I *had* my eye on you...

So as Blogger would have it, in all the years I've been trustingly posting, it was last week after a late night of triple posts that Blogger decided to crash on me - and erase all three late night creations! Luckily as technology would have it, two of the posts must have made it into the server twilight zone somewhere, cos those two posts bounced back to life right here on ZAmmm!

Alas, we had one fatality - forever lost to cyberspace and blog heaven. This was the follow-up post to 'I have my eye on you...' - and hence was called 'I STILL have my eye on you...'

Since capturing Facebook fan counts of various SA bands back in January 2011, I was keen to follow up now that we're a third into the year to see how their fan followings have expanded. All the artists on the little fan count list are ones I have particular interest in - and all are working hard on current projects, either about to release or have just released albums! Exciting times for SA music!

Alas, as the blog post is well and truly gone, I still wish to capture an overview of Facebook fan growth as follows:

• Jax Panik - top of the list for earning a whopping 10,000 fans in four months. They have released their third single, Sex me slowly as well as a fab video for the second single, Dinosaur. This has over 65,000 YouTube hits, which together with their over 55,000 Facebook fans makes them one hell of an online movement! They will be playing their first ever club gig tomorrow night at the Purple Turtle in Cape Town - get there if you're hot! (or not in London, or elsewhere in the world!)

• Jack Mantis Band - having earned about 250 fans from memory recall, I was surprised they didn't have more followers skipping down the Pied Pier path that is the Jack Mantis magic.  Their debut album is being worked on, cellos just added!

• Shen Winberg - still performing live as much as before, recently performed in Dubai and also with an album waiting for launch!

• Mccree - finishing touches being applied to an album I already can't wait to hear. A video was filmed at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town recently, in which local fans took part! Nice touch!

• The Rescu - with an album that has just been completed, they're starting the media play and interview circuit and were on 2OceansVibe radio last night!

• David Beretta Owens - he launched his album on 1 April at an arty venue in the middle of roughest Jozi. Dressed in a two-tone outfit (right), the concept of 'The order of things' was expressed!

• The Truth - The Truth is ultimately Chris Tait, of Tait. This is his latest project. And rumour has it the second half of this project is due to be released in the next few months! Plus some live gigging. We hope so!

Facebook fan race from Jan 2011 to now:

• Jax Panik: over 10,000 new fans (from 44,500 to 55,117)
• Jack Mantis Band: 229 new (from 1,195 to 1,424)
• Shen Winberg: 127 e-Shen converts (from 482 to 609)
• The Rescu: 115 new Rescu fans (from 540 to 655)
• Mccree: 106 new (from 1,086 to 1,192)
• David Beretta Owens: 26 new fans (from 426 to 452)
• The Truth: up 23 fans (from 133 to 156)

Next time I check in on your I hope to see a bunch of released albums being well marketed and loads of new online Facebook fans!

Rock on re-hashed posts written from memory and SA bands with online followings,
x