If you were at the Jamesons Bar in downtown Joburg in the dark days just before the fall of apartheid, you probably couldn't have avoided having your feet moved by the liveliest band around. Winston's Jive Mixup drove away your blues and put a skip in your step. Just looking at the them was enough to give you hope, with the youngest member being from a conservative Afrikaans family, fresh out of the army, while the eldest was a humble night watchman in his forties. The visuals were as infectious as the music. It was always an occasion when they played.

Of the self titled Winston's Jive Mixup album, a cassette was rushed out for the band to sell on a tour that they were planning for Cape Town. On the way down, the band's Kombi crashed, killing the guitarist Adam Reinecke and injuring several others. After that, I thought it was in bad taste to rush the album out as it felt like capitalizing on misfortune. It was never subsequently released.

It is now available on digital download, and I advise you to check it out. The music has aged well - it is still as fresh, positive and exciting as it was back in the dank subterranean depths of the Jamesons. On the Vault page you will find some freebees from the Winston's demo session, a music vid and a selection of images.
Merry Christmas
Lloyd

Shifty is rush releasing Forces Favourites on CD for the End Conscription Campaign 25 year anniversary celebration this weekend. Originally released in the mid 1980’s, this album featured new recordings of popular tracks of many of the ECC sympathizing artists of the day. While remastering the album, I came across a song from the recording sessions that wasn’t included on the album. It’s a kinda naive "Beds are Burning" called "Give Africa Back" by the Unbanned, or was that the Unband? If anyone remembers more than me (nothing) about this group, please mail me on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it because the song is now on the album!
Lloyd Ross

The HAPPY SHIPS was the last band that I was a fully-fledged member of before I gave up the glamour, bright lights, groupies and wheelbarrow loads full of money that defined the life of a gigging alternative musician in sleepy Cape Town in the early 80’s. What helped the Ships’ rake in even more cash was the fact that we were experimental and played only once a year. As an early indication of how eclectic the Shifty catalogue was going to turn out, this album came out hot on the heels of Shifty’s first release, Sankomota. Listening to “Sound Future” after all these years makes me feel…kinda…proud. It still sounds fresh, full of fab ideas and whacky youthful vigor. Hey, but don’t take my word for it. Read the thoughts of Swami Hamish and Warrick Sony, download the freebees and give the album a wee preview and decide for yourself. Click here .
Lloyd Ross

Sankomota or Shift1, was the very first album released by Shifty Records. Fittingly, this project captured the essence of what Shifty was about, i.e. moving our free wheeling mobile studio to source to record a group banned in South Africa due to their political leanings, and thereafter finding avenues to get their vital music heard by the people of the country. It was a slow process, but the first Sankomota album became one of Shifty Records’ most consistent sellers. A Shifty evergreen.