In the age of the internet, everything that came before has been relegated to a reference — the changing of styles, trends, sounds and taste arises and dissolves faster than ever before — and when you grow up on a diet of something that mimics the digital library of Alexandria, how the hell does one even choose who to be, what to explore, what to become? For a self-described boy band with its origin story in Krugersdorp; these questions are irrelevant. Creatively fixated on whatever they can get their hands on, Internet Girl is a sonic act that sums up its era. Their genre is difficult to situate, drawing on lineages of punk, grunge and hip hop, cradled by the refined and highly technical production available today — this is a trio more interested in exploration than being defined by any single category or distinction. 

Internet Girl began as a brainchild between lead vocalist Ntstika ‘TK’ Bungane and producer Matthew ‘Neese’ Burgess, with James ‘Griggs’ Smith joining later. The childhood friends grew up in West Rand in Johannesburg, in an extremely conservative town in Gauteng, South Africa —a few kilometres away from the place infamous for its history of ‘satanic panic’ and symbolic of the stifling mechanics of small town expectations, religious South Africa. As the band explains in our conversation, the name ‘Internet Girl’ was forged over a meal at Rocomamas, and at the time spoke to the bands earliest indie, ‘love song’ sound, and as Matthew says, “we were making music for chronically online internet girls. Though, that didn’t last long but the name stuck.”

‘FAMILY VALUES’ photographed by Ghilian

Since then, Internet Girl has undergone an intense metamorphosis, with the band becoming the perfect storm between a bedroom-founded musical act, to a well managed, highly curated creative force. “Me and Tk have been making music for a while, since high school,” says Matthew and, “we were making different kinds of music before switching over and refining our sound. We changed our name to Internet Girl but we didn’t have James yet. We were trying to make guitar based music without a guitarist, and James had posted himself playing guitar over the music we had put out – very early on, no one knew who we were – and it was really cool. We invited him over to Pretoria, and he stayed in my little digs room for two or three weeks” 

James recalls, “Yeah, it was two weeks in Matt’s little room and me and TK crashing on the floor—we really wanted to make this shit work.” Matthew adds, “And my girlfriend was there too, so there were four of us. We connected really quickly, became friends really quickly, and the dynamic worked really well. Then we signed a deal not so long after that and moved to Cape Town, which I guess is when things really started.” The rest is history and the three band members feel as close to brothers as one might hope, with a shared vision and ability to speak and create in the same terms. 

When the hand of fate extended itself to the band very early on, it took them by surprise and getting signed so early on projected the momentum that Internet Girl is now immersed in. As TK reflects, “We had actually built a cult fan base beforehand, even before James joined. Then, after James came on board, we released a song that landed on Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlist. A record label from LA found us, and it was so funny—initially, we were like, ‘Okay, we’ll only take R10k,’ and they ended up offering ten times that!”

Matthew adds, “It was a small deal, nothing crazy, but it gave us the foundation to kick off our careers.” James notes that, “It felt like it came all of a sudden, but everything has been continuous since then. It didn’t come easy because it’s always about the years leading up to that—the years of building.”

There’s something about Internet Girl that pulls at multiple threads of nostalgia embedded in my sonic worldview. Somewhere between the experimental, strange realm of Death Grips or the collaborative act of Brockhampton, Internet Girl similarly feels like a project in experimentation, though with a firm suffusion of familiar pop sounds, the energised and defiant pace of punk and the apathetic, subversive twang of grunge. Traditionally, punk and grunge (two sounds born from each other) sought refuge in the extremely lo-fi, makeshift realm of sound production. To be polished was antithetical to the DIY ethos of the subcultural sentiments that emanated from the two sounds. Somehow, Internet Girl are sublimating these sounds through a highly-stylised lens and — really fucking making it work. 

There’s something about this day and age that makes anything well and truly possible.

On defining their sound, TK explains that “it’s so hard because I feel like we change everyday. There’s always new artists or sounds that we identify with. Basically – it’s the internet that informs it. It’s where we find ourselves, and there’s always something fresh or new to be found on the internet that we can reference or develop from,”  and Matthew shares that, “the internet has taken away the boundary between genres. It’s made access to different sounds so much easier, so before – I think people were into what they were into. Now, you can find anything and it can influence the way you make music. We all grew up with different influences. I was very into electronic and dance music and that really comes into our sound, a lot of trap and a lot of hip hop, and a lot of guitar music – what our parents would have listened to. Over time, we’ve learned to combine that. I don’t know what to call it but I don’t think it really matters.” 

“Yeah, the sound is a byproduct of growing up online and growing up with instant access to everything at all times,” James explains, and that “there’s not really a word that describes our sound yet. We want to get to a point where we can get on a hip hop stage, and do the same at a rock show – all the while providing something totally left of field.”

Stills from ‘BOSS’ music, photographed by Imraan Christian

Critical to Internet Girl — and critical to this moment in creative expression — their visuals are a big, big deal. I haven’t seen something quite so articulated or refined from a South African band in a long time, and it is clear that Internet Girl understands the necessity of a visual impact, or to be crude in the music sense, the power of ‘branding’. Gone are the days when we pretend that the greatest performers aren’t the result of a team of creatives, designers, and strategists shaping every element of their public persona. It’s great to see Internet Girl doing this, and retaining every ounce of authenticity that their band was founded upon. 

On their visual direction, and in particular reference to their video ‘Pull Up’, TK exclaims, “shout out to Royd! He directed that video and he does most of our socials. We used to go to school with him since grade 5 – Matthew and I — he’s been a big fan of the band and grown with us, so we’re kinda lucky with that. It makes it easier to develop a look and visual world with someone that gets us and sees us,” with Matthew adding that, “It’s so important these days to have a visual world that people can connect to. Our visuals are just as important to us as our sound. Growing up with Royd, we speak the same language creatively.”

James points out, “Yeah, it’s also about conceptual ambition. We want to really try to look at something and be able to take an idea to a new place.” Matthew furthers this, saying “we love to find the seed. FAMILY VALUES is a great example. We wanted this concept where it’s a traditional family home, TK’s this traditional ‘man of the house’ figure, and it’s kind of ironic and tongue-in-cheek, and that’s the seed — and then we bring it to our team, who helps us develop it further. When we’re making music, we are constantly thinking about how we want it to look.” Sometimes, the band explains to me, the visual world is built first and the song comes after — a play on the process that shows just how intertwined their creativity is across mediums.

With a song arriving visually beforehand, Internet Girl’s ethos of dissolving boundaries are also a play on the senses; with eyes to see, sounds to hear and formats to transcend. “That’s always been the MO with me and Matt,” says TK. “We come from a conservative town and we were always the black sheep. We always wanted to be different and make a name for ourselves — create something that was bigger than us or where we come from. I guess that will always be our vision.” James adds, “I think the three of us are interested in tastemaking, if you know what I mean? Shaping what becomes popular, especially what comes out of Africa. We want to show that you don’t have to sound a specific way and that you can really hold your own as an African artist doing this left-field shit.”

In light of their new song release, ‘BOSS’ and their first international tour (to Rennes and Paris, no less and followed by Cape Town and Joburg), Internet Girl are figuring out ‘FAMILY VALUES’. As the title of the tour, I’m reminded of Courtney Love’s scrawled epitaph of ‘family values’ on her tummy in a family portrait with her and Kurt Cobain and their daughter, Frances. A defiant PR stunt to stave off the media frenzy that surrounded their controversial, grunge-pioneering position in the early 90s. Matthew explains, of this conceptual seed, that “Family Values uses our upbringing as a reference — the town we grew up in, where the values were very much around going to church, getting married, having children and so on. Strangely, it really aligned with the US elections and this conservative swing and red wave that’s happening. TK is depicted as this ‘traditional man’ trope with the big rifle, the trophy wife and so on,” and James notes that “yeah and it’s ironic in that way. Even with the whole conservative thing, it’s a reinterpretation of it.” 

Following the success of their June 2024 Role Model release and the band’s commitment to themes of rebellion, anti-heroism, and self-discovery, the Family Values Tour comes off the back of the six-track EP that has amassed millions of streams globally. The South African leg of the tour will feature performances from local acts including Brotherkupa, Neese (Matthew’s solo act), Twenty One Children, Franadilla, Tactix, and Cistamatic —  with TK sharing that “we really wanted a show that is ours and features people that we think are cool — and we really want to make something that’s a little different. There’s so many cool artists here doing left-field shit and Family Values is just another place for people to see that.”

Internet Girl are already a big deal, and I think they’re heading for something stratospheric. Knowing who you and what you want is half the battle and the rest is just work — and the trio have an ethic to match, and a team that pushes them further and further each time. James says, “we’ll keep shaping the music, having fun, and writing songs for our friends,” and TK adds, “this is the first end of year that we’re going in with a timeline and a plan.”

Matthew concludes it simply, “we want to be one of the biggest acts to come out of the country. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and develop the visual world even more. We have a really strong team right now, all sharing a common goal. We’re just going to work hard and see where it goes. I think things are going to be good.”

FAMILY VALUES TOUR DATES:

7 December 2024 – Rennes, France

8 December 2024 – Paris, France

31 January 2025 –  Johannesburg, Sognage

1 February 2025  – Cape Town, Alley 

Tickets for the Family Values Tour are available HERE

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Written by Holly Beaton

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