Brett Bellairs is a man of many hats. Lead guitarist for Cape Town-based punk rock band LLSO, when he’s not shredding the strings and screaming back-up vocals to renditions of Rancid’s “Time Bomb”, Brett manages and curates 131 A Gallery – a contemporary art gallery – in Woodstock. Arguably Cape Town’s most successful indie gallery, 131 A Gallery features artists like Kirsten Sims, Michael Amery and The Mission’s very own editor-at-large Conrad Botes. Aside from selling art and fingering guitars, Brett makes the time to hassle the resident carp and bass at the local university dam and the elusive leervis in the less rancid sections of Zandvlei estuary.  

LISTEN TO BRETT’S PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

Tell us about your home waters. 

In the last couple of years I’ve become a bit of a Vlei (Zandvlei estuary) Rat in the summer months. Who doesn’t love the tug of a chunky leerie? In the other seasons I mostly try and get out on the Cape streams, to secret bass dams in the Elgin area. and to get stuck into the carp and bass action at the University of Cape Town’s dam five minutes from my home. I also try to get out to the Tankwa Karoo once a year or so, when work/life permits. 

Did you ever think that A) you’d be the lead guitarist of a punk rock band, B) run one of Cape Town’s best indie art galleries, or C) be “man who eats boerewors roll” halfway through an Orange River video by The Mission? 

B) The gallery stemmed from doing a bit of side-hustle art dealing around 10 years ago when my old magazine business wasn’t making enough money to make ends meet. An art collector mate had a vacant retail unit in Woodstock and 131 A Gallery was born. It’s been six years now and the business has grown massively, currently taking up most of my time. 

JOIN THE CULT OF FLY FISHING

C) I’m never going to live that one down, am I? I’ve always been crazy into fishing. I think it’s a gene that you are born with. You either fish or you don’t get it at all. I started fly fishing when I grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and my dad was getting into it. When I was about nine or 10 he used to take me to Kamberg, the Mooi River and a few other spots, mostly to keep me out of trouble at home. I was helluva naughty. I had a bit of a break for 10 years when I moved to Cape Town in 2001, and then rediscovered my passion for fly fishing after being coaxed back into it by Bod (The Mission’s art director).  

What are your musical influences?  

I listen to quite a wide variety of genres of music, ranging from jazz, hip hop and blues to older punk rock, ska music and have even been known to delve into a bit of old-school metal and drum and bass. I do most of the songwriting in the band I’m in and I’d say our main musical influences are Rancid, The Clash, The English Beat and Motörhead. 

Brett Bellairs was featured in issue 52 of The Mission fly fishing magazine. Read the full thing below for free, forever!