Legal eagle leads metal band
Russell Stroud has a wonderful sense of humour and one could write a book about his life as a lawyer and metal head.
Vocalist and song writer Russell Stroud of the South Coast’s loudest heavy metal protagonists, ‘Hate Speech’ is probably one of the coolest attorneys around.
If he is not swamped with legal paperwork or defending a client in court he is stirring up the mosh pit at Rocky Ridge in Ramsgate with his death growl to raise funds for organisations such as the Lower South Coast SPCA.
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Russell has a wonderful sense of humour and one could write a book about his life as a lawyer and metal head.
The interesting muso was born in England in 1961, and emigrated with his parents to Pretoria in 1969.
Russell is very proud of his father, biochemist Stanley William Stroud who is remembered for developing the human growth hormone to treat hereditary dwarfish.
In junior school Russell was introduced by a class mate to ‘underground music’ after complaining about the Springbok Radio Top 20 being too ‘wishy-washy’ for his liking.
Russell cruised through school, and took a gap year before being told by his mother that his days of lying around the house listening to heavy metal had ended, and he was to find direction and begin studying.
Russell chose Durban (obviously to be near the sea) and enrolled for a law degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Interestingly, Russell resided with Raymond Zondo, who currently serves as Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa at the Mabel Palmer Residence at the University of Natal.
“Raymond is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. While we partied, Raymond juggled studying, lectures and a full-time job,” he said.
Russell bought a guitar from South African guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet Sid Kitchen for about R100 and this was the start to being a life-long metal devotee.
He learned to play the guitar by ear, and then attempted to master the drums.
This, he laughed, resulted in him being the worst neighbour ever in the university’s res block.
In March 1989 he was admitted in front of a full bench of “crusty old judges in big gowns”, which didn’t mean much to party animal Russell at the time.
“I slipped through the cracks somehow at university but I had the best time of my life and made life long friends,” he said.
Hate Speech is an intense metal band and is currently self-recording its debut album, featuring 11 songs out of our current 23 song catalogue.
Russel was the founder of the South Coast’s very first metal band called Soothslayer in the 1990s.
Hate Speech rose from the ashes in 1994, and its genre is best described as a combination of punk rock and heavy metal.
The band members are Russell (vocals), Brady Jordan (guitar), Graeme Messina (bass), Rudi van Wyk (drums) and new recruit Morne Linell (guitar).
Sunday is band practice day at Russell’s seaside home in Southport and this he said consists of “a lot of hard hard work and no beers”.
Microphones only last six months in the sound-proof practice room, thanks to Russell’s bellowingly powerful voice.
Hate Speech is the successor to bands like Third World Order and Grand Revolt and has been operation on the South Coast since 2004.
Russell acknowledged that Hate Speech’s music is not everybody’s cup of tea and the band’s controversial song ‘State of The Nation’ landed them in “a bath half-full of hot water” a few years ago.
Over the decades, Russell has performed at legendary Durban venues such as the Winston Pub and Burn Nightclub, and many others in Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg.
A diabetic, he has lost the sight in one eye and underwent a below-the-knee amputation in 2015. He admitted that it had been a long haul back to good health.
Despite the odds, Russell said the day he wakes up and doesn’t feel like band practice is the day he will hobble down to the band room in his slippers, and tell the guys they must carry on without him.
“Until that day happens, unfortunately they are stuck with me,” he said, laughing.
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