Local 80’s band reconnects to record their music

Mystery Roach is recording again

November 11, 2022

Jani de Beer 2 minutes read

Clifford van Ommen at the Wits Free Peoples anti-Apartheid concert in 1988.

The late 1980s saw an explosion on the local music scene with many up-and-coming artists moving away from clean-cut pop to more edgy heavy metal and hard rock.

Two local artists, Clifford van Ommen and Peter Lowis met on the school grounds of Tom Newby Primary School in 1977.

At the age of 11, the two acquaintances were slowly exploring their musical interests. Peter had taught himself to play basic acoustic guitar while Clifford was receiving guitar lessons from the well-known musical tutor, Steve Baker.

In the late 80’s the two’s paths once again crossed on the Wits Campus grounds.

Inspired by the emerging alternative music scene of Rocky Street and Yoeville, they started playing together in the band that would later become known as Mystery Roach.

Inspired by the likes of homegrown alternative bands like The Cherry Faced Lurches and Germiston’s The Kêrels, the duo gravitated towards creating their own music inspired by the sounds of Frank Zappa.

With the assistance of stand-in drummers, Clifford and Pete started performing as a support act for Harpo Speaks at the Oxford Hotel and The Kêrels at Jameson’s.

A chance encounter with a prodigy drummer, Wayne Houghton led to the band finally finding its missing link.

The then 15-year-old Houghton was often ‘smuggled’ into popular music venues to ensure that ‘Roach’ met their performance commitments.

Now more than 30 years later, the local musical outfit has reconnected thanks to the wonders of technology and has successfully recorded their first EP featuring their original songs.

“We have always remained in contact, even before the advent of social media,” said Pete.

“We always found a way, however an out-of-the-blue call from Mainhardt Greeff of The Kêrels, regarding one of our last and biggest gigs, the Wits Free Peoples anti-Apartheid concert in 1988 led to the idea to finally record our music,” said Wayne.

Greeff had come across a research paper at the University of Texas that referenced a PhD thesis by Dr Ayub Sheik of the University of Durban Westville.

In the paper, Sheik referenced a ‘Roach’ song ‘Trains a-comin’ that drew lyrics from the Wopko Jensma poem ‘In memoriam Ben Zwane.’

“I further researched the concert which led me to PhD scholar Dr Lizabe Lambrechts at the Africa Open Institute for Music who was in the process of writing her thesis on the concert and the role anti-Apartheid music had during the struggle,” said Wayne.

“What was supposed to just be an interview has led to these brothers-in-tunes reconnecting from three corners of the world to jam together again.”

The band’s first six-track EP, which took a year to record using digital recording systems, was released in September and features the set list from the Free Peoples concert and is available on Spotify and Bandcamp.