Buraka Som Sistema but the public vote made Seether the clear winners.

The award could only be expected with music videos for ‘Fake It’ and ‘Rise Above This’ earning Seether extensive television airplay the world over. The band’s latest single, ‘Breakdown’, was unveiled two weeks ago and is already on high rotation.

Seether was also nominated for the MTV Africa Artist of the Year award but lost to Nigerian performer D’banj. Six of the ten awards went to the host nation so Seether was proud to walk away with two nominations and one award.

Seether could not attend the ceremony due to prior US tour commitments with Staind and Papa Roach. The band pre-recorded an acceptance speech thanking all the fans at home for their support.

Bassist Dale Stewart commented; “We’ve been away from home for a very long time, we miss Africa a lot so getting this award is just great… We can’t wait to come home and play for you guys again. Hope to see you all soon.”

The award adds to Seether’s string of accolades in their home territory. The latest album, “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces”, earned the band their first gold record in Southern Africa as well as their first South African Music Award. Now with the addition of a MAMA it seems that Seether will need to expand the trophy cabinet for many more awards to come.

The MTV Africa Awards will air on MTV Base (DSTV channel 322) on Saturday 29th November 2008 at 19:30 (GMT+2).

Help them win by voting online at: http://www.mama.mtvbase.com

Or vote via SMS
Best Alternative:
SMS “Alternative E” to the number below

Artist of the Year:
SMS “Year E” to the number below

South Africa
34002
R2 per SMS

Rest of the world
+45 609 910 232
Standard International SMS rates apply

Voting closes on Tuesday 18 November 2008

www.seether.com
www.myspace.com/seether

It could definitely be tightened up, but I don’t really have time to spend on that.

On Saturday night Seether claimed their first MTN South African Music Award in the category “Best Rock: English”. Seether’s debut album “Fragile”, and their second international studio album, “Karma and Effect”, were both nominated in previous years but didn’t win the judges over. “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces”, however, went as far as earning Seether nominations in two of the Big Five categories; “Best Group/Duo” and “MTN Record of the Year”.

Since moving to the USA, Seether has grown into one of the top rock bands in the world. The band’s latest single, ‘Rise Above This’ is currently No.1 on international charts with previous single, ‘Fake It’, still maintaining positions on the Top20 airplay charts. Despite the status as world-wide rock stars the band is still most grateful for support from home.

“Were really happy that people still consider us a part of the South African music scene.” Bassist Dale Stewart reflects, “Were really proud of our roots. There was definitely some animosity from certain people when we set off overseas but I think now people are generally supportive and we’re really grateful.”

The group’s latest album is proving that rock is alive and well in South Africa. The SAMA winning album is earning extensive airplay on stations ranging from campus rock to adult contemporary. “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces” is on the verge of gold status; a first for Seether’s home territory.

In June 2008, Seether returns to South Africa for a full band tour covering Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

South African fans have been aching to see the full band live since the first My Coke Fest concerts with Metallica in 2006. This past festive season front-man Shaun Morgan Welgemoed performed a few intimate acoustic shows and promised to return with the full band. True to Welgemoed’s word Seether is coming home in all their glory to play four shows across South Africa.

Excited about the tour Welgemoed reveals, “I love coming back to SA to play shows. I always feel so proud walking out onto a stage with SA fans in front of me. It’s a different audience. It’s very powerful. It’s very emotional performing back home. I love it.”

Seether’s South African dates kick off two days after a European tour including Germany’s Rock am Ring Festival and the main stage at England’s Download Festival. White Squall Events has procured the best indoor venues to house as many Seether fans as possible.

15 June 2008, Grand West Arena – Cape Town
16 June 2008, Standard Bank Arena – Johannesburg
20 June 2008, The Wave House – Durban
21 June 2008, UPE Sport Center – Port Elizabeth
Tickets will be available from Computicket from 15th May.

The second single off Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, “Rise Above This” hit the airwaves while the nation was still singing along to the infectious chart-topper “Fake It”.

“Rise Above This” has already hit No.1 on 94.7′s Homebrew Top 10. The song is flying up campus radio’s local charts to Top 10 positions on TuksFM, UJFM, MFM, PukFM and RMR, with global chart positions in hot pursuit. Nationally “Rise Above This” looks likely to top 5FMs Top 40 where it is currently at No.19.

All the support from radio has seen the song shoot to No.13 on the SA Top 100 airplay charts, receiving over 90 spins last week.

The song is expected to keep moving as the music video hits television screens this week.

On Thursday night the nominees for the 14th Annual MTN South African Music Awards revealed “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces” in the category “Best Rock: English”.  Seether is no stranger to the category, “Fragile”, the band’s local debut as Saron Gas, was nominated in 2001 while “Karma and Effect”, also earned a nomination in the 2006 awards. Seether is yet to win an award, but in three coveted categories it looks like it’ll be ‘third time’s a charm’ for 2008.

Seether is established as one of the top contemporary rock acts worldwide. With humble roots in South Africa, the band truly values the support from home. The second nomination for “Best Duo/Group” has Seether representing rock alongside heavyweights Freshlyground, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Malaika and Soul Brothers.

The first single, ‘Fake It’, shot to No.1 across the country. The infectiously catchy tune is up for the public vote for “MTN Record of the Year”. The current single gained high rotation instantly. ‘Rise Above This’ has already entered campus radio charts as well as sharing chart space with ‘Fake It’ on 94.7′s Homebrew chart.

Responding to the news from another nationwide American tour, Morgan chose his words carefully, “F#$% YEAH BABY!”

The latest album has broken new ground for Seether locally, outselling earlier albums in a few short months. With chart-topping singles and an album fast approaching gold status the team behind Seether is confident that these SAMA nominations are just the start.

“Rise Above This” is an incredibly personal song that front-man Shaun Morgan wrote about his brother Eugene in advance of his tragic death last year. With it, Seether sounds unexpectedly and ironically optimistic, a key theme throughout the new album.

“I used to think more about what the fans thought, but ultimately I wound up stunting myself creatively,” Morgan explains. “The point of being a musician
and writing music and being in a band is that I can write an optimistic-feeling, accessible song if I want. Even though it wasn’t written about an optimistic experience, I opted to see a positive in the situation. Rather than my usual reaction, which would be to get all piss-y and moan-y about it.”

The incredible success of “Fake It”, the first single off Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, has certainly set the bar very high for Seether. The song topped every rock chart across the US as well as South Africa. “Fake It” was even embraced by more conservative radio, making it impossible to ignore. As a mainstream cross-over song, “Rise Above
This” is tipped to be an even bigger smash hit.

“The opinion that that song is going to elevate the band to a whole new place is awesome,” confesses Morgan, “but thinking about it I’m getting goosebumps because I don’t know what to expect.”

Fans eager to catch these rare intimate performances scooped up tickets instantly. Five sold-out shows with no sponsors and barely a week of promotion on the first two are certainly achievements that few artists could pull off. Morgan’s popularity and dedication to fans were further emphasized when signing sessions lasted thrice as long as the shows.

The final show of the tour will go down in the history books with over 5000 people rocking in the rain at Kirstenbosch Gardens. Contrary to his claims that he doesn’t do much other than play songs, Morgan knew exactly how to get the crowd going. Reworking the lyrics to the classic ‘Take Me Away’ he sang, “I want you to stay and take the rain away”, before jumping off stage to get wet with the fans.

Morgan has promised to bring the rest of Seether back for a full tour as soon as possible. For these shows he was supported by a few local artists including Simon Perry (The Tornados), Nick Argyros (16 Stittch), Dylan Hunt (Pestroy) and Grant Bez (MyEpic).

The local media love Morgan as much as the fans so he was in high demand. Radio interviews on 5FM, Radio 2000, East Coast Radio, Kfm and TuksFM reached almost every possible listener in the country. Reviews, interviews and features filled the pages of the most powerful press. This weekend interviews with Morgan will be screened on MK’s Studio One as well as The Showbiz Report on ETV.

Morgan is back in America now, filming the music video for the next single before heading on a Canadian tour. After such a phenomenal reception he is eager to play to South African audiences again. Commenting on the Kirstenbosch show he said that he was overwhelmed by the crowd and understood what it must feel like to be one of the Springboks.
Not bad for one guy and his acoustic guitar!

Catch Shaun Morgan hosting his Top 5 rock songs of 2007:
MK – Studio One – Friday 11th January – 19:30
Watch an interview and footage of the Kirstenbosch show:
ETV – The Showbiz Report – Saturday 12th January – 19:30

It is hard to imagine that “Fake It” was initially written as a joke about LA’s superficial lifestyle. It appears that the ever-humble Morgan is the perfect spokesman to deliver the message. On release “Fake It” was the most added song on US Rock radio. It has hit No.1 across American rock charts as well as local campus radio and now national airwaves with 5fm.

Morgan is currently performing a few intimate acoustic shows around South Africa to promote Seether’s new album, “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces”. On Thursday 20^th Dec he made an appearance on 5fm’s drive-time show with DJ Fresh. Listeners flooded the phone lines and were sure to give Morgan a hero’s welcome home.

Performing without his bandmates seemed intimidating but two sold-out shows have barely required Morgan to sing his songs, thanks to fans helping out. At the Durban show on the 21^st Morgan had to wait for fans to finish singing happy birthday to him before continuing the set. Fans have three more chances to see Morgan performing unplugged in South Africa.

28 Dec – Mercury Live (Cape Town)
31 Dec – Phoenix Rising Festival (Kenton on Sea)
6 Jan – Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts (Cape Town)

Seether’s front-man will be performing at a few key shows around the country this festive season. Despite being on holiday the singer/guitarist of the international chart topping group will play unplugged to his fans back home. Seether has come a long way since their inception as Saron Gas in 2000. Making SA music history, the group was snatched up by Wind-Up Records in America; kickstarting a rise to success in the worldwide market.

Welgemoed’s acoustic shows will be the first opportunity for local fans to experience Seether’s new songs live. The smash-hit album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, has become the fastest selling Seether record in South Africa. The first single, ‘Fake It’, has been ripping up the charts locally and internationally; placing Seether in a whole new league.

The Blues Room performance will be supported by three of the hottest local bands of the moment. Scarlet Box burst onto the scene with their debut album in 2004. Singer and guitarist Jenna Rose has been hard at work on a powerful new album, scheduled for release in early 2008. MyEpic has rocked stages with Seether on previous visits so it comes as no surprise that Welgemoed appreciates the group’s balls-to-the-wall Rock n Roll attitude. Newcomers, Holly and the Woods have kicked up quite a fuss in the last few months. The bands current single, Save Me, has been snatched up by local radio, giving the airwaves a much needed breath of fresh air.

Shaun Morgan Welgemoed of Seether – Full Tour dates:

20 December
The Blues Room (Johannesburg)
http://www.bluesroom.co.za

21 December
Burn Nightclub (Durban)
http://www.burn.co.za

28 December
Mercury Live (Cape Town)
http://www.mercuryl.co.za

31 December
The Phoenix Rising New Years Party (Kenton on Sea)
http://www.thephoenixrising.co.za

06 January
Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts (Cape Town)
http://www.sanbi.org/whatson/sunsetconcerts07.htm

The frontman for South Africa’s most successful rock band will be treating fans to four unplugged performances in Durban, Cape Town and Kenton on Sea. Seether’s most recent shows in South Africa reached almost 100 000 people when they shared the stage with Metallica in 2006.

A band famed for their live shows, Seether spends most of their time touring the world, whilst always acknowledging the fans back home. Welgemoed proudly displays the South African flag in a tattoo on his left arm and even Conan O’Brien introduced them as “a band all the way from South Africa”.

Seether’s brand new album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, has had an incredible response since hitting the shelves in late October. The album entered the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at No.9 as well as the Top40 local sales charts. Meanwhile the first single, ‘Fake It’, has dominated the airwaves hitting No.1 locally and internationally.

Unplugged performances have become incredibly popular with Seether fans. In 2006 Seether released their first live album; an acoustic CD+DVD package; One Cold Night.

Outside of Durban Welgemoed will be joined by special guests including Nick Argyos (16 Stitch) who drummed for the band in the early Seether days, Simon Perry, Welgemoed’s close friend and original band member as well as Scott Dachroeden currently with the Seether support staff.

Catch Shaun Morgan Welgemoed live in South Africa:

21 December
The Wavehouse (Durban)
www.wavehouse.co.za

28 December
Mercury Live (Cape Town)
www.mercuryl.co.za

31 December
The Phoenix Rising New Years Party (Kenton on Sea)
www.thephoenixrising.co.za

06 January
Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts (Cape Town)
www.sanbi.org/whatson/sunsetconcerts07.htm

Billboard announced a new No.1 on the Mainstream Rock chart this week. Seether’s smash hit, ‘Fake It’, has shot to the top spot, dethroning ‘The Pretender’ by the Foo Fighters. Over the last eleven weeks the song has become impossible to ignore.

Such success with a single is rarely accomplished without MTV airplay. Yet Seether’s music video for ‘Fake It’ was only launched 8 weeks later, giving the high flying single even more power. In a unique move Seether allowed fans to add the video premier to their websites and myspace pages. The ‘Fake It’ video launched across more than 46,000 fans websites around the world. Back home MK launched the music video on Studio One last Friday and have already added it to their highest rotation – accompanied by a video of the band proving that, despite living in the states, they can still “praat die taal”.

The new Seether album, “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces”, has proved to have serious staying power on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The album entered the chart at No.9 just below new rock releases by Serj Tankian (No.4) and Coheed and Cambria (No.6). After the second week of sales Seether eased into the No.22 spot while Serj Tankian dropped to No.24 and Coheed and Cambria to No.44.

Back home the album is proving to be one of the most anticipated releases of the year, selling faster than any previous Seether album. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces beat the likes of Britney Spears by entering the Musica Megastore chart at No.12 as well as enjoying the No.35 spot on the Musica chart. The album has secured Top10 positions across Look and Listen stores, including the No.1 spot at Look and Listen East Rand.

Seether’s success can only be expected to explode over the next few weeks. The band is excited about returning to South Africa for a few key shows during December and January. Watch this space for details.

The highly anticipated Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces hit South African shelves on Oct 22nd to an overwhelmingly positive response.

The Billboard Top 200 Albums is the most coveted chart in American music sales. Compiled from consumer purchases, the chart reflects actual album sales on a weekly basis. Entering within the Top 10 is a reminder that Seether is not only South Africa’s biggest rock band but also a key group in the US music industry.

The digital sales charts have also embraced Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. The album claimed the No.1 spot on iTunes’ Alternative Albums chart and is rising up the overall Albums chart, currently at No.8.

The albums’ first single Fake It was the most added song on American rock radio at release. The track is currently at No.2 on the Mainstream Rock Singles chart and No.5 on the Modern Rock Singles chart.

Back in South Africa the song is burning up the charts on 5FM, TuksFM, UJFM, PukFM, KovsieFM and MFM.

Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces is out now on Musketeer Records.

In the first week of release “Fake It” has become the No1 most playlisted song on Active, Alternative and even Heritage Rock radio across the United States. The song is already receiving extensive airplay from over 90 radio stations across America.

“Fake It” entered the national airplay charts with fury:
#47 Alternative Chart
#33 Active Rock Chart
#32 Mainstream Rock Chart

The song has had similar success online
57,248 MySpace plays in the first week
# 28 on MySpace top indie artists chart
# 17 on iTunes Top Alternative songs chart

Back home in South Africa the song has already been picked up by Tuks FM, with Barney Simon scooping the first play. “Fake It” will be heard across South African radio in the weeks to come.

‘Fake It” is the first single off Seether’s highly anticipated new album; ‘Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces’. The new album will hit South African shelves on the 22^nd October 2007.

For more information:
www.musketeer.co.za
www.seether.com
www.myspace.com/seether