Between Rock & a Hard Place

How does a white, middle-class youngster, guileless product of Christian-nationalist education, end up in the grubby world of protest punk, slap-bang in the middle of the Struggle? Carsten Rasch's irreverent memoir brilliantly uncovers the South African counter-culture punk and new wave scene of the late seventies and early eighties. As a drummer and intrepid music promoter, he explores those tumultuous times, veering madly between lucid moments of desperate innovation and psychedelic adventures, teetering on the rim of sanity. From a music festival in Port St Johns to disastrous concerts in the hinterland; from Juluka to E'void and James Phillips to Mapantsula; from big ideas to narrow escapes and moderate successes to massive fiascos, roadblock to roadblock, gig to gig, Between Rock & a Hard Place is a blow-for-blow rock 'n roll story told from the dubious vantage point of being below the underbelly. It is also an aberrant coming-of-age tale set in a time of political madness and debauchery.