THE FUSE

“In 1988 I ran away from being conscripted into the apartheid army and fled to London,” says Bassline founder Brad Holmes. “There I worked as a waiter, six days a week, 10 hours a day, for several years in a fancy restaurant that played jazz all the time, which turned me onto the genre. I flew home within days of Nelson Mandela being released from jail and started to see opportunity. There was a massive desire among people back then to break down the barriers of apartheid, and an intimate jazz spot was a perfect way to fuel that.”