Did You Know?

In 1985 Piet Botha headed over to Los Angeles — or as Piet liked to call it: ‘Yuppie Land’ — hoping to try and get a break into the American music vibe.

Whilst there, by some stroke of luck he managed to cross paths; living in the same block of flats, with the young and upcoming actor Billy Bob Thornton, who at the time was also a young aspiring singer and drummer. Piet worked construction during the week with Mexican & Paraguayan immigrants — or as Piet recalls it — your true ‘Working Class Heroes’.

Piet and Billy Bob ended up jamming together and after a while they found their way into a small recording studio somewhere in Burbank where over weekends they recorded some songs (*8 bit rate tracks, ‘nogals’). One of the songs, which was written and sung by Billy Bob titled ‘Gypsy Wind’ was released on the Jack Of All Trades album after Piet’s return home to South Africa due to a bomb threat in LA at the time. ‘Gypsy Wind’ was also released on the Jack Hammer Anthology album in 1999.