Squonk wrote:
Do you have any of those strange memory flashbacks where you get a memory that you haven't entertained for years.
I had one yesterday
Pierre de Charmoy and in particular the song "Live on" and this got me into a whole nostlagic trip thinking about our Local scene long years ago especially the 80's(My favourite Decade....not)
I boast that I don't assign memories to music, that I don't like music because of any nostalgic links, but it ain't entirely true. I can never hear Elton John's "Daniel" without a very specific memory coming into my mind. Ditto The Clash's "All Lost In The Supermarket." That's not why I like or dislike those songs - but the memories are triggered every time. I'll leave you wondering....
Oh.. and "Blue Jeans" by David Dundas, which I don't like and seldom hear and am happy not to hear but always triggers a recall of standing in a specific bungalow in O Company lines at 5 SAI in Ladysmith.
But other than those....
Neil Solomon and the Passengers/ Uptown Rhythm Dogs - In the Year 2000
Robin Auld
Fallimg Mirror
Celtic Rumours
The Helicopters
Dog Detachment
Ellamental
Evoid
Flash Harry
No friends of Harry
Petit Cheval
Peach
Psycho Reptiles
SweatBand
Via Afrika
The Asylum Kids
etc etc etc
I am sure there are many more. I am not saying I enjoyed all these artists, but they were trying to make a difference at the time.
One of my favourite events were the "Wits free people concerts", in the early 80's I saw a very young Johnny Clegg and Jaluka on the same bill as Evoid, it was good stuff.
What happened to all these people? ???
Some of them are still going.
Robbi Robb of Asylum Kids is still working as a musician in the USA. His band is still called Tribe After Tribe, but he is involved in some other projects including one with the bass player from Pearl Jam. Dino Archondakis, bass player for The Kids, is also living in the USA and did some work with Robbi a while back.
Robin Auld still records and plays - and has a following in the folk clubs of England.
Tim Parr, I believe, runs a studio and does a lot of movie soundtrack work.
I was close to some of that action for a while in the late 70s. I remember eVoid when they were just called "Void" and had recently arrived from Zimbabwe and were doing a sort of Jimi Hendrix schtick. You had to be careful what you said about Flash Harry because main man "Keith Berel" (not his real name) was a dentist and would probably have been kicked out by the SAMDC if they found out that one of their number was playing rock 'n roll for a bunch of dagga smoking takhare.
Those were dangerous times. The Asylum Kids used to believe that the security police were trailing them and disrupting their shows. I wasn't sure wether to believe them or not, although there were some strange incidents - things that made you go "hmmmmm". Then during the TRC hearings an ex cop stood up and told how he'd been assigned to follow Roger Lucey around and generally interfere in his career at every turn. So then I revisited my views on Robbi Robb and what I'd dismissed as paranoia.
For me Roger Lucey was one of the finest songwriters and performers to come out of SA. I saw him in the early 90s, playing with Johnny Blundell, not playing the sort of political songs that made him infamous, and he was SOOOO good, but by then his career had been comprehensively ruined and he would never regain the lost momentum.
I always admired James Phillips and the way he grew as a player and as a songwriter. He was a massive spark to Afrikaans rock music in SA. James had a reputation as a layabout, but he worked very hard at improving himself as a musician - even enrolling for and completing a BMus.
Some of the best live shows I ever saw were courtesy of The Genuines and Bright Blue. I have The Genuines first (only?) LP at home and should get it converted to CD.
I would love for Lloyd Ross of Shifty Records to write his memoirs. He must have some stories to tell. And really there should be a monument erected to that guy - a whole lot of music and musicians would have never even have been blips to disappear off of the radar if not for him.
There was an excellent book/DVD set about the Voelvry Toer. I have that at home. It's remarkable now to look back and see what a stir those guys caused.
