1981 – The Shufflers
Adrian Bekker – guitar & vocals
John McGuinness – guitar & vocals
Billy Walter – guitar & violin
Hylton Reiff – bass & vocals
Lloyd Martin – drums
Gary Smith – drums
Peter Pierce – drums
In 1981, my musical collaboration with Adrian Bekker led to me joining The Shufflers, a Cape Town band built around Adrian's original songs.
The line-up included John McGuinness on guitar and vocals, Billy Walter on guitar and violin, and me on bass and vocals. Several drummers played with the band at different times, including Lloyd Martin, whom I had previously played with in Orbit, as well as Gary Smith and Peter Pierce.
With three guitarists, violin, bass and drums, The Shufflers had an interesting combination of instruments and provided another outlet for Adrian's prolific songwriting.
My time with the band was relatively brief, and unfortunately I don't have a great deal of information or photographs from this period. However, a few recordings have survived, including Morning Station and All My Money, providing another small piece of the musical history from those Cape Town years.
The Shufflers were also part of a much longer creative relationship between Adrian and me. Long after the band itself had ended, we continued getting together to write, jam, experiment and record music throughout the 1980s.
Surviving Recordings
The recordings below are among the few surviving examples I have of The Shufflers in 1981.
