Piet Botha began writing songs and forming bands while still at school. He hooked up in 1974 with Abner Smith at the University of Pretoria to develop an acoustic duo. “They used to play at the Keg and Tankard in Pretoria”, remembers roadie Hendry Jackson. Botha recalls this as being their first professional gig.
Botha then connected with the members of Tusk (Doc Barendse, Dino Salvatori, and Derek Riley) to establish the band Raven and later added keyboardist Gabi le Roux to fill out the sound. This hard-rocking band won the ‘Beat 79’ nationwide competition for new rock groups, and released the Uriah Heep-styled single, ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ backed with ‘The Horseman’, on David Marks’ 3rd Ear Label.
Botha (known as JP Botha at that time and playing mainly bass) then formed the three-piece Catherine Wheel with Karlien van Niekerk and Doc Barendse. At this time violinist Dave Tarr and drummer Colin Pratley (ex-Freedom’s Children) were in a duo called Wildebeest. “We amalgamated our two bands” says Botha. Doc Barendse left and Boet Faber joined as guitarist. In 1981 the classic ‘Bushrock 1’ live album (recorded at Upstairs in Sunnyside, Pretoria) was released under the band name Wildebeest. ‘Bushrock 1‘ was the Rand Daily Mail’s ‘Album of the Year’ in 1981.
“I was part of the team with Colin Pratley, Boet Faber, Paul van Eeden, Piet Botha, Deon Maree and Gilbert Lyons that put on the ‘One Skin Mile from Skullgrin’, a Wildebeest Bushrock Ballet, at the Conservatoir of Music, in Pretoria, in 1982”, remembers longtime friend of the band and sometime manager, Vernon “Moonshine” Lee (immortalized, along with Jan Maloney, in the 2005 Jack Hammer song ‘The Pilgrim‘). “Around this time Piet, Boet Faber and myself lived on a farm in DeWildt, north-west of Pretoria, and I ended up assisting with the management of the band.”
In 1983 Wildebeest was one of the first bands to mix rock music with Afrikaans lyrics and recorded the (now very rare) ‘Horings Op Die Stoep’ 4-track EP (produced by Anton Goosen) which featured ‘Bossies’, a song about the Border War, which was very much a no-no during those Apartheid times.
In November 1984, Jack Hammer was started with Boet Faber, Jan Maloney and Eric Birkenstock.
Discography
Progressive Jungle Music
The “Bushrock” concept was ex-Freedom’s Children drummer Colin Pratley’s brainchild and is the perfect way to describe the music of Wildebeest. A blend of African, traditional, and rock music is performed with amazing energy. African drums, violin, and rock guitars accompanied by a sweet melodic female vocal. The Rand Daily Mail voted ‘Bushrock 1’ album of the year in 1981.
— RetroFresh, 2010
Piet Botha 