“The most important thing you need to know is that we are The Mysticcs and we are going to be all over the place.”
So says Ebi Johnstone, frontman for The Mysticcs who recently won the Paarl de Ville Battle of the Bands competition.
The Mysticcs are a three-piece made up of Ebi on lead guitar, Mo Jones on bass and Dean Roberts on drums.
Ebi describes their music as: “Blues rock with a modern feel.”
They all admit they entered the Battle of the Bands competition because they “couldn’t resist the prizes”.
Another reason, Ebi points out, is: “For people to hear what we sound like.”
The band found out about the competition through friends, and point out that many of their friends actually also participated in the battle.
“We gig with most of the bands,” Dean says.
When asked about what winning the competition felt like, the usually quiet Mo says he is still speechless.
Winning was an even bigger achievement – he only started playing bass just over a month ago. His first instrument is actually keyboards, but when the band’s rhythm guitarist pulled out of the band, Mo thought he’d try his hand at bass. Just two weeks after picking up the bass, he played his first gig with the band.
Ebi says the blues sound is something he is passionate about. The group say their music influences have evolved.
“When I was 13 I listened to heavy metal,” Mo says. Ebi points out that he has gone through punk, metal, rap, house and even drum and bass.
“But I was always into rock,” he says.
The Mysticcs will be releasing a music video for their song, “Superfly” in the near future. In the meantime, you can keep up with them on their Facebook page.