Rock

I grew up with classic music and LM Radio, so I easily move among music genres.

In 1990 I formed a band, called 2B2, for the first ever rock festival in which songs were sung mainly in the Afrikaans language. Those were the days when apartheid was still policy, and any non-middle of the road pop was regarded as evil or part of a communist plot.

Today we laugh at such rubbish. In those days many of our music and other talents were suppressed by being prevented from opportunities to perform on platforms that were open only to the status quo.

Some of us prostituted our music in order to survive. Some stayed true and suffered the consequences (mainly financial). I chose another career.

Here is a pre-show publicity press photo from the newspaper Beeld with some of the Houtstok performers -- at that stage my band had not been formed.

Some musicians performing at Houtstok
(from left to right) Jacques Steyn, Richard van der Westhuizen, Lochner de Kock, Joost Tonteldoos, Piet Botha, Someone, Anton Goosen (prostrated)

I quickly put together a band with great and talented musicians: we put together a 30 minute gig after only 4 evening rehearsals, and we were pretty tight (hear for yourself on the CD) even though we played only my own original compositions which the other band members never heard before.

The outfit consisted of

Brian Schwarz: drums
Jacques Steyn: vocals, keyboards
Deon Karstel: Bass
Kay Brugge: Guitar

2B2

(from left to right) Brian, Jacques, Deon, Kay

A Houtstok vinyl album and later a CD were released. Two of our numbers are included:

In die middle van die nag
(In the middle of the night)
Die dood se snaar
(The string of death)

Here are the front and back covers of the CD:

After the festival there was a Houtstok Tour consisting of Anton Goosen's Kommisie van Ondersoek, Piet Botha's Jackhammer, and 2B2. We even had a jol in the village Clarens in the Maluti Mountains (Free State) with a marvelous turnout.

2B2 also did the club scene. Amont other gigs, we shared a gig with the reggae outift of Carlos Djedje:

(from left to right) Carlos Djedje, Moses Baloyi (Carlos' manager), Jacques Steyn, Sello Motshekga (Malidadi)
-- the other 2B2 guys weren't available for the photo shoot.

More recently I have played keys for Rock-n-blues outfits such as Undercover Blues Band, and Stormy Monday.

Stormy Monday

Click to enlarge