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We speak to the local band that got over 16 million views on YouTube

Cape Town – When we first spotted a local video on YouTube with millions of views, we knew that we had to find the artists that made it and ask them how they did it. 

The artists behind the hit are two shy and unassuming musos called DJ Sam World and Claire Rose who make up the band, No Method. 

Here’s The Juice’s interview with No Method in which the pair say how they didn’t see the success of their single, Let Me Go, coming, how they got together and a whole lot more: 

“That’s the issue with not being in your music video, people are like: ‘is that the artist singing in the video?’ ‘No that’s a model’ ”, was one of first things said Sam to us when we met with him and Claire on a sunny Friday afternoon at a restaurant in Cape Town.  

Can you tell us how you got together? How did you find your sound? 

Claire: I actually messaged Sam on Facebook.  My singing teacher at the time, I told her that I wrote a song and she said: ‘there’s this amazing producer in Table View’, so messaged him on Facebook and asked him to produce my song and sent it to him. The very next day I was in his studio. 

DJ Sam World: I heard the demo she sent me and I said: ‘wow this is great.’ That wasn’t this song though (Let Me Go) it was a totally different song. And the rest is history, that’s literally how we met. I actually didn’t want her to come to my studio in the first place just because I thought I don’t want to have someone where I genuinely don’t know what they do. That’s why I insisted that she send me a song and when she sent me the demo… (She has) one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. I’m not saying that (just) because we work together now, that was the impression back then, obviously I still think that now, but that was the first thing that hit me; such a beautiful voice. 

Can you tell us more about demo, Claire did you write it?

Claire: Yes I wrote the demo, that’s the one I sent him. It was very much a ballad. I haven’t really been singing for long, I actually found my talent much later on. 

When was that?

Claire: In matric, I knew I could sing. But I didn’t know I could use it and perform with it so that’s when I actually started vocal lessons. Then I heard a lot of people say that they’re writing their own songs and I was like: ‘I need to try and do this’. It took me a while but I got into it and I actually wrote a song, that how that song (that I sent to Sam) came about. 

A post shared by No Method (@nomethodmusic) on

Do you play any instruments? 

Claire: Ya, I played piano for fifteen years. That’s where the musicality came from, so I was very lucky to have that. Because going into singing if you haven’t played any instruments, your singing ability won’t be on pitch, specifically. 

DJ Sam World: It just makes it easier for you to sing, if you know how to play chords for example. It makes it easier for you to know where you are singing. 

How long have you been studying music?

DJ Sam World: I actually haven’t studied music. Funnily enough I actually studied IT. But I have been doing music for fifteen or sixteen years. I am self-taught and I think that most musicians, they are self-taught. Thanks to YouTube and I tell all of the kids today: if you want to learn, if you want to be great, just go on YouTube.’  You can literally YouTube anything and they will show you how to do it. Like, I learnt music theory from YouTube. 

Where you prepared for the success of the single Let Me Go? 

DJ Sam World: Not at all. 

Claire: It was my first song that ever came out so I didn’t expect it at all. 

Sam: Although were sceptical and I’ll tell you why because we knew the sound wasn’t something that the South African market would receive directly because it has a very middle eastern influence, which explains its success there.  It genuinely sounds like a song that comes from that side of the world. That’s why when we play the song people are: ‘oh yeah I know this song, are these people South African?’ The instruments that we used they are Middle Eastern. So we won’t lie to you we were very sceptical. We just hoped that radio would accept our new sound. I don’t think it’s hit us yet to be honest, even with the 13 million views on YouTube, it doesn’t feel like anything… I genuinely don’t know how to explain it. But if you go on our YouTube you’ll see that most of our fans come from Turkey because if you read the comments (in Turkish) you’ll see that people think we are Turkish. And we are lucky because we are supported by a good label in Turkey. We are number one on Shazaam there. It’s on 420000 listens right now. 

Will there be an album? 

DJ Sam World: Not yet. And I’ll tell you why because an album is a very South African marketing strategy and it’s a great.  But a lot of international acts they go for single for two years before deciding on an album, because you need to make the song the biggest that it can be. So EP yes and album no (for right now.)

Are you going on tour? 

Claire: In two weeks – I’m very excited for it because it will be my first time overseas – we’ll be going to Qatar. 

DJ Sam World: Yes, we’ll be in Qatar on the eighteenth and Bahrain on the twenty-fourth I think. So for now a small tour of the Middle East and then later in the year (for summer in the Northern hemisphere) we’ll do a club tour in East Europe. 

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