Rokkeloos
Rokkeloos on top
By Robert Laing
Everybody remembers the first time they met Rokkeloos's spunky frontlady Prin6 (I didn't get that either until I said it in Afrikaans) Petro.
My first encounter with Petro was during a good night (or rather morning) at the Bohemian. Us okes were using a poster of Jim Morrison on a nearby wall to make rude collages with some Prestik and other pictures. It was sidesplittingly funny, but you had to be there.
Suddenly a diminutive blond stood between us and the poster like a tigress protecting her young.
"Leave my hero alone!" she snarled at us.
Then she glanced up adoringly at the face of Saint James of the Doors. After a long worshipful look, she bowed and started to mime giving the two-dimensional rock star a blow-job.
You would have found Petro's act rolling-on-the-ground funny, but we boys at the bar didn't laugh. Partly because we were too jealous of the poster, and partly because no matter how-much of a non-prude you reckon yourself, Petro's brand of obscene humour will stun you into silence.
She had been playing pool behind us, bending over the table in teeny-weeny hot-pants. She dresses less conservatively on stage.
During her performance, Petro is flanked by two little elven brunettes, Tessa and Luandi, who are dwarfed by their respective electric and bass guitars. The phallicness of these is not lost in Petro's dance routines. Rokkeloos is unrestrained fun to watch, and good music too.
The best way to grasp why Rokkeloos is so vital to our free new South Africa is to visit the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA)'s website www.bccsa.co.za and read a judgement on Rokkeloos's song Hard Naai.
Some mother grundy got outraged at the SABC's Radio Sonder Grense broadcasting Rokkeloos performing live at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn. Petro's line "Ek hou van melktert, breiwerk, skaapbraai en hard naai" promoted licentiousness among the youth, the charge sheet said. The SABC's lawyer won the day with this argument: "As the band's name Rokkeloos suggests, they sang about things that women do — melktert bak, breiwerk doen, skaapvleis braai en hard naai, the last word having a double meaning — stitching in English, and a four-letter word in a colloquial sense that could be offensive to some. The interpretation of the lyrics is left to the mind of the listener."
The BCCSA let the state broadcaster off the hook with this proviso: "It should be stressed that the word naai should not, as a result of this judgment, be regarded as generally acceptable in broadcasts."
Lucky the complainant didn't hear Rokkeloos's Ek suip Tequila since its chorus "Dit maak my poes dronk" doesn't lend itself to the same legal prevarication.
Petro's pithy way of summing up the debacle is: "If you don't like swear words, fuck you."
I'm going to have that printed on a T-Shirt.
That lawyers sit in BCCSA hearings arguing over crap like this is a sad indication that there are still parents trying to suppress their daughters from growing up to ever naai, let alone enjoy it. These girls want Petro as their poster girl for sexual liberation, but it's a job she seems a bit reluctant to accept.
While this dominee's daughter is a self-confessed groupie who brags about having naaied em' all and believes she inspired The Diesel Whores' song Starfucker ("Well you know she plays the bass"), she doesn't really advocate promiscuity for herself or anyone else. She claims her groupie days are behind her and she's now on the lookout for a nice boere seun to have a stable relationship with.
Evidence of a softer, more romantic Petro can be heard in newer songs like Stokseel Seun. But it may also just mean this hard rocker is learning to compromise with her band mates. Petro is all that's left of the original Rokkeloos line-up from the debut album Nooiens-vaart. The original bass player was folk-singer Anika who left to perform with Syd Kitchen, and founding guitarist Auriel now plays funky stuff in Ménage à Trois
The first thing that differentiates Rokkeloos from Gauteng's horde of punk bands is the Kwela influence in songs like Plotmeit. Petro cites Brenda Fassie as a huge influence.
The new Rokkeloos members Tessa, a jazz guitar student, and Luandi seem a bit dismissive about Nooiens-vaart. Everyone seems to want less crashing guitars obliterating Petro's witty lyrics and good voice, except for maybe Petro herself. Then again, she did somehow forget to bring her debut album to a radio show I did with her on 1485AM, only bringing five demo tracks of the newer, more melodic Rokkeloos.
Barney Simon during his Tuesday night local music programme on Radio 2000 claimed Petro just walked up to him and kicked him in the nuts during the recent Woodstock rock festival near Hartebeespoort Dam.
Petro denies it. All she did was give him a verbal critique of his bias for eighties music. "I told Barney he's such a dinosaur, it's not surprising they named a dinosaur after him."
After our radio show, Petro demanded a hug from this dinosaur. I'm proud to say it rated a rebel yell, and then she bounded off for further adventures in her exuberant life. She has angel's wings and the word "Liberty" tatooed on her back.
they rock
Author: prinses jurie, 24 September 2006
rokkeloos is the best girl band in the whole world. they rock.
AAAAH
Author: Suzani, 11 September 2008
Laberint my kind Is die kronkels in jou kop Die lae van jou asbak Die krulle in jou dop Herhaalde kere herontleed Herkou en helemal gereed Ek’s pas uit ‘n inrigting En jy behoort te weet;........ Hierdie band freakin rock... punk_suz@yahoo.com
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