Reddish Silver

Reddish Silver in October 2009. From left to right: Matthew Hawkeye, David Beckin, Steven Hawkeye, Michael Moolman

### Origin

Johannesburg, South Africa (now FR Eurono)

### Genres

Progressive rock ‧ experimental rock ‧ art rock

### Members

Zander Goldberg
Matthew Hawkeye
Steven Hawkeye
Michael Moolman

### Past members

David Beckin

**Reddish Silver** is a South African rock band formed in what is now Johannesburg, FR Eurono in 2006. The group was formed by high school friends David Beckin and Michael Moolman, who both attended and graduated from Johannesburg Secondary School. Until 2009, the group consisted of Beckin (bass guitar, vocals) and Moolman (drums) alongside their other close friends Steven Hawkeye (keyboards) and Zander Goldberg (lead/rhythm guitar, vocals). Goldberg initially left the group in July 2009 to pursue a solo career, with Hawkeye's younger brother, Matthew, replacing him in the group that year at just the age of 15, making him by far the youngest member of the group.

Reddish Silver is the best selling South African band in history, with an estimated 250 million sales worldwide. The group achieved major success in 2010 with their album The Fourth Dimension, which was critically acclaimed and described as one of the greatest albums ever made. The lead single of the album, Time, peaked at #1 on the Billboard Chart, retaining its spot for twenty weeks. Their follow up album, No Guarantees, was also met with critical acclaim. The group abruptly broke up in 2014, with Beckin and Moolman going on to pursue solo careers. The Hawkeye brothers later went on to become politicians, eventually being the founding fathers of the Republic of Eurono and Federal Republic of Eurono, respectively. The group is known for being the launching point of the brother's careers and rise to stardom.

On 29 July 2023, the group reunited to perform one concert at the Johannesburg Dance Club (where they famously performed in 2010) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their album Watching The Sunset, with plans of possibly making new music as a quintet. However, this decision was indefinitely halted when original member Zander Goldberg and lead vocalist David Beckin were involved in a fiery car collision shortly after the reunion concert had ended. Beckin, who was the driver of the car, survived but was rushed to a nearby hospital in serious condition. It was initially disputed by news sources as to what happened to Goldberg, with some stating that he and two other occupants of the car were killed in the collision, and others stating that Goldberg survived but is currently in critical condition. Both reports remained unconfirmed until a spokesperson for Goldberg released a statement the day after the crash, confirming that Goldberg had survived the crash but was not in any serious condition. Both Goldberg and Beckin were released from the hospital on 3 August 2023, with the band performing again one week later, followed by the release of a new single, "I Can Dream About You", the following day, which shot up to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

The group's eighth studio album, Back, was released early on 6 October 2023. Just eleven days later, bassist David Beckin died in a car crash in Johannesburg. At the time, the band was working on their ninth studio album, which had been largely unfinished, and a fourth extended play, the latter of which was cancelled following Beckin's death. The remaining members announced later that day that the band had decided to disband for good once the Back tour completed, and promised to play the ninth album in its entirety at the band's last concert in Tokyo, Japan in 2024. The remaining members with the exception of M. Hawkeye regrouped under the name Twentydust, joined by bassist and vocalist Prince Ncube, who is currently filling in for Beckin during the Back tour. They are currently working on their debut studio album, One.

## History

### Founding (2006)

According to keyboardist Steven Hawkeye, the band was officially founded on 29 March 2006 by Beckin and Moolman. The two had met in primary school in 1998 and quickly became best friends. Beckin had initially proposed the idea to Moolman as early as 2004, but the two didn't go forward into forming the band until 2006. At this point, both Beckin and Moolman had met Steven Hawkeye and Zander Goldberg at secondary school, with the four forming a friend group. Shortly before forming the band, Beckin and Moolman had asked their own second best friends (Goldberg and Hawkeye, respectively) to join the band, with both accepting. The group originally performed at restaurants throughout Johannesburg on the evenings of weekdays or on weekends.

### The Debut and Two (2006-2007)

The band self-released their debut album, The Debut, on 27 November 2006 to little success. The band eventually gained some success with their next album, respectively titled Two, which was also self-released on 13 May 2007, less than six months after The Debut. The second single from the latter album, *Take Me To The Top*, one of few songs sung by Goldberg, was the band's first number one hit, retaining its spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks.

#### Mystery with "Strangers" (2007 - 2023)

The third track from Two, *Strangers*, was the band's second hit single, peaking at number two on the Billboard. However, it was unknown as to which member of Reddish Silver sang it, with some fans believing that it is sung by one of the band's two non-singing members at the time, Steven Hawkeye or Michael Moolman. The reasoning for the mystery is due to the vocals on the track being heavily edited and slightly distorted. Most Reddish Silver fans believed that Hawkeye sings the track, with former lead guitarist Zander Goldberg backing them up, also claiming that Hawkeye is the one singing on the track. During an August 2023 interview, when questioned on whether it was himself of Moolman singing on Strangers, Hawkeye revealed that it was actually his late brother Daniel singing on the track, therefore making it the earliest recorded Reddish Silver track sung by an outside member. Daniel, who was just nine years old when he sang on the track, makes him the youngest person to appear as a vocalist on a Reddish Silver track. Fans also suspect that Daniel sings vocals on the group's 2014 track "Checkin' Out" due to the vocal similarities between the two songs. His vocals had been heavily distorted and pitched down in the studio to make it sound like the singer was much older. Hawkeye did not specify if Daniel also sings Checkin' Out when interviewed in August 2023:

>
> "This may come as a surprise to many of you, but it's actually my late brother singing on the record. Daniel was only nine years old, maybe eight, when we recorded Strangers back in 2007. It was originally going to be sung by Goldberg, but we decided that the voice would fit better if we distorted it, and distorting Goldberg's voice didn't sound good to us. Unbeknownst to them, after we figured that out, I asked Daniel one night to sing the lyrics to this new song myself and some friends were working on, and keep it to the melody, of which he agreed and did a splendid job at it. We managed to record it in only five takes. As previously mentioned, he was only about eight or nine years old, so I doubt he had no clue what any of what he was singing even meant. That night, I worked on distorting his vocals to make them sound more intimidating and mature, and the next day, presented them to the band, who were impressed by the vocals that they assumed I had performed that it was immediately decided that they would be used for the final release of Strangers. I never got the chance to tell the rest of the members that it was not actually my vocals, so to the rest of the members of Reddish Silver, especially to Goldberg, who I heard was convincing others it was me singing on the record, it was my brother. You were fooled this entire time, guys."
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   Strangers wasn't performed by the group live until their 2013-2014 Watching The Sunset Tour. However, lead vocals on live performances of Strangers are provided by drummer Michael Moolman. An unreleased music video for Strangers, of which a 17 second snippet of it surfaced in November of 2023, shows Steven Hawkeye lip-syncing his brother's heavily distorted vocals.

### Discovery and signing to SMSA (2008-2009)

The group was discovered by businessman Sidima Siwani in early 2008, who was so impressed with their first two studio albums that he signed them to his record label, Unlimited Incorporated, whose releases are distributed by Sony Music South Africa. The group released their first studio album under the label, Wonders of the World, on 16 February 2009. The album became their most successful of all of their then three albums released at the time, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Top 100. The album's opening track, One Of These Days, became their most well known song at the time, and was always the opening song during the band's concerts.

### Goldberg's departure and addition of Matthew Hawkeye (2009)

On 7 July 2009, the group's lead guitarist and backing vocalist Zander Goldberg announced to the press media that he had decided to leave the band despite their success to pursue a solo career. Now a trio, Reddish Silver initially struggled to find a replacement for Goldberg. Eventually, after no success, the group's keyboardist, Steven Hawkeye, suggested to ask his younger brother, Matthew, who was at the time 15 years old, to join the band. Matthew could play the guitar very well but wasn't that good at singing. The group all agreed, with Matthew agreeing to join the group later that year. However, because of him not being a good vocalist, the backing vocalist role was given to drummer Michael Moolman. The band was also forced to only perform concerts on weekdays after 5 PM or on weekends if out of the country per Matthew's request to not drop out of secondary school. This continued until he graduated in 2012.

### The Fourth Dimension and No Guarantees (2010 - 2012)

The group released their most successful album, The Fourth Dimension, on 27 March 2010. The album was critically acclaimed, being described by some critics as one of the greatest albums ever made. The album's four singles topped the charts, with the lead single Time retaining its spot on the Billboard Top 100 for twenty consecutive weeks, the most of any of the group's songs and of any other song to appear on the Billboard Top 100. Time eventually lost the top spot to the second single, Money, which topped the charts for seventeen weeks, and spent 145 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 100, the longest of any song ever.

Reddish Silver followed their success in 2012 with the release of No Guarantees. Released on 8 October 2012, the album was almost, but not quite as successful as TFD, peaking at number two on the Billboard Top 100. The album's lead single, Comfortably Numb. topped the charts for nineteen consecutive weeks, just narrowly missing tying the record with Time. The album's three other singles, Run Like Hell, Hey You, and Another Brick in The Wall Part 2, all peaked at numbers two, three, and four respectively on the Billboard Top 100 at the same time as Comfortably Numb.

### Watching The Sunset, Thank You, and breakup (2013-2014)

Reddish Silver released their sixth studio album, Watching the Sunset, on 12 June 2013. The album was not as successful compared to the group's previous two albums, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Top 100. The album's lead single, Isn't It Midnight, one of few of the band's songs to be sung by an outside member of the group (lead vocals are provided by Eva Hamilton), peaked at number two on the Billboard Top 100, retaining the top spot for ten weeks. Two other songs from the album meant to be played next to each other, This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide, both of which had been played at concerts since 2011 before its official release as a track on the album, reached numbers five and four on the Billboard respectively.

Until the 2023 reunion, the group last performed live in Las Vegas, Nevada on 13 April 2014, the final stop on the band's Watching The Sunset tour. The concert ended with the *Instrumental Section* from Thank You, which at the time had a different title and was due to be released in less than two months.

On 5 May 2014, the group announced their breakup for unspecified reasons. A final seventh album, titled Thank You, was released less than a month later on 2 June 2014. Because of the group's breakup, the album topped the Billboard Top 100 chart for five consecutive weeks, with the lead single, All These Things, peaking at number three on the chart.

#### *The Instrumental Section* on Thank You/VII

The Instrumental Section refers to an almost five minute section on Thank You that closes the album, with the section being almost entirely instrumental (entirely instrumental on later pressings). Thank You is the only Reddish Silver album in which there are more than one instrumental tracks right next to each other, with the tracks "Bamboo", "All These Things", "The Finale", and "Thank You", tracks 7, through 10 respectively, all of which are lead by keyboardist Steven Hawkeye. All four of the tracks on The Instrumental Section segue into one another, segueing being a common method used by Reddish Silver for other songs.

Original pressings of the album and The Instrumental Section both end with a spoken message by S. Hawkeye, thanking all fans of the band for listening to and supporting Reddish Silver:

> "Well, that's it from us. This message that you are hearing right now is a last minute addition as our decision to split came so abruptly. In fact, the album's name wasn't originally going to be Thank You. Myself and the other members of Reddish Silver would like to thank you all for supporting us throughout our nine years of making music. We wouldn't have gotten where we are now if it weren't for you guys. I'm not quite sure what the four of us are going to do now, but you'll probably hear from us again in the future. That's all I would like to say, and once again, thank you!"
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Later pressings of the album from the latter half of 2023 and beyond remove Steven Hawkeye's spoken message and merge "The Finale" and "Thank You" into one track.

### Reformation (2023 - present)

#### Reunion (29 July 2023)

All members of Reddish Silver agreed to reunite and play a reunion concert at the Johannesburg Dance Club (where they famously performed in April 2010) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their album Watching The Sunset. This was the first time the band played as a quintet, as original lead guitarist and vocalist Zander Goldberg returned to the band.

#### Beckin and Goldberg's car collision (30 July 2023)

About an hour after the reunion concert had ended, at around 1:30 AM local time on 30 July 2023, both Beckin and Goldberg were involved in a fiery car collision when the car Beckin was driving collided with another car driving on the wrong side of the road at more than 100 kilometres per hour. Beckin survived but was rushed to a nearby hospital in serious condition. Initial reports of the crash stated that Goldberg and two other occupants of the car were killed in the collision, and later reports stated that Goldberg survived but was in critical condition, and that he and Beckin were the only occupants of the car. Both reports remained unconfirmed until a spokesperson for Goldberg released a statement the day after the crash, confirming that Goldberg had survived the crash but was not in any serious condition. The spokesperson also stated that Beckin and Goldberg were the only people in the car.

The driver of the car that Beckin and Goldberg collided with was identified as 27-year old Mpumelelo Mbizo, who was killed in the fiery collision. Police determined that Mbizo intentionally drove on the wrong side of the road, and suspected a suicide.

#### Back, Beckin's death, and disbandment (10 August 2023 - present)

Both Beckin and Goldberg were released from the hospital on 3 August 2023. Reddish Silver performed again at The Crown Resort and Casino on the Kinshasa Strip in Kinshasa on 10 August 2023, Steven Hawkeye's 32nd birthday. There, the second song they played was a newly written one, "I Can Dream About You". When it was released as a single the following day, it shot up to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, currently retaining its spot. The second single from the album, "Mystified", was released two weeks later, and shot up to number two. Although Eva Hamilton sings lead vocals on it, every Reddish Silver member with the exception of M. Hawkeye sings backing vocals on Mystified, with Goldberg and S. Hawkeye sharing lead vocals during the song's outro. The group released two new singles on the same vinyl, "I Know What I Like" and "Gravy Train", the latter of which being sung by touring member Garrett Tindyen, on 13 September, to critical acclaim. That same day, Zander Goldberg announced that the album would have at least eighteen tracks, and partially revealed the track listing, stating where each single will be located on the album.

The band released a greatest hits compilation, titled Greatest Hits + Extras, featuring seven previously unreleased tracks, on 1 October 2023, followed by the release of their eighth studio album, Back, six days later. Back received critical acclaim from music critics, citing it as the best album of 2023. The band plans to kick off their "Back" tour on 27 October 2023 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Greenedland.

##### Death of Beckin (17 October 2023)

On the morning of 17 October 2023, bassist David Beckin was heading home from a party in Johannesburg, FR Eurono. The driver of the car, one of Beckin's other close friends who was not a member of Reddish Silver, lost control of the car on the highway and collided with the car beside it, causing both to swerve onto the other side of the highway, colliding with a semi-truck. All of the cars immediately burst into flames, killing the two drivers of the car alongside Beckin.

The remaining members weren't made aware of the collision until keyboardist Steven Hawkeye saw it being reported on the news later on in the afternoon. There, he was informed from drummer Michael Moolman via a phone call that he had also seen the news, with the latter alerting the rest of the band about Beckin's death. An emergency meeting was held the same day as the collision, of which the group decided to continue on with touring, but make it their last.

On the same day as Beckin's death, the remaining four members released a minute and a half long statement, announcing that the band's ninth studio album and their upcoming tour would still see the light of day, but both of which being their last. Each member took turns talking throughout the statement:

> *Moolman:* "None of us would have ever expected to make a statement regarding something as tragic as this, but we felt it was best to do so. In case you're unaware of what has happened, earlier today, we lost our fellow member David Beckin in a car collision at just thirty-two years of age. The news of his death have shocked not only us, but many of you who from all around the world who listened to our music, as we were planning to kick off our back tour in ten days."
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> *S. Hawkeye:* "Beckin was not just a friend to us, but also a fellow member and a key importance for reddish silver regarding songwriting and music. We feel that we can't continue without him. For those who are curious, yes, we're still going to tour as originally planned. However, this tour will be dedicated to his memory and once the last concert is over, that's it."
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> *Goldberg:* "Regarding the final concert, which will be held in Tokyo in 2024, we will end it off with an entire performance of our upcoming ninth studio album, which will release afterwards. This album is as of the time of recording largely incomplete, but with the help the fellow collaborators Ava Hamilton and Garrett Tindian, we will be able to complete it."
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> *M. Hawkeye:* "We do have a backup touring member to replace Beckin, whom we will reveal at our first concert. But aside from that, we would like to thank everyone for listening to our music. We would like to thank everyone for all of the condolences regarding Beckin, and for keeping him and his family in your thoughts. Aside from that, this is all of us signing off."
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#### Release of "Mandalay" and announcement of In Tribute (24 December 2023)

On the group's third studio album, Wonders of the World, the short track One Chance, one of many examples of the bands interlude tracks, can be found around the middle of the album. The forty-eight second clip was supposed to be a preview of an upcoming song, Mandalay, due to be fully released on what was their planned fourth studio album. Mandalay was originally going to be included on the album, until the band felt it did not fit it, instead favouring "previewing" it during the originally planned instrumental interlude. The now scrapped album, titled ***UNЯEQUITED***, would've talked about topics such as unrequited love. Mandalay, which is about the life of a depressed man post-breakup, was the only song ever recorded for the album before the last minute decision to shelve the album was made following the sudden departure of lead guitarist Zander Goldberg.

In One Chance (Interlude), twenty seconds of the song, part of its fourth verse, is played before it slowly bleeds into a synth instrumental played by Steven Hawkeye that eventually segues into the next track on Wonders of the World, The First Advance. With the UNЯEQUITED album now being scrapped, and with liner notes listing that One Chance contained a twenty second preview of the upcoming album, fans speculated that a full version existed, with even the band themselves playing Mandalay live during a concert in Mandalay, Myanmar in 2010.

The full version of Mandalay was released as a single on Christmas Eve 2023, with Goldberg stating their intention of including it somewhere on their final album, which he revealed the title to be ***In Tribute***, due to be released the same day as their final concert.

## Concerts and tours

Reddish Silver is known to have performed in several nations during their tours, even reaching places such as North Korea, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, and Iran. As of 13 April 2014, before the events of the roleplay world, Reddish Silver performed in 148 of the 197 sovereign states, including all of Europe and Oceania as well as nearly all of Asia, with plans on performing in every single one of them. The band also planned to perform in unrecognized nations such as Somaliland, Abkhazia, Transnistria, and others. When questioned why the group has performed in so many countries, drummer Michael Moolman stated, "We honestly like travelling the world. Myself and the other members of the band have also all been fascinated with different cultures around the world, and would love to learn more about them and see how they go on with their daily lives."

## Band members

### Official members

Reddish Silver was for the vast majority of its existence a quartet. The group briefly became a trio in 2009 following the departure of rhythm guitarist Zander Goldberg, but was back to a quartet in fall of that same year with the addition to M. Hawkeye. Since there were two Hawkeyes in the group, they were referred to by the first letter of their first name plus their full surname (i.e. Steven Hawkeye was called *S. Hawkeye* and Matthew *M. Hawkeye*). The band became a quintet in 2023 shortly after reforming with the return of Goldberg.

* Zander Goldberg – lead guitar, vocals (2006 - 2009 ‧ 2023 - present)
* Steven Hawkeye\* – keyboards, synthesizers, clavinet (2006 - present)
* Michael Moolman – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2006 - present)
* Matthew Hawkeye – rhythm guitar and formerly lead guitar (2009 - present)

\* *Hawkeye does provide some vocal contribution to the group. He shares lead vocals on "Time", and sings backing vocals on the band's songs "Isn't It Midnight" and "Mystified", both of which are sung by Eva Hamilton, released in 2013 and 2023, respectively. He also provides the spoken words on the band's tracks "One of These Days" (from Wonders of the World), "Back" and "Final Message" (both from Back).*

### Touring members

Reddish Silver added Eva Hamilton, who was at the time vocalist David Beckin's girlfriend, to the touring members list in 2007 after her previous contributions to some of Reddish Silver's older tracks. She also sings occasional lead vocals on some of their newer songs. Prince Ncube is the band's most recently added touring member, added in October 2023 following the death of Beckin.

* Eva Hamilton - vocals, occasional tambourine (2007 - present)
* Garrett Tindyen - vocals ("Gravy Train", "Chinese Eyes"), rhythm guitar (2023 - present) Fills in for Matthew Hawkeye during concerts
* Prince Ncube - vocals (all of David Beckin lead songs), bass guitar (2023 - present)

### Former members

* David Beckin – bass guitar, vocals (2006 - 2023; died 2023)

## Discography

Reddish Silver has released eight full length studio albums and three extended plays. They currently have one upcoming full length studio album.

### Studio albums

*The Debut* (2006)

*Two* (2007)

*Wonders of The World* (2009)

*The Fourth Dimension* (2010)

*No Guarantees* (2012)

*Watching the Sunset* (2013)

*Thank You/VII\** (2014)

*Back* (2023)

*In Tribute* (2024)

### Extended plays

*I* (2007)

*II* (2009)

*III* (2012)

*\* Later pressings of the album from 2023 and beyond are titled under the name **VII**. These pressings also remove the spoken message from Steven Hawkeye at the end and merge "The Finale" and "Thank You" into one track.*

## Albums

### No Guarantees (2012)

All tracks on No Guarantees were co-written by all four members of Reddish Silver at the time. All lead vocals are sung by David Beckin.

## Trivia

* The band is a parody of many rock bands, primarily Pink Floyd. Each member of the band represents a Pink Floyd member. Matthew Hawkeye, David Beckin, Steven Hawkeye, and Michael Moolman each represent David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, respectively.