GoodLuck’s Juliet Harding talks about imminent motherhood and music

In this interview, Jules shares her ideas on balancing family life with the demands of being in a successful band, while hinting at new projects and collaborations. She also tells us about the vision behind Beats in the Bush music festival, which GoodLuck owns and curates.

MUSIC IN AFRICA: Congratulations on the upcoming addition to your family. How will this impact the group’s creative process and touring schedule?

JULIET HARDING: Thanks so much. We are super excited to welcome this little one and for the opportunity to take some much-needed downtime. We have been gigging solidly for the last 13 years, so this is a truly welcome break. Interestingly, for the months that I am on maternity leave, June to September, the GoodLuck boys Ben Peters and Tim Welsh will be performing a few exclusive live DJ sets. It will be very difficult to be standing on the sidelines, but I know the DJ set is an absolute banger. From September, the plan is to be back on the road and just make space for our little one to tour with us. We actually have a very full summer planned, especially with our Get Lucky Summer series shows, so we plan to lean on family to help us look after the little one. In the meantime, I am writing lots of music and trying to chill out.

How do you see balancing family life with music? 

Of course, this is a very new territory for us. Balancing new family life with the demands of being in a music group is going to require some seriously well planned time management and clear communication. I want to prioritise my family while also dedicating enough time to our planned tours, gigs and songwriting. This might involve scheduling rehearsals and performances around the family and responsibilities. I believe in the importance of open communication with both family and bandmates to ensure everyone’s needs are met and expectations are clear. We plan on having the baby in the studio with us, but I guess we will have to learn as it progresses. 

Are there any other new projects or collaborations in the works that you can talk about?

We have so much new music in the pipeline both on the collab and GoodLuck front. It will be great to use the last few weeks before the baby arrives to get those songs finished up and hopefully get to release them soon.

What inspired you to create Beats in the Bush and what sets it apart from other music festivals?

The inspiration behind creating Beats In the Bush stemmed from our passion for creating music events and experiences and our deep love for nature and wild animals. Combining these two seemed like a natural fit, as we wanted to create an immersive experience where attendees could enjoy their favourite music surrounded by the beauty of the wilderness. What sets Beats In the Bush apart from other music events is its unique setting and balance of both music, safari, bush yoga and great food. Instead of being held in traditional venues like clubs or stadiums, our festival takes place in the heart of the African wilderness, at Bayala in Hluhluwe, northern KwaZulu-Natal. It’s all about connection to both the music and the environment in a meaningful way. Additionally, we try to curate a diverse line-up that showcases both established artists and emerging talent, providing attendees with a well-rounded musical experience that they won’t find anywhere else.

What have you planned ahead of this year’s festival?

Obviously there is a heap of brilliant things to do at Beats in the Bush – from daily Big Five game drives, to dinner under the African stars, chilling by the pool, bush yoga and dancing to a heap of live music and electronic music artists. This year we have some of our favourite artists returning to the Beats in the Bush stage and we are so excited to welcome some new artists too. We have the iconic Wonderboom on the line-up alongside Rubber Duc, Majozi, Veranda Panda, Kyle Cassim, Tanya V, to name but a few.

As a group, you’ve had a significant impact on the electronic music scene. How do you see your festival contributing to its community and pushing the boundaries of the genre?

We are always trying to create platforms to promote new artists and artists who we love and respect. It’s not always easy to get gigs these days, so by creating opportunities to perform – not just for GoodLuck but also for artists who we believe in and connect with – we feel that it is an important part of our duty to uplift the scene. It’s not easy and sometimes we take great risks, but ultimately we have a lot of fun and it’s good to know that we are helping to keep the live music scene going in South Africa.

The production quality of your new single ‘Goodbye My Friend’ featuring Afro-tech duo Frigid Armadillo is exceptional. Can you walk us through the production process for this track, and what new tools and techniques you employ to achieve this sound?

Thank you, that is very kind of you to say. We worked very closely with Frigid Armadillo to achieve a full sound and international level of mix. We work in Ableton Live and produce the song and vocals up to a point and then hand the track over to a solid mix engineer for final mixing. We worked with Pricha to do the final mix and we think he nailed it.

What inspired this creative shift, and how do you see this new direction evolving in future releases?

We have always dabbled in Afro-house/Afro-tech collabs, as we really enjoy the genre and the beats feel very connected to us, being from this continent. We have worked with DJ Ganyani, Da Capo, Ice Prince and more, but this particular sound is very exciting for because as we feel that the progressive nature of this kind of style of dance music from Africa is very true to the way we produce and also write vocals and melody. I think we should probably make an album with this style of collaboration at some point for sure.