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Counterhistory vol. 1: Vader Jakob

by Vader Jakob

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*** NB: These are just previews. The album is only available as a physical 7" at this point ***

The first release in our Counterhistory series, from the band that would go on to become the legendary Live Jimi Presley.

Artist's statement:

"In my second year, the Feltham cousins held me down and cut off my long hair; they ridiculed my hippie sandals, made me wear boots. We dressed in long black jackets and trendy shades, listened to Gun Club and Nick Cave and Jesus and the Mary Chain, got into fights with “rugger buggers”. It was more of a lifestyle than a music choice.

The band formed in Grahamstown in 1986, just after PW Botha’s State of Emergency. The Eastern Cape was particularly hard-hit by apartheid repression; at Rhodes our friends were being arrested and detained; there were marches on campus, and the Cradock Four had just been murdered near Port Elizabeth. Vader Jakob is the South African version of Frère Jacques, a traditional song about a monk who has overslept and is being urged to wake and sound the bells for early morning prayers. We chose the name because we wanted people to awake from their apartheid-induced apathy and ignorance; one of our songs had the lyrics “Slaap jy Nog?” (Are you still sleeping?)

When we started, we had very few musical instruments (I was allowed to join the band as I had a bass guitar and an AMP), very little musical ability and nowhere to practice. We compensated by bashing on car springs that Chris Lebert had stolen from a scrapyard, and on whatever else we could find, practising in student digs, campus basements and hotels.

Frontman Marc Feltham, who began with just two strings on his guitar, made up for what he lacked in proficiency by “screaming and spitting out the words, daring the audience to take umbrage and get up and leave,” as songwriter Graeme Feltham put it. Often, large sections of our audience would leave, or attempt to get us offstage. But we did win some fans, among them Carl Johnson of established band Not Even The TV, who took us to the TV’s farm outside East London to record a handful of songs in two day-long sessions. It was terrifying.

Sadly band member Bruce Nicholl did not attend the recordings, as he had by that stage lost his grip on the generally shared version of “reality”. We dedicate this single to him and his wonderful, carefree spirit." — Derek Davey

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released January 1, 1987

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Contour Vinyl Johannesburg, South Africa

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