Safari Suits

The South African Rock Encyclopedia > Rock Legends > 1970s > Safari Suits

Cape Town Punk / New Wave Band (1978–1979)

Sometimes styled at The Safari Suits

Discography

Album

Bootlegged!

Tracks

Side A

1. Mercenaries (Steve Moni)
2. Disco Treat (Steve Moni)
3. Have You Seen My Baby (R. Newman; Reprise)
4. River Deep Mountain High (P. Spector, J. Barry, Greenwich, BMG)
5. Voyeur Beach (Steve Moni)
6. Whites Only (Graham Handiey)
7. It’s Just A Game (Paul Jarvis)

Side B

1. Safari Suits (Steve Moni)
2. Hard Driving Man (J. Geils, Atlantic)
3. Search And Destroy (Osterberg, Williamson, BMG)
4. I’m Going Down (M. Jagger, K. Richards; ABKCO)
5. Suburbia (Steve Moni)
6. Pieces (Graham Handley)
7. South African In Paris (Steve Moni)

Release Information

LP: 2026, Sjambok Music, limited edition of 500

Sleeve notes

Safari Suits (1978-79) were one of the early pioneers of punk rock in South Africa. Yet besides two songs released on a 1979 New Wave/punk compilation, they never recorded in a studio. Fortunately, surreptitious audience recordings made at their final concerts were circulated on South Africa’s underground tape trading scene. “Safari Suits… Bootlegged!” is an album compiled from surviving cassettes of two December 1979 Cape Town shows. Both were recorded just days after police shut down the Riot Rock Tour they were on for breaking racial segregation laws. Restored and enhanced 45 years later, these recordings capture the band’s energy and defiant spirit under the strict laws of the apartheid era.

Information supplied by Jonathan Handley, March 2026

Studio Session Tracks

Recorded in 1979

• I Know What I Like (Steve Moni) released on Six Of The Best
• South African In Paris (Steve Moni) released on Six Of The Best
• Pieces (Graham Handley) unreleased
• Suburbia (Steve Moni) unreleased

Various Artists Compilation

Six Of The Best

Tracks

1. Wild Youth – Record Companies [2:28]
2. Leopard – Underestimator [2:04]
3. The Safari Suits – I Know What I Like [2:28]
4. Bill Flynn – Inside I’m Crying [2:34]
5. Corporal Punishment – Victim’s Victim [3:25]
6. Leopard – Boys And Bitches [1:38]
7. Roger Lucey – I Don’t Want Your Guillotine [2:38]
8. The Safari Suits – A South African In Paris [3:28]
9. Corporal Punishment – A Goddess Of Depression [2:15]
10. Wild Youth – All Messed Up [2:28]

Release information

LP: 1979, WEA, WIL 7000

Mix

Radio Youth

A mix of South African Punk, Ska & New Wave tunes from 1978 to 1982. Includes two Safari Suits tunes.

Tracks

1. Radio Youth – Wild Youth
2. Rock ‘n Roll – Illegal Gathering
3. Bokkie Bokkie – David Kramer
4. Schoolboy – Asylum Kids
5. South African In Paris – Safari Suits
6. International News – National Wake
7. Nightmare – Peach
8. No Football – Flash Harry
9. Wot ‘Bout Me – Wild Youth
10. Law And Order – Radio Rats
11. Goddess – Corporal Punishment
12. Tudor Convertible – The News
13. School Kids – The Gents
14. Reaction Man – Gay Marines
15. Fight It With Your Mind – Asylum Kids
16. Rock ‘n Rolls Royce – Corporal Punishment
17. Button Your Lip – Illegal Gathering
18. Stuff Your Strut – The News
19. Pieces – Safari Suits
20. A Lot Of Things – Peach
21. National Hero – Illegal Gathering
22. Station Road Rhythm – The News
23. Machines – Dog Detachment
24. No, No, No, No – Asylum Kids
25. Crazy Caroline – Radio Rats
26. Shock Time For Rock – The Popguns
27. Shame On You – Flash Harry
28. All Messed Up – Wild Youth
29. Why? – Dog
30. So Cold – Hotline
31. Iron Vest – Gay Marines

Musicians

• Steve Moni: guitars, vocals (appears on Six Of The Best, Bootlegged!)
• Guillaume ‘Gap’ Rossouw: vocals, harmonica and guitar (left to form Housewives Choice)
• Charl Avenant: bass (1978)
• Graham Handley: bass, vocals (replaced Charl Avenant; appears on Six Of The Best, Bootlegged!)
• Paul Jarvis: guitar (appears on Six Of The Best, Bootlegged!)
• Jeff Knight: drums (1978)
• Richard ‘Dish’ Devey: drums (replaced Jeff Knight in 1979; appears on Six Of The Best, Bootlegged!)

Biography

When I was a little boy
I used to sit and play with my toys
Like all the other little boys
I’d go to school and observe the rules
But as you get old
You get to be told
That you have to uphold
The power-of the men who wear safari suits

Middle-aged teenagers
Their combs in their socks
Their heads in a box

When I was a little boy
I never believed
I would be
A safari suit

From Safari Suit – words by Steve Moni.

The Story of the Suits

It was the late ’70s. The era of great Cape Town bands of the 60s and 70s had all but fizzled out. Live music was in the doldrums.

It was at this time (July ’78) that Steve Moni contacted Paul Jarvis through a mutual friend, Adré du Plessis, with the aim of starting a band. Paul had just returned from London and had witnessed the great revival of live music or ‘new wave’ there. Steve and Paul were both determined to push the band in this direction. Guillaume ‘Gap’, who was spotted by Steve performing in a pseudo punk production, Zombie, at the Space Theatre, soon joined on vocals. Guillaume had a great rasping voice and had already built up somewhat of a following in Cape Town. The late Jeff Knight joined on drums, and Charl Avenant, a long-standing friend of Paul’s, and who was studying at the time, agreed to fill in on bass until a permanent bassist could be found. The band was set, and went into intense rehearsals, determined to play out as soon as possible.

The Suits, inspired by such artists as The Clash, New York Dolls, and Elvis Costello, already had a few songs of their own. Their lyrics mirrored the idiosyncrasies of South African society at the time. It was from this concept that the name of the band had arisen. They were not embarrassed to use words such as ‘braaivleis’, ’rugby’, etc. in their songs, alongside more hard hitting lyrics in songs such as ‘Whites Only’. The music thus became an interesting mix of rock, reggae and kwela rhythms. Steve Moni said at the time, ‘In the process we hope, by drawing on people’s basic emotions, to get them to think a little. We want to show people that a South African group can play without being ashamed of its South Africanism’.

The stage was set and it was time for the first concert. The venue was to be the Mowbray Town Hall, which had long since been used for any live band. The date was set for Friday, 27^th October 1978 at 8.00pm. Entrance fee – R2.00. There was an excited buzz around town as word got out about Cape Towns first ‘new wave happening’. The Suits, wearing workman’s overalls stepped out on stage, and what greeted them was beyond their wildest expectations. Gerald Prosalendis, a reporter at the time, described the scene as follows: ‘Five hundred fans pack the Mowbray Town Hall to dance, scream and shout. There were women dressed in black mesh tights, thick, red lipstick, and coiffeurs arranged with plastic drinking straws. One ‘punker’ wore the traditional South African Safari Suit, with deep blue glitter sprinkled in his hair. And as the night wore on, the people grew more and more energetic, dancing, jumping, screaming and shouting to the high-decibelled, electronic rock and roll music. ‘I remember the heat’, said Paul, ‘it was so intense in that hall, that my fingers kept slipping off the fret board because of all the sweat’. ‘Man it looked like the whole front section of the hall was bouncing’, said Guill, describing the scene from the stage, ‘further back people were just standing and staring’.

This was it. The injection that was so badly needed to kick-start the Cape Town live music scene again. The ball had been set rolling, the momentum created…

The Suits rolled on as well, playing their music to an ever increasing audience. In March the following year they took their music on campus. Graham Handley had replaced Charl Avenant on bass. ‘When I first heard them. I was knocked out. I was also impressed with the way the audience responded to them. The Safari Suits, I felt, were not just a slick package deal. You see, young people don’t want the intellectual bull people have handed out in the past.’ said Graham. The band was also strengthened by Graham’s song-writing and vocal abilities. They played to a packed Yellow Level at UCT, their new wave style of music becoming increasingly popular amongst students. One reporter at the time described it as follows: ‘Traditionally, UCT had been the stage for urban black jazz and other above-board liberal jorls. Campus music has particularly been second-hand, unchallenging and dreadfully safe. Dictated by record company royalties and DJ requests, the South African music sift and saturation scheme has resulted in The Suits appearing to be a band on the edge of everything else’.

The New Suits

When Guillaume expressed the wish to pursue a purer ‘punk’ line of music it was time for a change. He, and Jeff Knight left and The Suits consolidated into a four-piece with Richard ‘Dish’ Devey taking over on drums. This left the remaining members free to pursue the experimental music direction which they had created, believing the term ‘punk’ best be left to describe council flats and the dole. The parting of ways was amicable, however, with Guill putting together a highly talented band called Housewives Choice. Future gigs were to include bands from other parts of the country i.e. The Radio Rats and Wild Youth who were pursuing similar musical styles. These gigs often included the ‘Housewives’ as well. The Suits were also invited to open at The Good Hope Centre for The Bay City Rollers who were touring the country.

But towards the end of ’79 the band’s energy inevitably started running out and it was decided to call it a day. Steve and Graham moved to Johannesburg where they later teamed up with Jonathan Handley of The Radio Rats and formed a band called The Popguns. Paul and Richard remained in Cape Town and started a band called The News the following year.

Some lesser-known facts

• The Suit’s first resident gig at Club Tropicana was bust up by the police and Guillaume ‘Gap’ spent the night in jail.
• His nickname was ‘Gap’ because he had a missing front tooth.
• A little known artist at that time, David Kramer, auditioned for vocals when Guillaume left the Suits.
• ‘Dish’ Devey played drums on David’s first album, ‘Bakgat’.
• The Bay City Roller’s management offered to buy Steve Moni’s Gibson guitar so that they could smash it on stage at the Good Hope Centre. Steve said “up yours”.
• Steve’s dad was a conductor of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.
• Graham Handley was the brother of Jonathan, founding member of The Radio Rats.
• The band actually only once wore safari suits on stage – during a concert at the Space Theatre.

Information supplied by Paul Jarvis, early 2000s

Documentary

Punk in Africa

Related