KNYSNA ENTERTAINMENT NEWS – It's only 6 days before Canadian creators of the hit Life Without Fantasies, Neon Dreams (together with hip-pop exponent Levi Rowan), will be taking to the stage in Knysna as the third show of the SA leg of their Sweet Dreams till Sunbeams tour.
But before you can start singing and dancing along to their music, it might be a good idea to get a better understanding of the primary force behind it all - Frank Kadillac - who still finds it odd that he didn't turn out a worse person.
Born when his mom was 17, he never stayed in one place long enough to make friends and attended 10 different schools. This made him an easy target for bullies but he persevered, and is now dedicating his life to make sure others can overcome hardships too.
"I have stories to tell from a place of love to other people who are like me," he explains. "My main goal has been to reach as many people as I can and spread positive energy."
Neon Dreams is the vessel for that message. Kadillac and drummer Adrian Morris have been making music together under the moniker since 2015, but it wasn't until 2019 that Kadillac realised his true purpose.
He had always felt moved to invoke positivity with his music. And though the band had already garnered a gold single with Marching Bands - which accumulated tens of millions of streams and won numerous Canadian awards - the singer-songwriter wanted to reinvent their sound. He promptly deleted a full album's worth of songs and started Neon Dreams anew.
In 2019, the duo released Sweet Dream till Sunbeams - an album comprising nine uplifting songs about not fitting in and overcoming adversity - and have continued to drop new, sometimes highly personal material, covering subjects from Kadillac's tormented youth to his mother beating cancer.
Though they consider themselves to be "alt-pop", Neon Dreams' music can't be pigeonholed. They mix rock with pop sensibilities, and at times Kadillac raps.
The lead single of the Sweet Dream till Sunbeams album is Life Without Fantasies, a track that has taken South Africa by storm. The single's success has followed an unusual trajectory, as it was released in July 2019 with only moderate success.
Over a year later, without having been officially released in SA, the band noticed an increase in comments from South African fans on their YouTube page. Soon they noticed a massive spike in streams, prompting an official SA release in October 2020.
The fan feedback began snowballing and South Africa, seemingly overnight, became their biggest fan base after their native Canada.
"We never thought our first success out of North America would be South Africa!" says Kadillac. "It seems so far away, but the warmth and love we're getting from fans there have blown us away. South Africa has never felt closer."
This ultimately led to them undertaking a tour through South Africa, part of which will be their stop in Knysna next week. The act will be on at Blend Country Restaurant in Knysna at 18:00.
For more information on the show, you can visit the Better Live Facebook page, or the website, www.betterlive.co.za.
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