British kids in 1977 might have been bored of everything from the USA to a lack of decent career opportunities, but - Northern Ireland residents aside - most of us had little experience of what it really meant to grow up in a repressive, racially or religiously-segregated state.
In that sense, it could be argued that apartheid-controlled South Africa in the mid to late ‘70s needed punk to happen like the desert needs rain. And happen it did, though it’s only much more recently – and primarily thanks to Deon Maas and Keith Jones’ ‘Punk In Africa’ documentary – that the tremors have finally been felt internationally.
One of the key bands to feature in ‘Punk In Africa’, Durban’s Wild Youth were the country’s first out and out ‘punk’ band. They were white, but Michael Flek (guitar/ vocals), Andrew Peinke (bass/ vocals) and drummer Rubin Rose had plenty to kick against in the ultra-conservative society peddling a morally-corrupt paradise of “sunny skies and Chevrolet.”
Wild Youth built their reputation the tried’ n’ true DIY way, sticking up their own posters and hiring any community centre or girl guide hall that would have ‘em to belt out their hastily-gleaned three chords. They initially also featured singer Mark Dyson and – for a while – second guitarist Peter Kunst but by early 1979 they’d slimmed down to their ‘classic’ trio formation. Regular gigging and attention from the South African music press (specifically Music Maker, the country’s equivalent of the NME) raised their profile and they featured on the landmark late 1979 ‘Rock Riot Tour’ (South Africa’s first punk tour) alongside National Wake, Safari Suits and Housewives’ Choice.
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Sadly, Wild Youth’s ‘official’ output was limited to merely two tracks on WEA South Africa’s 1979 punk comp ‘Six Of The Best’ and the self-released ‘Wot About Me?’ 7” before they split in 1980. However, Fresh Music’s excellent ‘A Leopard Never Changes Her Spots’ CD delved deeper into the band’s previously unreleased catalogue as well as showcasing tracks from Michael Flek’s post-WY project, Gay Marines.
More recently, the Retrobution imprint has been set up to release low-run vinyl editions of key South African punk and post-punk releases, hence the arrival of this beautifully-packaged retrospective Wild Youth 7”.
Actually two distinctly different takes of the same track, ‘All Messed Up’ is the version from the ‘Six Of The Best’ compilation, while ‘So Messed Up’ is a demo from earlier in ‘79. Both crackle and churn with Wild Youth’s distinctive Stooges-esque rawness, so it’s hard to choose the ‘definitive’ take. The former is a little more dense and fully-realised, but the urgency inherent in the slightly more rudimentary demo is equally palpable. Any way you slice it, it’s a stone classic punk 45.
Retrobution Records online
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