Monster From The Bog – Psycho Reptiles

Monster From The Bog – Psycho Reptiles (Crocodile rock)

Psycho Reptiles – Have Beans Will Travel

The reptiles were one of the most successful Ska-punk bands in South Africa in the late 80’s. They produced one album, the wonderfully entitled ‘Have Beans Will Travel’ on which ‘The Monster From The Bog’ appeared.

This memorable track has a Stray Cats rock-a-billy feel to it and a number of tempo changes to keep it fresh. It also has the humour that was commonly found in that genre. This is further evidenced in the key to the songs on the album. Monster From The Bog is listed with ‘NSL’ after it. The key reveals this to mean ‘Not So Long’. Other notations include ‘NALATAS’ which stands for ‘Not as long as Trip And Stumble’ (Trip and Stumble itself being LTO – Longer than others).

Sarah Pontin provides a great sax backing to Mike Seale’s doom-laden vocals while the lyrics tell a story that has a Frankenstein-ish feel to it. Although the band failed to make it past their debut album, the music has lived on as evidenced by the fact that ‘Monster From The Bog’ made it onto the soundtrack to the movie ‘Spud’, perhaps testimony to just how good the Reptiles were.

Where to find it:

Have Beans Will Travel, 1988, David Gresham Records DGR 1125
Various Artists – Rocking Against The System (2001), Fresh Music, FRESHCD119
Various Artists – Spud (soundtrack) (2010), Gallo, CDRPM 2067

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