Jesus Christ, this one was a funny one to scan (especially since I recently realized that my scanner won’t work the way I want it to)! Took about an hour on my incredibly slow and shitty scanner to get all the pages in this massive fold-out sleeve into a digital format. According to Discogs it was only pressed in 300 copies, but I’ve seen it in Sweden a couple of times, so I think there were more copies, unless someone reissued it, which I doubt.
Prejudice as I am, IÂ Â never thought punk caught on in Africa, but South Africa had a bunch of bands in the late 70’s/ early 80’s with Power Age being the most well known I guess. My favourites were Wild Youth (from Durban), but I’ve never managed to put my hands on their lone 7″ or the compilation Six of the best, so I’ll let you enjoy this UK-flavoured apolitical slab of slaughter instead. As a matter of fact they remind me a bit of Hornsey At War that I posted here some years ago.
Oh yeah, the SA in the band name stood for South Africa of course, and was added after the UK blokes with the same name threatened to sue them for aping their name. Punks suing punks from day one I assume!
Country: South Africa
Year: 198a
Label: Final Hour Entertainment
Format: 7″
Songs:
Security system.mp3
Capital investment.mp3
Changes coming.mp3
Permanent forces.mp3
Second-hand clothes.mp3
the 6 of the best comp is here if you’re looking for sound only, i believe the vinyl is very rare:
http://girlsfromtahiti.blogspot.com/
thanks again for your blog, i’m the guy who commented on your page layout the other day – it looks great now!
cheers!
And I’m the guy who fixed the layout but I’m not behind this post :).
Maybe if they didn’t pick such an obvious punk band name they wouldn’t have to sue other people for coming up with the same idea. Good tunes from this Riot Squad.
Excellent to hear this again!! The opening guitar riff of “Security System” is some kinda punk classic.
There must have been WAY more than 300 copies though, because this was everywhere in the UK in the early 80s – in every “punk” singles section in the chain record stores (I still have mine!)
Anyone know what happened to these guys? In Britain, they were admired for their bravery in speaking out against the Apartheid system.
I likey
Nice posting- I have never heard this record before! And thanks for taking lots of time to do the complex scanning in of the sleeve, we appreciate your efforts. Speaking of efforts, thanks for posting something new each day lately- you are on a roll!! I have a Wild Youth CD-R that includes their 7″ as well as many unreleased live and studio tracks from the late 70’s- let me know off-line if you are interested in hearing it, it’s pretty good. I would say that I’ll post the CD-R on my blog, but as we all know it could be 2015 before that happens! FYI- both sides of the Wild Youth 7″ was on one of those mediocre KBD volumes from early 1998- either Volume 40 or 41. Speaking of early South African punk, I think most of those bands like Wild Youth were from Durban which is a beach resort kinda town. As a DIY side trip from Zimbabwe, I went in Durban and other South African countries about 20 years ago- before the official end of apartheid- and it was surreal to be in Durban, you’d think you were in California or something and not in apartheid South Africa.
Punk business man, I want a copy of the wild youth cd-r. How can I order a copy?
Hi J
Did you get a copy of the cdr? I would love to order a copy?
Rgds
M
Still got my copy and I’ve always loved it. Seem to remember seeing it in a number of places too. I’m pretty sure band members (the whole band?) made it to the UK so maybe that’s why it seemed so ubiquitous there. Very inspiring to hear such political stuff coming out of S.A. at that time. It must have taken real guts to put out this kind of material, their environment a far cry from the relatively benign safety that the UK anarcho scene operated in. How any supposed punk band could sue them over a name dispute is beyond me. Pathetic and shameful.
pretty damn interesting. good post!
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At least one of the members of Riot Squad SA lived in London in the 80’s, and may well still as I believe a label partner of mine bumped into one of them in Hackney a couple of years back. We toyed with the idea of doing Demo Tape SA to re-release the Riot Squad SA stuff, while I was talking with Michael Flek to release the 4 studio songs and a couple of live cuts of Wild Youth on Demo Tape SA. Demo Tape label decided to can the SA plans and focus on the UK stuff, as the label has become harder to manage now I am living back in Australia, Sean in London and Paco heading back to Spain after his megawhirlwind world wide trip. Just a week ago Michael wrote me with his idea for the Wild Youth 12″ (a 12″ size release mostly to accommodate the large amount of photo’s/clippings etc-in true Demo Tape fashion). We aren’t agreeing at this point as he wants to drop one of the 7″ tracks as it’s out of time on the recording. I’ll re-assess the Wild Youth release once I’ve got the Public Execution(yes, the old Brisbane punk band 1982/’83) LP done(mastering done, pressing/printing soon). In any case, get in touch if you re interested in either the Public Execution LP, or Wild Youth 12″.
Hi Clinton
I’m in England and I’m interested in a copy of the Public Execution lp.
How do I purchase a copy?
I want one too….I’m in Sydney…re: Public Execution LP…how much and how do I pay you?
Thanx
Cliff
I am drawn to any band that advocates fighting “facism,” though as an illiterate teen (education is not great in the provinces) I had once written down the back of my jeans, “Suicidal Tendences.”
They released a second single, it’s a lot harder to find although not as good as this one unfortunately.
There is a pressing of 300 what has a deffent cover that came out on some other lable , The one posted is the UK press of 1,000 . I also have a demo tape they did that is better then the 7″
Wild Youth cd is out now
http://www.gemm.com/store/FMU/item/WILD-YOUTH-A-LEOPARD-NEVER-CHANGES-HER-SPOTS-CD/1459581869
Just stumbled on this – I’ve got 2 copies of the EP but they’re extremely scratched so it’s great to get a decent copy. I’ve also got their second single (Polarisation Time/Neutral Stance) which is in a better condition, although also not great. If you’re up for it, I’d be happy to swap FLACs of the two discs. If you can’t, no problem, I can send you the files anyway.