Matt Vend and The Tender Ten

Matt Vend is a singer-songwriter who adopts an old-time approach to performing live, armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar a set of harmonicas, and a capo. Matt takes on the folk tradition of the Greenwich Village Folk Scene of New York in the 1960s, where the likes of Bob Dylan cut his teeth.

Although he is of European descent, he was born in a harbour and surf town on the East Coast of South Africa named Durban or Etekweni. This makes his very existence loaded as he tries to navigate through a postcolonial and post-apartheid South Africa to find his voice as both a singer/songwriter/poet and human being.

Humanity, heartache, humour and sadness drive his narrative and even though he is influenced by 70’s/80’s and 90’s rock ‘n roll and punk from Europe and North America he still keeps his lyrics and artistic focus firmly cemented in his hometown of Durban, where he resides today.

Through this lens, he has managed to create 7 very different studio releases, which highlight his versatility as a songwriter. All self-produced and engineered, Matt weaves an interesting musical tapestry of folk/punk/rock ‘n roll/blues/electronica and maskandi (traditional Zulu folk music) as he takes in his surroundings and travels the world with nothing but his acoustic guitar, ideas and voice.

His songs are stories and through the act of storytelling, living, traveling and exploring comes a subtle message of redemption, unity and tolerance as this eclectic performer tries to make sense of his reality and context within South Africa and the world.

With shows being played usually for nothing more than a place to stay, a donation or two and a hot meal Matt has made it around the world on a smell of an oil-rag and has had the privilege and honour of performing all over South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico City, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Sometimes on street corners, sometimes in people’s homes, sometimes in dive bars and sometimes at major festivals.

The end of 2018 saw him release his 5th album which was recorded in his home studio and mastered at Angry Monkey Studios in Mexico City. The album has many old-time folk influences yet is his introduction to electronic, and psychedelic music, being influenced by the 80’s post-punk and new wave explosion.

However, no computers or software were used to develop this new direction which Matt has aptly titled “Anatronic”.

Since then he has recorded 2 more releases the 2019, “Lonely like a Holiday” and the 2020 ep, “Lost Inside the Static”.

“He seems to feel every chord, every word, and every song more intensely than we can ever hope to feel even our deepest most secret emotion. His music oozes full blown suicide Sunday vibes; but with an underlying, heartfelt optimism that stops you from pulling the trigger, urging you to go on and experience the sadness; because it is a beautiful sadness, and without it, happiness would be a distant, unimaginable...