Brandy Special is a pop-and-rock band from the southern suburbs that includes a neighbourhood watch boss and a father-and-son duo.
Kirstenhof Neighbourhood Watch chairman Kyle Clark is on vocals, Ken Potter is on bass guitar, Glen de Freitas is on lead guitar and his son, Scot de Freitas, is on drums.
They play covers from the 60s and 70s as well as more recent chart toppers.
It’s all in the name of good fun, and the band has been performing together for over a year, says Kyle.
Glen has been part of the music industry for decades and performed with the party band, Late Finale, for more than 30 years, and in the 80s, he formed a band called Footloose with Kyle’s father.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Scot, 31, started his first band in matric and his own sound company soon thereafter.
Without anything to do during the pandemic, Kyle used Facebook Live as an outlet to sing songs requested from a following that grew to over a 100 listeners at a time. That’s when Scot approached him about performing together.
Scot recalls his actual words were: “You don’t have the best voice, but you have got a great stage presence, and we can make it work.”
While taking a little jab at his friend, he says that in his experience people will book less-than-stellar singers if they are entertaining, and Kyle’s unfiltered humour brings the gees.
On performing with his father, Scot says, it is still surreal to have grown up seeing a musician as good as he is and be able to be on stage performing next to him.
According to Scot, his father plays several instruments by ear, and his experience and knowledge have helped to shape the band. But Scot adds that his dad wasn’t their first pick as a lead guitarist. It just so happens that their first choice got a demanding job, and that’s when he asked his dad to fill in.
“I think the hook, line and sinker was there after the first two gigs. He still says he is thinking about it, but we are making plans for him,” says Scot.
To learn more about Brandy Special follow them on Facebook.
