The Radio Rats was a South African rock group formed in 1977[1] in Springs, Gauteng, by Jonathan Handley (lead guitar and background vocals), Dave Davies on lead vocals and Herbie Parkin on bass, with various drummers. Leonard Dixon is remembered as the group’s drummer during its most famous period. The South African Rock Lists website lists Into the Night We Slide as one of the top ten local rock albums of the seventies, along with Hawk’s African Day (1971), Freedom’s Children’s Astra (1970) and Rabbitt’s Boys Will Be Boys (1975).[1][2] Into the Night We Slide has also been included in the “Essential South African albums” list, based on a survey of various people in the South African music industry compiled in 2002 by music critic, John Samson. In his Radio Rats retrospective on SAFM radio in January 2000, Nigel Vermaas called Jonathan Handley one of the unsung heroes of South African music: “He’s funny, he’s witty and he’s dedicated. And he’s disarmingly self-deprecating.” The name “Radio Rats” first appeared on an A4 poster drawn and put up in August 1977 in Springs up by fifth-year Wits University medical student, Jonathan Handley. The band had in quick succession earlier that year called themselves “The Warehouse Rats”, then “Slither”, which briefly featured John Griffith — who as solo artist “John Ireland” would make his name with hits, “(You’re) Living Inside my Head” in 1978 and “I Like” in 1982. Dave Davies gave Parkin — also called David — the nickname “Herbie” because he didn’t want a band with two men sporting the same name, and it stuck. Lloyd Ross of Shifty Records joined the Rats as a second guitarist and played on the 7-singles, “Crazy Caroline” and “Rocket Road”, in 1979. Cheryl van Blerk was the PRO for the Gramophone Record Company when she first heard the Radio Rats’ demos, including an intriguing song titled “ZX Dan”. When GRC ignored them, she recommended the band to her brother Patric, the owner of Jo’Burg Records and the legendary South African producer and composer. Jo’Burg Records was very active at the time following the success of artists like Rabbitt and Margaret Singana. Patric van Blerk, remembering that he loved the band from when he first heard them, described them in these terms: “Jonathan is a wizard and Dave Davies the greatest undiscovered rock leader singer in the world (alongside Brian Davidson [of Freedom’s Children]) ! The whole album was oh-so right — and ‘ZX Dan’ just screamed ‘hit’.” Cheryl van Blerk left GRC to become the Rats’ manager. The band cites among its influences John Cale (“not JJ Cale!”), David Bowie, Iggy Pop & the Stooges, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and the early Dr Feelgood. Despite this, during live performances they mostly played their own songs, which had all been written by Handley. Jonathan Handley and Dave Davies still record and perform together. Handley is an anaesthetist practising in Pietermaritzburg and continues to record and archive in his home studio in Winterskloof. As an anaesthetist, he also oversees the training of future diplomate in anaesthetics. By September 2013, Jonathan Handley and his team of tutors at the hospital have trained more than 100 diplomate in anaesthetics. Davies still resides in the same house in Springs where he has always lived. Herbie Parkin is living, working, and playing in Sweden, most recently with Men on the Border, while Leonard Dixon has settled in Germany where he is still drumming. 2013’s Cyanide Lake has reunited musically all four members that played on Into the Night We Slide, for the first time since the band’s classic 1978 album.
