Artist: Celtic Rumours
Song: Slow Rain
Album: This Day (1989) Umkhonto
It’s easy to forget that at the end of the Eighties, as South Africa was plunged further into isolation and cultural boycotts, there was a growing population of kids, who produced music that said far more about their love of the British post-punk and alternative rock than a darkening political climate in this country.
10pt’>Celtic Rumours
It wasn’t all shallow idolatry and impersonation, however. These young bands would eventually produce an alternative music scene that was the outlet for the dissatisfaction and alienation that affected a whole generation of young, mostly white, South Africans.
Celtic Rumours were a group of Durban schoolboys whose name was an attempt to come up with something that emulated the name of the Cure’s Japanese Whispers compilation, and, like many young bands, their sound often borrowed heavily from the music they admired. Ross Campbell, who played drums oon Slow Rain, remembers “Kevin (van Staden- the band’s songwriter and vocalist) was listening to a lot of Simple Minds, U2, New Order, Psychedelic Furs, the Cure, and those bands were definitely evident in the music. We were 16 and at school and this was our first band and like all bands you start out sounding a lot like your influences.”
Their gigs were restricted to local schools variety nights and small local clubs, until DJ Barney Simon discovered their demo featuring the tracks Somewhere and Africa in Motion. After this, and while the band were still in matric, they were invited to record a track for Barney Simon’s Flying Circus compilation (arguably the best roundup of local alternative bands of the time). For this, they decided to record Slow Rain.
According to Campbell, the song was considered too ‘different” from their other work to make it onto an album, but after its release as a single, it became a hit. ‘I think the fact that this song was a bit of a bastard child that didn’t fit in with the others the band was playing at the time and was going to be left off the album is a pretty cool part of its history”
So what made the song special? Barney Simon remembers playing the track for the first time. ‘The song had a British feel to it and stood out from any other South African song at the time. They had a new wave sound with a combination of rock. A mix between U2, ABC, Tears For Fears and the Clash in my opinion. It fit in very well with the sound of U2, Big Country, the Cure, the Clash, the Mission, the Cult and Echo & the Bunnymen.”
The infectious bassline and syncopation, combined with strong vocals and an upbeat chorus, meant that the song charted on alternative and mainstream charts when it was released as a single in 1989.
‘It was a catchy 80s tune that sounded like other stuff on the radio, I guess” recalls Campbell. ‘The excitement of doing what we were doing was also captured in that tune though and we were definitely tapping into the teens headspace”.
The mainstream success of the song marked an important point in the development of South African alternative, and the group found themselves in demand, playing at clubs that they were too young to attend as customers. ‘We had great gigs as I recall and there was a great scene, but again, we were really young and still living with our parents ”.
The band would later be torn apart by the pressures of success and army conscription, and frontman Kevin van Staden (who, with his impeccable songwriting skills and good looks, seemed to have a successful solo career ahead of him) was tragically killed in a car accident.
So where does the song, and the band, fit into the landscape of South Africa of the time? There is certainly no political statement in the lyrics, and little to suggest the turbulence of the late 80s.
Campbell agrees. ‘Celtic Rumours were not political, and thank God, because we were too young to be sprouting a great understanding of the situation in SA. The older bands like the Cherry Faced Lurchers, Bright Blue, Dog Detachment, the Dynamics, they were writing great political tunes – these guys had been to the army and had seen the injustice or were in varsity and had at least learnt about it. As a teen at the time you knew nothing of what was going on – like the Zap Dragon’s song Hard and Heavy says, “How did we know, they never ever told us. How did we know, they only told us lies”.
Celtic Rumours – Slow Rain (click to listen)More podcasts
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Slow Rain – lyrics
Slow rain, it’s falling
I know it’s your name I’m calling
Somehow it’ll be alright
Enclosed in these brick walls
Some keep on saying
If the day had exploded
I need your sanctuary
In rivers and oceans
I’m walking through your love and devotion
I’d like to be alive
We’ll always be together
You know I won’t be dreaming
In any kind of weather
You know just what I’m feeling
In the eyes of God
And always in your heart
Some just like to say
They watch things fall apart
And now in the deep streets
I’m wishing that you’ll come and meet me
You’ll take me home and
Sometimes when I’m dreaming
You seem to see my thoughts are confusing
We told you
They’d take all your money
And leave you with a cry to be set free
I’d like to be alive
I want to be free
I want to give you wings
I want to set you free
River of life
River of life
Last week’s song: Usain Bolt by Tumi featuring Zubz
Every week, the M&G chooses one great song that says something about what it means to be South African. We write from the perspective of the listener, and in the belief that art is greater than artists will ever know. Suggest your own great South African songs here.