Volume 35 Number 09 - University of the Witwatersrand

TAIUC.'lbraggs,In our last edition we lookedat 6Void. This week, as part ofour exploration of SouthAfrican music, we interviewthe former Pett Frog.Ilack in l9ll0. whcn Punk rvasgiving way to ne$ \r':l\,e. twofresh-faced high school kids gottogether and f'ormed a band. Thel'ilst of their nunterous problemswas the choice o1'a namc.'Well, rvc wcre sitting roundlhe poltl ottc Salttrda.r allcrn()r)ntrl'ing desperatelv to think ol aname befbrc rve plavcd thatnight. Somconc suggcstcd'PctFrog' (thc othc-r''t' bcing addcdonly later), and being so absurd.rve chose it.'Nou'. thrcc vears ()n. [)cttFrog has finallv croaked.Pett Frog was a concept. Withnone of the band rnembershaving an'"' formal musicaltraining(savc,{ndv Cragg who had abit of classical trainins). thciralm was to gct up on stage anclsay: 'Hev look! Wc're .just likeyou. We're not speciaiizedmusicians. I1'uc can makepeoplc listcn and dancc. then strcan !'ou.' lt is ri ithin this casual.amateur (r'et not unprotessional)make-up that \\e look back atPett Frog.We rvere speaking to AndrCraggs (grritarist) and BertrandMout()n (Sar). 'l he trlhsl nrcrnbersot the band being.lohnLcrden (Bass) (rro connccti()n t()Rotten). and John I-lo1 d 1Pg1-cussio n )..lohn Lloyd and llerrrandstarted things uilh hearv punkand new wavc influences. Inl9tll And1, .joined at'tcr havingplay'ed in a rock ba nd inSwitzerland and .lohn Lcydcncamc in on rht'thnt guitar andbass. At the cnd of 'll I rh*dccrdcd thel necded a rocalisr.Brian I-ittle sang 1'or them lor 6nrrrnlhs hrrl nt'rson;tlil\ (.r;t\nr'\outon,group. Horvevcr. hc inllLtcnccdthe m rvith his Reggae Ska backgrouncl(har.ing plal,ed forr,arious Reggae bands). -l-hevthen tried a lguralc vocalistAnthea Schael'fer. but thc bandfclt slie u as unsuitable as she'rct-used lo nl()\'c around onslage', so she lasted for -just -inr()nths. I hc band tlrcn bcsan tcrlocus ort rnstruntcntal c()ntpositionsI hc band has aluavs bccn ahobbt ol thc rnernbcrs but thcdar ro dar runnir.rg o1'thc band iel'inding antl organizing gigt.financi:rl ncgoliating eic $'asirnrlossible to orr.raniz c:rsuallvln lact. as studcnts (3 ol thc4 ol'thern arc at Wits). incy firund theltrlmini:lrltliott :idt t,rrr tirtirruand so. thcr'.joined Progrcssrrc[)roductions. I hev lclt Progrcssireto be 'erploitati\e'andrcalizcd that big companicd arcnot intcrcsted in South Alricanbands. .l hev arc onll' lntcrestedin thc'comntercial institutions'such as.luluka. Kekana. Hotlincctc.Institution\\'hat docs thc band lecl abourn()t being one of' thesc'institutions'.'Well. at f irsr rvc crrt isaged the'hright lights' lirr thc band. We*ere offered gigs rvith PctcrTosh. I)uran l)Lrran )()uname it. But rr he n all lillthr-ough and rve had been connedsc\cral Ilntcs. ue bcgan trptintlirl sclt-rirtislaction in:tcad olcorr.rrncrcralrstn. ( ntaking moren'ronev ir.r'lt3). Ihis cannot bel bsolutc though \'ou havc tobc innorative and interestingnithin thc lramnvork ol u,hat ispopular!'-I-heband u,ere. appropliatelr'.going to call their'first rclcase'CommercialSLricide'. Horvcver.'on recommendatiorr' thet optedIor lhe ntrtrc nlrr.trilrnt'The Resfcrrmmercial'No.suicide lor thcnt'lwe onlv cut I 000 l_Ps 1ata cost of R2 500 - hall ol'rvhat'u'e anticipated) and it'll be t'ine ifrrc only sell .300 or so. The thingthat mattercd to us in the endwas the piece ol black vinylrvirerebl to-fheremember our music.novelty of having a releaseoverrides the financial rewards.ls there political comment onthe track A Part o.f Hate writtenby John Leyden?'We've always kept our vocalsin the background as complementaryto melody and harmony.We generally riiC thisbccause rve can't sing. notbecause we were too afraid to.So. r.r'hile some ol our lyrics canbc classified as social comment.the band was not a vehicle forpolitical opinion. So fewnrusicians are actually well informedenough to make socialcontment. Many South Africanbands are political in ordcr to betrendy and appease theiraudiences. bl giving eachdit'f'erent audiencc what ir wanrsto hear. and not due to truer:on r"ict ion.'We're also quite scared ol'bcing labelled. Critics are soquick to label. Our song. Kwelainitialli' a black nunrtrer \\'rrttenin 1965. has bccome known asour'l-oken black' song. can vouhelicr c rt'.t I he morc l orr ,rrr.-thctrlrrre labels _\'ou get. As it i:. ourcritics hate us lor nol har ing anrformal musical backgroLrnd']'ou guys aren't trained. . . . andit shorvs!"Did this lack of formaltraining affcct their music'l'Well. we never wrote downa nl of our songs. We playedlrorri me mor\'. We created musicb1' haling eaclt person composing{irr thcir narrii.ular inslrument.and then Andv and John[-et,den composed Iirics lbr it.-T#uuall listening to slmrtar musrcThe Cure. Gang ol 4 . .. butrecentlv our musical interestsbecame reallv diverse. Wc alldercloped in dilfcrent directrons.Inlluences ranged from'l'alk Talk and Echo and theBunnymen (Lloyd) to Level 42(Leyden) to the Clash (Bertrand)to Haircut 100 (Andy). The Cureremains our only common influence.Was this in any way a reasonlor -\'our ler,elling-olT iast vcarand apparcnt break-uo'lYes, to a large extent itaffected our composing. Alsoslncc we -joined [,rogressrvcwe've stopped progressing (!)which is realll,disheartening. Wctried a lot ol ncn' things yetnothing reallv worked. Also a lotof'the good music venue such asthe Selbourne Hall have closeddown. Thcrc are also a whole lotol things wrong at the open airtype concerts rvhich irritated us.Oltcn people aren't allowcd todancc because blacki whitedancing is forbiddcn. Audiencesare otten incredibll, aparhetic.which deters entrepeneurs. Westill really en joy plal,ing or) \rageand rvon't say no to gigs. butrealistically, we'll probablyncrcr plal again.So where to from here'lWell, Flash Harrv wanls tosnap up John Lcyden and Antiris scmi-involved wirh GarritDeacon who produced The Rest.Actually rve're all feeling prcttlrelieved at not having to contrnuallyrun of[ to praclicc\.So another innovative SorrthAfrican band will disappearfrom the local scenc. Althougi,thev nray gig again (rvhich isunlikell'). they have essenriallybrokcn up.. But let's hope lher.their purpose. and dedicatron asan untrained band that.rrrrtcetletl,ser!e as an example 1o