Otis Waygood Untold | Rob Zipper
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Rob Zipper (Otis Waygood Blues Band | Lead Singer and Saxophonist) tells the wild, full story
This episode is for Gen X music lovers who grew up hearing the name Otis Waygood and wondering what really happened. Benjy Mudie sits down with Rob Zipper, lead singer and saxophonist of the Otis Waygood Blues Band, for the first time in decades to relive the extraordinary story of the band that Rian Malan called "our Led Zeppelin, our Free, maybe even our Rolling Stones."
Rob takes you back to Rhodesia in the early 1960s, the teen band scene in Salisbury, and the moment Morris Trigger sang "Rock Around the Clock" in standard one and changed everything. He traces the blues education that began with Benny Millar, the maverick guitarist who introduced the band to Eric Clapton, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and Bob Dylan years before anyone else knew who they were.
The episode goes deep on the band's explosive arrival in South Africa in 1969: the Battle of the Bands at Green Point Stadium, the Electric Circus in Linksfield, and the night a sharply dressed young man named Clive Calder walked up the stairs and offered them a ten percent royalty deal at EMI, an unheard-of figure that made headlines and launched a phenomenon. Rob explains the chemistry behind the Calder-Otis Waygood partnership, why it never quite worked the same way for Freedom's Children, Suck or Abstract Truth, and how Clive Calder and Ralph Simon went on to build Zomba Records, sign Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.
You will hear about the three albums recorded in 1970, including the classics "Late Miss Kate," "Fever" and "Watchin' Chain"; the communal house in Parkhurst where Abstract Truth and jamming musicians from the townships were regular guests; and the tragic, quietly heartbreaking story of flute player Martin Jackson.
Rob then traces the band's journey through Amsterdam's Paradiso club, a medieval commune near Tubingen, the near-miss with Richard Branson at the Virgin Manor, a late-night encounter with Del Newman (Cat Stevens and Shirley Bassey's producer), and seeing Bob Marley and the original Wailers at the Speakeasy in Oxford Circus when there were barely five tables in the room. The story ends with a white Rhodesian reggae band playing Black clubs in Stoke Newington and Handsworth, a tour supporting Tavares, and a night at the London Palladium.
This episode is for Gen X music lovers who grew up hearing the name Otis Waygood and wondering what really happened. Benjy Mudie sits down with Rob Zipper, lead singer and saxophonist of the Otis Waygood Blues Band, for the first time in decades to relive the extraordinary story of the band that Rian Malan called "our Led Zeppelin, our Free, maybe even our Rolling Stones."
Rob takes you back to Rhodesia in the early 1960s, the teen band scene in Salisbury, and the moment Morris Trigger sang "Rock Around the Clock" in standard one and changed everything. He traces the blues education that began with Benny Millar, the maverick guitarist who introduced the band to Eric Clapton, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and Bob Dylan years before anyone else knew who they were.
The episode goes deep on the band's explosive arrival in South Africa in 1969: the Battle of the Bands at Green Point Stadium, the Electric Circus in Linksfield, and the night a sharply dressed young man named Clive Calder walked up the stairs and offered them a ten percent royalty deal at EMI, an unheard-of figure that made headlines and launched a phenomenon. Rob explains the chemistry behind the Calder-Otis Waygood partnership, why it never quite worked the same way for Freedom's Children, Suck or Abstract Truth, and how Clive Calder and Ralph Simon went on to build Zomba Records, sign Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.
You will hear about the three albums recorded in 1970, including the classics "Late Miss Kate," "Fever" and "Watchin' Chain"; the communal house in Parkhurst where Abstract Truth and jamming musicians from the townships were regular guests; and the tragic, quietly heartbreaking story of flute player Martin Jackson.
Rob then traces the band's journey through Amsterdam's Paradiso club, a medieval commune near Tubingen, the near-miss with Richard Branson at the Virgin Manor, a late-night encounter with Del Newman (Cat Stevens and Shirley Bassey's producer), and seeing Bob Marley and the original Wailers at the Speakeasy in Oxford Circus when there were barely five tables in the room. The story ends with a white Rhodesian reggae band playing Black clubs in Stoke Newington and Handsworth, a tour supporting Tavares, and a night at the London Palladium.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Rian Malan Quote
- 02:00 The Teen Band Scene in Rhodesia
- 03:25 Rock and Roll Awakening
- 04:44 Jazz at Home and Bob Dylan
- 06:23 Political Awareness in Southern Africa
- 07:35 Benny Millar and the Blues Crusade
- 10:17 How the Name Otis Waygood Was Born
- 11:51 Cult Following in Rhodesia
- 14:30 The Road Trip to Cape Town in 1969
- 16:43 Battle of the Bands and Rocking the Rotunda
- 17:52 SONG Help Me
- 20:03 Benjy's Personal Otis Waygood Memories
- 21:31 Clive Calder Walks Up the Stairs
- 23:31 The Ten Percent Royalty Ruse and Press Frenzy
- 25:19 Recording at EMI with Leo Largay
- 28:53 SONG Watch n Chain
- 31:08 SONG Fever
- 33:33 Ralph Simon, Sagittarius and Zomba Records
- 35:04 The Second Album and New Influences
- 36:30 SONG You're Late Miss Kate
- 36:58 SONG Feeling the Good
- 38:42 Communal Living and the Common Bank Account
- 39:57 Album Sales and the End of South Africa
- 40:57 Martin Jackson: What Really Happened
- 45:26 SONG In The Sun
- 47:41 Three Albums in One Year
- 48:29 SONG Madman's Cry
- 52:16 Leaving for Holland to Dodge the Rhodesian Army
- 54:25 Amsterdam: Salvation Army to the Paradiso Club
- 57:00 SONG Straight Ahead
- 59:31 Touring Holland and the Move to Germany
- 01:03:15 Arriving in London: Del Newman and Cat Stevens
- 01:06:17 Richard Branson, the Virgin Manor and the Near Miss
- 01:10:46 Seeing Bob Marley at the Speakeasy
- 01:11:59 Becoming a Reggae Band in London
- 01:13:49 Phoebe's in Stoke Newington
- 01:17:55 Decca Records, Tavares and the London Palladium
- 01:20:17 The End of the Road
- 01:22:40 The Legacy of Otis Waygood
- 01:24:14 SONG Who's Your Friend?
- 01:26:58 Thank you
- 01:27:30 SONG I Can't Keep From Crying
