“Youth is full of pleasance; age is full of care;

Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.

Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee.” –The Passionate Pilgrim

Was Shakespeare there with me? When the screams rang loud? A revolution was hosted in Soweto, not the political type. Armed with drums, strings, vocals and skateboards, a careless collection of Soweto youth snatched the streets of deep Soweto back. The Soweto Rock Revolution, the golem child of TCIYF guitarist Thula Sizwe, took its first breath on Sunday  07 July, heralding  a fresh age in the township  indie music scene. We have seen countless shows in Soweto featuring rock art however none has ever been purely dedicated to rock culture. The day began with a great skate session at the Dude Transport Terminal, I’m talking grind boxes, rails, quarter pipes and a picnic bench! Thula had a comp going for the rock n skating massive with the young “Sketchy” trashing everything and taking best trick (180 degrees) over the bench. Success, also a beaming Soweto youth took the best trick on the grind box and the rail with a cool like board slide winning himself two Skate Society t-shirts and the love of the Rock Revolution massive.  The pace was set for the live performances that followed later at The Streethawker Concept Store.

The church wine fell from the sky as The C** In Your Face  blessed  trash punk followers with the most gnarled of track lists. “Fatherless kids/ These boys are bastards/ They don’t have a f***k to give” loud, affirmative and unapologetic TCIYF had the Soweto Rock Revolution franticly drinking from their papsak. Soon after the venue morphed into the blood seething bowls of hell. Dark, low fed vocals filled the air as the crowd below banged their heads loose and turned centre stage dangerous, a marsh pit, dedicated to the dark lord. Demogoroth Satanum surely are the next black metal rock gods, or should I say demons!  The best performance of the night came in the form of Death At A Party  young rock  juggernauts carving titles like “The Devil Is better” and their marsh pit got people bleeding.

The Soweto Rock Revolution took its first breath this past Sunday and we were there to capture this bone knocking, wine fed scream at the flat and boring. “F**k normal people” – vocalist for Death At A Party

 -Photography by Lebogang Tlhako and Khabazela Mkhize