Jonathan Handley is the enigmatic songwriter
and guitarist of that legendary band from Springs called Radio Rats. Michael
Cross made a documentary about the band called “Jiving and Dying: The Radio
According to Cross, the film, twenty-five years in the
making, introduces the music of the Rats and the words of Jonathan Handley “in
an attempt to afford them the place they deserve in the history of independent
rock ’n’ roll in South Africa.”
Willim goes to the screening of the film this past Saturday
at the Labia Theatre and lures Jonathan and Michael back to his garage the next
morning to talk about the Rats, the film, the music, Springs and James Phillips.
Jonathan also riffs on digital tape machines, tape hiss,
noise reduction, how small town music scenes are Darwinian in nature, not
having suitcases full of cash and why he is an anaesthetist
by day and a songwriter, guitarist, cartoon artist and an archiver by night.
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