Radio Rats featuring Roger Lucey – Casino Concerto

Tracks

1. First Monologue
2. Casino Of Love
3. Second Monologue
4. Casino To Casino
5. Third Monologue
6. 20,000 Slot Machines
7. Fourth Monologue
8. Sorry I Treated You Bad
9. Fifth Monologue
10. Death Of A Gambler
11. Conclusion
12. Good News
13. Stuey The Kid (bonus track) originally released on Entertaining From Your Freezer

Wreckorded in a garage in Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Mix: dry.

If you want reverb remove all lounge furniture and play moderately – this will give a repossession vibe to the album. Play quite softly – I mean, what about the neighbours?

Recorded by the Radio Rats in 2003 with Roger Lucey on all the spoken bits.

Release information

CD-R: 2005 (as part of Locomotive Hotel), Radium Wreckords
Streaming / Download: 2006-2012 (on Rhythm Online, as part of Locomotive Hotel), Radium Wreckords
Streaming / Download: July 2026, Radium Wreckords, under exclusive licence to Next Music.

Musicians

• Roger Lucey: monologues
• Chris Quirke: guitars
• Jonathan Handley: vocals
• Dave Davies: vocals on “Good News”

Foreword

I know that the foreword for a literary work is supposed to be written by somebody other than the author, but in this case Casino Concerto was a collaboration, so here goes.

Chris Quirke (of the Festery, Willow Street, Observatory, Cape Town) lent me some old Time Magazines in 2001. In one magazine was an article on Stuey the Kid the poker-playing gambler. This inspired me to write “Stuey the Kid.” What also inspired me was Chris Quirke’s guitar-playing idea for STK, which gave me the skeleton for the words.

Chris gave me other skeletons for words too like “20,000 Slot Machines.”
At the same time Dave Davies (Radio Rats) and Michelle Kent (Selection Park Springs Tennis Club Cup-winner) started gambling, mostly at Carnival City. Well, so I was told. Vivienne Theron, Ozzie Theron’s wife won more than a million. It was the new South Africa, the economy was booming and 20,000 slot machines had docked in Cape Town.

All these events converged on the writing of this mini-musical for a story-teller (Roger Lucey) and band.

Casino Concerto is set on the East Rand, but was wreckorded in a garage at 11 Rustenburg Avenue, Rondebosch, Cape Town.

Press & Artwork

Press Release for Locomotive Hotel in 2005

NEW RELEASE
RADIO RATS
LOCOMOTIVE HOTEL
If you’re in Cape Town and have time to spare, take a drive down Main Road towards the city bowl and turn right into Observatory at Lower Main Road. Drive all the way until Lower Main smears left into Albert Road, Salt River. Keep going until you hit a circle. On your left, facing the circle is the Locomotive Hotel. Pop into the bar for a dop. Bring your own teeth. Ask the barman for your free copy of the latest Radio Rats work of garage frolic. He will tell you to fuck off. Order a beer. Amstel. Drink the beer and think about life. Tell a few jokes if someone will listen. If they laugh when the funny bit is revealed then Freud was right – people find surprises funny. Light a fag. Be cool and think of Springs. If you can’t imagine Springs then you haven’t lived there. No problem we can’t all have come from the East Rand. Order a second beer. Park and skeem. Life is cool, life is short, time is few. Anyway…
Try to get Locomotive Hotel from radiumwreckage@yahoo.com
It incorporates a mini-musical called Casino Concerto. The story is read by Roger Mellie, sorry, Roger Lucey. Set in Klerksdorp and the rest of South Africa it will delight and amuse you. Mostly sung by Dave Davies, who is addicted to slots, slits and sluts, the musical is designed for acoustic guitar, narrator and singer. It basically tells you to gamble with your heart [not your head ] and reminds you that losers [ that is, us] don’t know when to stop and casinos don’t care. Enjoy.

Radium Wreckords Postnet Suite 89 Pbag X335 Cape Town 8000 South Africa

Casino Concerto Announcement Poster, 4 July 2026

Lyrics