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Sludge Underground Podcast

Sludge Underground Podcast

Your number one portal to South Africa’s most must-see emerging bands & creatives. We host super chilled interviews with local musicians in a bid to help you discover the best of them before anyone else. We also occasionally chat to established musos for music industry insights. Join us on this riveting journey highlighting the gritty and alternative musical corners of South Africa

Recent Episodes

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Has The South African Artist Skill Floor Gotten Higher?
April 23, 2025

Has The South African Artist Skill Floor Gotten Higher?

This weeks Wacken Metal Battle Finalist is Hiraeth. A modern melodic metal band from Johannesburg South Africa who are back from a hiatus and ready to take on the South African scene with a new lineup. Join in as we chat abou...
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Kenya's Irony Destroyed Take On The Wacken Metal Battle Sub-Saharan Africa Finals
April 22, 2025

Kenya's Irony Destroyed Take On The Wacken Metal Battle Sub-Saharan Africa Finals

This week Marcel has a chat with Lenny of Irony Destroyed. A metalcore band hailing from Nairobi Kenya. Join in as they chat about the kenyan scene, the challenges they face as an extremely niche genre, as well as being so ge...
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Botswana Brings Tswanian Black Metal To South Africa
April 15, 2025

Botswana Brings Tswanian Black Metal To South Africa

Next up in our line of interviewing each of the Wacken Metal Battle Sub-Saharan Africa finalist we have Raven In Flesh. A Tswanian black metal band hailing from Botswana's legendary metal scene. Join in as Marcel dives into t...
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Can One Cape Town Band Take A Hilux To Germany?
April 6, 2025

Can One Cape Town Band Take A Hilux To Germany?

Wacken Metal Battle Finalists Halvar share their thoughts on having the chance to represent South Africa at Wacken Open Air in Germany along with the bands origins to get a bar tab at the Aandklas battle of the bands. Explore...
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What If Wrong Turn Was A Metal Band
March 19, 2025

What If Wrong Turn Was A Metal Band

Ep384: Dive into a chat with the winners of the Room 2 heat of the Wacken Metal Battle Sub-Saharren Africa. Find out how one conceptulizes a hillbilly slam band, How one makes a banjo guitar, and what their experiences have b...
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How This Cape Town Metal Band Is Bending The Genre
March 10, 2025

How This Cape Town Metal Band Is Bending The Genre

EP383: Cape Towns Ill System is often described as Linkin Park with bongo's. Join in as they dive into their Origins, style of music, and the manyu injuries their vocalist hass sustained over the course of the bands career. E...
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Recent Blog Posts

IN REVIEW: METRO VILLA - ‘LIVE AT THE TWO OCEANS AQUARIUM’
March 7, 2025

IN REVIEW: METRO VILLA - ‘LIVE AT THE TWO OCEANS AQUARIUM’

Metro Villa share their soft side with debut album, ‘Live at the Two Oceans Aquarium’. Recorded in October 2024, as part of Texx and the City's annual 'After Dark' series, the set is soothing. A total tone shift, the seven songs explore …

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Lungelo Manzi’s Journal Entries 2: A Scintillating Return
March 4, 2025

Lungelo Manzi’s Journal Entries 2: A Scintillating Return

Lungelo Manzi returns from a brief hiatus with Journal Entries 2, a 6 song EP exploring faith, hope, and love through personal experience and hindsight. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, its soothing sound might leave some wanting more, but cons…

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Your Cynical Sanity Stuns Fans with Surprise New Project
Dec. 31, 2024

Your Cynical Sanity Stuns Fans with Surprise New Project

In a surprise release on Monday, December 30th, 2025, Durban-based heavyweights Your Cynical Sanity dropped their latest project, 'Anhedonic.' This album delivers a dark and aggressive exploration of deathcore, born from the harsh realities and stru…

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About the Hosts

Nasiphi Zwane Profile Photo

Nasiphi Zwane

Founder

Nasiphi is the founder of Sludge Underground. He started the podcast in 2016. He hosts, edits & mixes the majority of the episodes, shoots & edits any visual content, designs & manages all Sludge social media pages & more

Meagan King Profile Photo

Meagan King

Host

Meagan is one half of reclusive duo from Johannesburg, Lemon Dove & she jumped on the show during lockdown 2020. In addition to hosting & curating episodes like WOMANITY, 5 Years of Sludge, Goodbye 2021/Hello 2022 & more, she also edits episodes, co-produces some of the music you hear within our content, structures the annual schedule & more. She also made these beautiful illustrations of us

Marcel Smuts Profile Photo

Marcel Smuts

Host

Marcel has been involved from the very first episode back in 2016. He is the guitarist of Thorns Of Ivory and has a booming YouTube channel. He generally hosts and edits some of the band/alt episodes

Andile Lunathi Phila Mathonsi Profile Photo

Andile Lunathi Phila Mathonsi

Host

Lunathi joined Sludge in 2018 and he is a rap artist under The Remedy. He’s also a language practitioner by profession & hosts some of the Hip-Hop episodes

John Allen Marks [Jeronimoh] Profile Photo

John Allen Marks [Jeronimoh]

Musician

Musician, Composer, Audio Mixing Engineer

Reviews

Awesome pod about creatives!

"Really fun and joyous listen!"

Mxsandy12 | April 6, 2022

Love it

"I love finding and discovering new talent and I’m so glad I found this show. 10/10 would recommend for finding new artists out of the norm."

The bustinator | March 9, 2022

Awesomeness

"Best podcast in Durban. They’ve been consistent!!"

Zamarati | May 4, 2022

Great

"Great content. The best in Durban without a doubt!"

Nhla👣 | Nov. 3, 2020

Incredible

"Thoroughly enjoy tuning in & learning all about the artists & creatives that make up the global music scene. Stoked they also get some of South Africa’s best to tell their stories as well, especially…"

Tee🐝 | Sept. 8, 2020

Thank you

"Thank you Sir for Holding South Africa down, it might not show, but the streets are listening"

L Zuma | May 20, 2020

Rad rad rad.

"I dove deep into this podcast the last few weeks. I learn something new each time and I’m so delighted to hear the passion for the local music scene in each episode. You guys have a seamless blen…"

Herm Cronje | July 4, 2022

Top tier

"It's great! In-depth discussions with artists while keeping things chill and friendly. Kinda like being a fly on the wall when a couple of mates get together to discuss music. I never used to engage …"

Archer | Sept. 9, 2022

Werner Bekker

"I love it. The whole concept is great. I loved that I could speak my mind and felt really comfortable to say anything I felt like. The hosts also did a stellar job with their research and asked quest…"

Werner Bekker | Sept. 9, 2022

Review of my podcast with Sludge Underground

"It was an honour to do my first ever podcast with the special Sludge Underground team . I was interviewed by Nasiphi in his car and it was an amazing moment for me , just talking about everything fro…"

Pegg | Sept. 9, 2022

10/10

"100% authentic.. great content!👌🏾 Keep up the amazing work guys!"

Sibonelo Shange | Sept. 15, 2022

Wonderful Experience

"I love how well prepared and passionate the hosts are. It feels like they really did their homework before entering the interview. Allowing for incredible insights, chats and laughs."

Yabo | July 28, 2023

Best alternative music podcast in the country

"Sludge Underground really sets the standard for intellectual podcasts in South Africa. The brand is strong and the content has steadily improved with no signs of slowing down. The diverse array of ar…"

The Big Manooza | July 30, 2023

KZN Gatecrashers tour quickies

"extremely professional work done from the sludge crew! Brynn brought the vibes with his exceptional interview skills, the editing on the quickies was just the best thing! Hanging with the crew was g…"

Ruan du Preez - Handpicked Heathens | Jan. 27, 2025
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