Karien du Plessis, Roof Bezuidenhout se skoonsuster, het in 2007 saam met die band in Roof se diesel Toyota Condor Mosambiek toe gery. Die band moes soontoe ry om by die Strab rock festival op te tree. Karien lewer met ‘n skerp sin vir ironie verslag oor die trip – in pynlike detail, wat die band eintlik in ‘n baie slegte lig stel. Hulle het verdwaal en was bitter amper laat vir die set wat hulle moes speel. Dis onder protes dat die stuk hier geplaas word, maar as die band se bestuur het ons ook ‘n sê. Of hoe? Lees die hele stuk, want dis regtig snaaks. Die meisie wat Ockert in die bar ontmoet het, is waarskynlik Liz, die Kanadees met wie hy uiteindelik getrou het.
Die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes is waarskynlik een van die min Afrikaanse bands wat nou al vir meer as twee dekades lank musiek opneem en vrystel. Come to think of it, ʼn mens sou dieselfde van die Buckfever Underground ook kon sê. Nietemin, die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes is in 1999 deur Andries Bezuidenhout (Roof) en Ockert Greeff (Moord) begin. Die naam is ontleen aan die berugte polisie-eenheid, die Brixton moord en roof-eenheid – “Brixton murder and robbery squad” in Engels. Albei die stigterslede het in Brixton gewoon en het by hul local bar, die Albelarde Sanction, tydens open mic-sessies besluit om ʼn band te begin. In hierdie tyd het die band vir die eerste keer as duo by Oppikoppi opgetree. Andries het op ʼn nylonsnaarkitaar gespeel en Ockert op ‘n djembe-trom. Die aanvanklike musikale benardering was meer folk as rock en die band se ietwat agressiewe naam is so half ironies bedoel. Die band het glad nie geklink soos ʼn mens sou verwag nie en het eerder introspektiewe songs met ʼn fokus op digterlike lirieke aangebied.
Weldra het die band se klank van folk af rock toe beweeg, maar die aandag aan goeie lirieke het gebly. Toe Ockert ʼn volle drum kit aanskaf (ʼn Tama-stel) moes die band ʼn baskitaarspeler kry en weldra het Steve Savage, die baskitaarspeler van Shark Brother, een van die ander bands wat Albelarde regulars was, by hulle aangesluit.
Van links af, Roof Bezuidenhout, Moord Greeff en Brixton Savage in die Abelarde Sanction in Brixton, ongeveer 2000 of 2001.
Die band by die Bingo in Brixton, ʼn vroeë publisiteitsfoto. Van links af, Moord Greeff, Brixton Savage en Roof Bezuidenhout, ook ongeveer 2000 of 2001.
Steve Savage het drie tracks opgeneem wat as EP op ʼn website genaamd Digital Cupboard vrygestel is. Die opnames is helaas vir ewig verlore. Steve is ʼn geoloog en het Zambië toe verhuis vir werk. Die band het Drikus Barnard, ʼn ander Abelarde Sanction regular, gevra om Steve se plek in te neem. Hy is toe as Brixton Barnard herdoop. Hierdie drie het ʼn eerste album by Paul Riekert se studio in Albertsville opgeneem wat in 2002 as Spergebied vrygestel is. Die drums is by die SAUK se RP Studios opgeneem. Clair Cantrell – ook bekend as Esmé Evakwaad – het met haar ryk stem backing vocals op die album gedoen, wat aan die album ʼn besonderse atmosfeer verleen het.
‘n Foto van die band deur Sally Shorkend wat in die tydskrifInsig verskyn het. Van links af, Roof Bezuidenhout, Moord Greeff en Brixton Barnard.
Foto: Toast Coetzer, Esmé Evakwaad en Roof Bezuidenhout by Aardklop se rock festival, waarskynlik in 2002 0f 2003.
Kort na die vrystelling van Spergebied het Drikus se broer Gerhard Barnard as elektriese kitaarspeler by die band aangesluit – hy sou as Kapelaan Pat Plank bekendstaan. Plank was Drikus en Gerhard se ander band, saam met Esmé Evakwaad – ʼn ware underground punk band.
Foto: Magriet Theron. Moord Greeff in Brixton, 2002.
Foto: Magriet Theron. Brixton Barnard in Brixton, 2002.
Foto: Magriet Theron. Kapelaan Pat Plank in Brixton, 2002. Die verlore swart hond sou meer as twee dekades later ‘n rol speel in ‘n liriek op die band se album “Strate sonder bome” (2023).
In 2004 is die band se volgende album vrygestel – Terug in skubbe. Dis weer by Paul Riekert opgeneem. Die drums is by Peter Auret opgeneem en hy het ook een van die tracks – die immergroen “Paul van der Zandt” opgeneem en gemeng. Op die album was ook ʼn liriek deur Koos du Plessis, wat deur sy dogter Karla getoonset is, naamlik “Dagboek van ʼn swerwer”.
Die launch van “Terug in skubbe” by die Bohemian in Richmond, 2004. Van links af, Brixton Barnard, Moord Greeff, Roof Bezuidenhout en Kapelaan Pat Plank.
Die band saam met Karla du Plessis by Aardklop se rock festival, waarskynlik in 2004 of 2005.
In hierdie tyd het die band gereeld by rock festivals by plekke soos Oppikoppi en die Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunsfees in Oudtshoorn opgetree. Die track “Fortuinverteller” is op RSG geplaylist – waarskynlik die grootste wonderwerk in die band se geskiedenis, gegewe die tipe musiek wat tipies in daardie tyd op RSG gespeel is. “Spoed” en “Fortuinverteller” is in die TV reeks Orion gebruik, met Neil Sandilands in die hoofrol. ʼn Video vir “Spoed” is op MK89 uitgesaai, wat baie gehelp het om die band aan ʼn groter gehoor voor te stel. Die band het selfs op die soap opera Egoli verskyn, ʼn vreemde besluit vir ʼn underground band van Brixton. Brixton Barnard sou later bieg dat hy ingestem het net om Brümilda van Rensburg te kon ontmoet.
Oppikoppi Easter Festival, 2002.
Oppikoppi in 2006, Roof Bezuidenhout en Kapelaan Pat Plank.
By Steak & Ale in Centurion, een van die plekke waar die band baie goed ondersteun is.
Poster vir optrede by die Mystic Boer in Stellenbosch.
ʼn Hartseer oomblik vir die band was toe Moord Greeff besluit het om Kanada toe te verhuis. In daardie tyd was hy in ʼn ernstige verhouding met ʼn Kanadees wat hy in Melville ontmoet het. Hulle is later in Montreal getroud en woon steeds daar. Die band se laaste gig in hierdie formaat was in die Bohemian in Richmond, Johannesburg.
Laaste optrede in die Bohemian voor Moord Kanada toe verhuis het.
Vir ʼn tyd na Ockert se vertrek was Andy Evans, wat ook saam met Drikus en Gerhard in Plank was, die band se drummer. Hy het ʼn video saam met die band vir die track “Vis” in die Bohemian opgeneem.
In kostuum vir die “Vis” video, van links af is Kapelaan Pat Plank, Roof Bezuidenhout, Andy Evans, Brixton Barnard.
Poster vir ‘n Steak & Ale gig saam met Die See.
Vanaf die vroeë-2010s was die band in ʼn tipe hiatus toe lede van die band op ander musikale projekte gefokus het. Drikus het Roof se tweede solo album opgeneem en gemeng. Self het Drikus op sy duo saam met Clair Cantrell (oftewel Esmé Evakwaad) genaamd Trike gefokus. Later in die dekade is die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes egter weer revive, toe met Louis Graham as drummer. Die vierluik het weer begin optree en ʼn volgende album opgeneem. Die CD is uiteindelik in 2014 as Slaaptyd in die suburbs as ʼn oplaag van 100 boeke met lirieke en afdrukke van skilderye deur Marguerite Visser vrygestel. Die volgende jaar is dit ook in gewone CD-formaat uitgegee.
In Oudtshoorn, met Louis Graham op drums, foto deur Willim Welsyn.
In 2015 het Brixton Barnard die gebruik van een van sy arms verloor en kon nie meer baskitaar speel nie. Met ʼn reeks optredes saam met Gert Vlok Nel moes sy broer Gerhard hom begelei. In daardie tyd het Ockert (Moord Greeff) Suid-Afrika besoek en ʼn optrede by die skrywer en dramaturg Harry Kalmer se huis in Observatory in Johannesburg was die laaste keer wat die vier saam op een plek was. Drikus se vermoë om te kommunikeer het ook agteruitgegaan. Daar is toe vasgestel dat daar ʼn gewas op sy brein was. Omdat Drikus ʼn voltydse musikant was, het hy nie ʼn mediese fonds gehad nie. ʼn Hele groep musikante het ʼn benefit konsert by die Melkery buite Pretoria vir Drikus se operasie gehou en genoeg geld is ingesamel om te betaal sodat die gewas van sy brein verwyder kon word. Met die operasie is daar ongelukkig vasgestel dat die gewas veel groter was as wat aanvanklik gereken is. Drikus is kort daarna oorlede, maar die operasie het gemaak dat hy vir sowat drie maande weer helder kon kommunikeer. Hy is by sy broer Gerhard se huis in Pretoria dood en ʼn hele aantal van die band se ondersteuners het hul bes gedoen om sy laaste maande so gemaklik as moontlik te maak.
Die laaste keer toe die band saam in een plek was, by Harry Kalmer en Sanpat Hattingh se huis in Observatory, Johannesburg, in Maart 2015. Van links na regs: Kapelaan Pat Plank, Roof Bezuidenhout, Moord Greeff, Brixton Barnard. Gert Vlok Nel en Brixton Barnard het die aand opgetree.
In 2019 het Ockert Greeff Suid-Afrika weer besoek. Daar is besluit om ʼn tipe reünie gig te doen, met beide Ockert en Louis Graham op drums. In Drikus se afwesigheid het Simon Kruger van die band Nul baskitaar gespeel. Die gig was by die Jarr Bar in Pretoria, op 14 Desember 2019. Louis het drums tydens die eerste set gespeel, meestal songs van die album Slaaptyd in die suburbs, wat hy saam met die band opgeneem het. Ockert was die drummer vir die tweede set, met musiek van Spergebied en Terug in skubbe af, wat hy weer saam met die band opgeneem het.
Poster vir die gig by Jarr Bar.
In 2020 het die band gereed gemaak om ʼn gig by Strab te doen, ʼn festival wat jaarliks deur scuba-duikers in die suide van Mosambiek gehou word. Baie van die ou Oppikoppi crowd woon tipies hierdie festival by en die band het al ʼn vorige slag daar opgetree. Daardie jaar het die Covid-19 pandemie egter uitgebreek en Strab is noodgedwonge afgestel. In Mei 2021 is Louis Graham aan Covid oorlede, nog tydens die lockdown-periode. Wat die tragedie soveel erger gemaak het, is dat van sy familie, vriende en mede-bandlede die begrafnisdiens op die web moes volg.
Louis Graham, watSlaaptyd in die suburbs saam met die band opgeneem het. Hy is in 2021 aan Covid oorlede.
In die lockdown tyd het Andries van sy tyd gebruik om sy musiekproduksievaardighede te verbeter, met behulp van gesprekke met Willem Möller oor e-mail en ʼn solo album waaraan Andries aan die opneem en meng was. Andries het in daardie stadium in Alice in die Oos-Kaap gewoon, Gerhard in Pretoria, en Ockert steeds in Montreal. Kort voor hy dood is, het Drikus agt tracks opgeneem vir ʼn volgende album vir die band. Hierdie tracks was rofweg opgeneem vir Andries om na te luister en om dan verdere songs vir die album te skryf – as ʼn tipe tweegesprek. Andries en Gerhard het kopieë van hierdie tracks op hul rekenaars se hardeskywe gehad, maar nie een van die twee het daarvoor kans gesien om daarna terug te keer nie. Na Louis se dood het Andries, Gerhard en Ockert begin kommunikeer (meestal op WhatsApp) oor Drikus se agt tracks. Hulle het saam aan ʼn album begin werk as ʼn tipe huldeblyk aan beide Drikus en Louis. Die resultaat was Bazaar punk, wat in Januarie 2022 vrygestel is.
Roof verduidelik hoeBazaar punk onstaan het.
Bazaar punk sou nie die band se laaste album wees, soos verwag is nie. Die drieluik het aanhou gesels en tracks heen en weer tussen Suid-Afrika en Kanada stuur. Al drie het in beter klank-ateljees belê in Desember 2023 is die volgende album Strate sonder bome vrygestel.
‘n Onderhoud met Roof Bezuidenhout in 2017, in ‘n stadium toe die band nie meer bestaan het nie – na die dood van Brixton Barnard. Daarna sou verdere albums – onder andere Bazaar punk en Strate sonder bome – verskyn. Hy praat oor hoogte- en laagtepunte in die band se geskiedenis, of daar ‘n plek vir underground Afrikaanse musiek is, oor Die Wasgoedlyn en David Kramer se perspektief op die verskil tussen liriek en digkuns.
Strate sonder bome [translated from Afrikaans: Streets without trees] is the Afrikaans-language rock band Brixton Moord & Roof Orkes’ [Tr: Brixton Murder and Robbery Band’s] fifth album. It will be released on 16 December 2023 on all the major streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube, Tidal, etc.) and can be downloaded on Amazon. The band describes it as an album that moves forward by looking back. As they sing on the album’s last track:
Alice of Asfodel, Pringlebaai of Montreal Wat bepaal of jy vlieg of val Of van watter kant van Brixton se rand Jy nou dophou hoe die vure brand?
[Alice or Asphodel, Pringle Bay or Montreal What decides if you fly or fall Or from which side of Brixton’s ridge You observe how the fires burn]
The eleven new tracks – nearly an hour’s music – were penned and composed by Kapelaan Pat Plank (also known as Gerhard Barnard), Moord Greeff (Ockert), and Roof Bezuidenhout (Andries). These three remaining members of the band once lived within two street blocks from each other in Brixton, the Johannesburg suburb. They met each other there, started performing as a band in the local bar, and their band room was located at Gerhard’s house on the corner of Ripley and Barnes Streets.
Currently all three of them live elsewhere. Andries lives in Alice in the Eastern Cape, Gerhard in Pringle Bay in the Western Cape, and Ockert in Montreal, Canada. Asphodel in the lyric quoted above refers to the afterlife in ancient Greek mythology, with reference to Brixton Barnard (Drikus, Gerhard’s younger brother), who died of brain cancer in 2015, and Louis Graham, the band’s drummer who died of Covid-19 in 2021.
The band’s reference to looking back is all about the past – about the olden days in Brixton, the days when people still drove up a mine dump to watch movies at the Top Star drive-in theatre, when you still paid R20 for a traffic fine on the South African edition of the Monopoly board game. Ockert’s lyric “Tape deck begrafnisbrief” [tr: Tape deck funeral letter) is inspired by a custom he observed during a visit to Nicaragua, where people play mixtapes at a high volume on old-style boomboxes as part of a funeral procession. Ockert re-imagines this scene replicated on Brixton’s streets. The album’s opening track returns to Brixton in the 1990s and quotes from the band’s older lyrics from this time. The title track, “Strate sonder bome”, also written by Ockert, remembers Brixton as a place with bare pavements. Despite this, Ockert remembers Brixton as a spiritual home of sorts, both the somewhat dilapidated neighbourhood and the band itself. Ockert continues: “Although I was, back then – now almost two decades ago – completely unaware of the home offered by both the band and the neighbourhood, I realise now that it was most probably a unique, once-off space. It was a strange mix of outsiders, intellectuals, office workers and labourers, who all welcomed everything uncanny and different. In ‘Strate sonder bome’ a traveller arrives at a house like a stray dog. A female figure says: ‘Let’s feed him’. For me this is the best possible conclusion to a journey.”
In terms of musical style, the band’s trio also revisits the past with boisterous moments of old-school rock ‘n roll.
What then does the reference to moving ahead entail? Roof Explains: “In order to move on, I guess, you first have to arrive somewhere. In some way recording this album has helped us to move on after losing Drikus and Louis. This is the band’s first album where Drikus doesn’t play a role as musician and songwriter. With our previous album, ‘Bazaar punk’, we worked with tracks that Drikus had left behind. We were able to hear his voice for a last time, but at the time we also thought of it as the band’s final album. However, those eight tracks spurred Gerhard, Ockert, and me to keep on communicating – mostly by e-mail from over great distances. The fact that we continued to exchange tracks after the release of ‘Bazaar punk’ surprised us, maybe even caught us off-guard. Maybe this is the reason why we are preoccupied with moving on. We refer to Brixton (the place) as our Ithaka – this island in ancient Greek mythology where the journey ends. When you arrive at Ithaka one day, very much like in Constantin Cavafy’s poem, the journey there makes you look at the places you visited along the way with new eyes. This is why we constantly return to Brixton – even though we don’t know whether it is a final destination, or a halfway stop. I hope this makes sense.”
Gerhard adds: “I don’t doubt that Brixton is my Ithaka. When the songs on this album started to take shape I wondered whether we weren’t being overly nostalgic. However, for this first time I appreciated the extent to which the place and the music making that had come with it would have on my topsy-turvy road ahead. Even though Brixton is in the rearview mirror, for me it remains larger than life. It was a great pleasure to work on the album and I look back with appreciation, but also forward in anticipation.” To cite Edmund Keely’s English translation of Cavafy’s poem (here Ithaka can be replaced with Brixton):
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn’t have set out. She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
The idea of moving on is also captured in “Fransman se jas” [tr: Frenchman’s coat], which is about a jail bird who is released from custody and who tries to escape his gang member past by driving away from it all at high speed. He knows this is futile, but for one night he races like a flying kite. Similarly, in the song “Vrou op die trein in die skildery” [tr: “Woman on the train in the painting”] a woman, who has just lived through a traumatic divorce, finds herself on a train – she feels lonely, but in some way also free. Very much like one could imagine the woman on the train in the American artist Edward Hopper’s painting “Compartment C, Car 293” (from 1938). “Ek ken jou tipe” [tr: “I know your type”] deals with the present and looks ahead, with social commentary on new pyres and inquisitions in a world where fact and fiction are entangled, and new scapegoats are fingered to stand in for a prevailing sense of insecurity.
Production
Gerhard, Ockert, and Andries started recording the album in mid-2022. Each of them has a home sound studio, in part because of the Covid lockdown. Ockert has a studio in his home basement, but also has access to a band rehearsal space that is set up to record a drumkit – Ockert has played for bands such as Death Drive and Light Bulb Alley in Montreal. Andries mixed the tracks, with the final mix done during a month-long stay in Copenhagen in September 2023. Willem Möller mastered the album at Sharpe Street Studios in Glencairn, Cape Town, and made suggestions to improve the final mixes.
Apart from the absence of Brixton Barnard’s voice, the sound is reminiscent of previous Brixton Moord & Roof Orkes albums – an eclectic combination of musical styles. The listener will notice rock, folk, reggae, country, and kwêla. The predominant sound is a combination of rock and dark ballads, interspersed with ample humoristic moments. Vocals are by Andries and Gerhard, acoustic guitar and keyboards by Andries, electric and bass guitar by Gerhard, and drums and percussion by Ockert.
About the album’s production Andries says: “We tried to get an old-school analogue sound, even though everything was recorded and mixed digitally. I used programs that simulate classical analogue equalisers and compressors – Fairchild and Pultec. I hope folks who listen to the album notice the grit.” Ockert adds: “I’m really happy with the album’s sound. There is something familiar about the music, but at the same time it is challenging. If you’re tired of the middle-of-the-road popular music dished up everywhere and you appreciate musicians who are willing to take risks, this is the album for you.”
Brixton Barnard, ook bekend as Drikus, is in 2015 aan breinkanker oorlede. Hierdie video is eNCA se verslag van sy begrafnis. Lees ook ‘n huldeblyk deur Roof Bezuidenhout op Versindaba.
Die Bolandse punk band Raaskopleef het ‘n cover van die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes se track “Spoed” opgeneem. Soos dit ‘n uitstekende cover version betaam, is dit veel meer as ‘n cover – hulle het dit ook met een van hulle eie songs gekombineer. Lees ‘n gesprek tussen Roof Bezuidenhout en Louis Duvenage van Raaskopleef op LitNet.
“Kleinburgerlike kreet” kom van Slaaptyd in die suburbs, die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes se derde album af. Die video is meestal met time-lapse fotografie van voorstedelike tonele verfilm.
“Spoed” kom van die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes se tweede album Terug in skubbe. Die video is in Brixton en Jan Hofmeyr in Johannesburg verfilm. Die oorspronklike digitale weergawe van die video is vir ewig verlore, so hierdie weergawe is ‘n bootleg weergawe wat iemand van die TV af verfilm het. Die band hou nogal van die gritty kwaliteit.
“Vis” is die opening track van die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes se album Terug in skubbe. Die video is in die Bohemian in Richmond, Johannesburg verfilm. Die song se woorde is deur Moord Greeff geskryf en die musiek deur Kapelaan Pat Plank. Toe die video verfilm is, het Moord reeds in Kanada gewoon en Andy Evans was die band se drummer vir live shows in daardie stadium.
