Riot Squad SA - Total Onslaught - Final Hour Entertainment Records - 1981

Riot Squad SA, not to be confused with another band, Riot Squad from Mansfield, a band that were active and had records released on Rondelet Records around the same time as this other Riot Squad from Cape Town in South Africa, hence the SA at the end of this band's name.

This is a marvellous debut 7″ single by Riot Squad SA.

The South African punk band that really did see some action on demonstrations against the apartheid system and the heavily censored media of those days on that part of the African continent.

This band suffered several blows to the head (literally) and many days in various jails for shouting out about the inequality and police violence in Cape Town, and the wider South Africa.

All the more bizarre is why that other band from Mansfield calling themselves Riot Squad tried to sue their same named South African counterparts. The South African Riot Squad would probably not have found it that easy to gain access to punk bands from the same continent, let alone the other parts of the world due to restrictions in press freedom and opening of mail to known agitators to the apartheid government. The fact that the band had any idea that a punk/Oi! band existed in the UK with the name Riot Squad is laughable!

Anyway, it is what it is.

This small detail does not make Riot Squad SA any worse off, in fact comparing the two bands decades apart, only one of those bands were actually dicing with death from white supremacy militia, or the government's army and police force.

A clue: All of that wasn't happening in Mansfield!

The original 7" record was released in South Africa only, with that new physical 'evidence', it put a target on the members of Riot Squad SA's back, and there could have been a certain amount of risk to the band when they were all still based in Cape Town. But released it was, originally under the moniker Riot Squad, and then the duplicate-name trouble started, and the threat to sue the band (and presumably the small record label) came and went.

This specific 7" record uploaded today was the UK version of the record, a project which was helped along by the always ethical Rough Trade, and this version of the 7" record has a poster-sleeve filled with reams of news cuttings and information from the anti apartheid movement which, again, was quite a dangerous statement to make.

This UK version of the original 7" record was made available under the new name Riot Squad SA, so not to infringe on the ‘rights’ of the Mansfield band!

The drummer of Riot Squad SA (on this 7" record) was JC who I got to know when I was helping out at All The Madmen records, which at that point was based at 96 Brougham Road in Hackney.

He mentioned to me that aside from the constant hassle from the authorities, some members of the band (including JC himself) had flunked out of national service, which was compulsory in those days, and had to leave South Africa and base themselves over in Europe.

J.C. made it over to Brougham Road and at some point found himself as the Treasurer of the Brougham Road co-op. He begun to move his basic PA system (that was stored in the basement of 96 Brougham Road) around the London squat scene driving the vulnerable looking speaker boxes and mixing desk from venue to venue in his old (converted to live in) coach.

That coach was magnificent, and I remember a few trips sitting around in the coach, one time JC driving from Brougham Road in Hackney to a field somewhere near Stonehenge for a midsummer day/night party with 2000DS who were also on board.

Remember Stonehenge solstice celebrations were banned to all, especially new age hippies/peace convoy types after the Battle of the Beanfield a year or two before.

The last time I heard anything about JC (a long time ago) he owns his own much larger sound system rig which he hires out to various festivals.

Again, a long time ago, I was told that he was living in Barcelona, and for many years.

The review below is from the fourth issue of Maximum Rock and Roll magazine, founded by Tim Yohannan and based in San Francisco.

The last part of the review is the important detail: 'Incredibly inspiring'

Riot Squad SA

Total Onslaught EP

Radical protest music from the belly of the beast. RIOT SQUAD are South African punks who play slow, catchy ’77 stuff, but their real significance lies in their very existence in such a repressive country. Vicious anti-apartheid and anti-government lyrics are featured on this EP, so let’s hope that these brave lads don’t end up in jail or dead. Incredibly inspiring.

Reviewer: Jeff Bale

Label: Final Hour Entertainment

Issue: MRR #4 • January/February 1983