careers. Thus Phillips, along with several of his contemporaries, found himself in a position in which the prospects of a recording contract or airplay were remote. However, Corporal Punishment caught the attention of the small, independent Shifty label. Shifty had a reputation for signing groups that no other South African label would touch, but that usually meant that airplay was unlikely (almost by definition acts signed to Shifty were considered "subversive") and promotional budgets would be small. In 1980, shifty released the EP "Fridays And Saturdays". Corporal Punishment had a recording released, but sales and exposure were negligible and the band split soon afterwards. After the break-up of Corporal Punishment, Phillips formed a new, short-lived band called "Illegal Gathering". Then, he embarked on studies towards a bachelor's degree in music at Rhodes and then at Wits University. Then, he formed The Cherry Faced Lurchers and played songs like "Do the Lurch" or "That's my Shirt and I Want it Back". The band gained popularity when they had a residency at the then-unknown Jameson's. Jameson's was a bar on Commissioner Street in Jo'burg's central business district. It had a Kruger liquor license – one of a small handful issued by the onetime president of the Transvaal at the turn of the 20th century, a license that transcended the racially divided and time-restricted liquor laws of the day. Young (mostly white) South Africans mixed with their counterparts of colour and everyone drank freely together. It was like the bastard child of Sophiatown. It was the new South Africa in twisted embryo. Jameson's made The Cherry-Faced Lurchers, it was the moment at which a rather ramshackle band pulled itself together. By July 1985, when Lloyd Ross of Shifty Records put Live at Jameson's down on tape, they were an extraordinarily tight three-piece with a repertoire of songs exceptional for their strength. As the political landscape continued to get darker as the 1980s dragged on so too did Phillips's lyrics with songs like "The Branch" (a song about the viciousness of the security police) and 'Detainees' (about the various death's in detention during the time) these songs show Phillip's anguished concerns during this time of apartheid's darkest oppression. Away from Jameson's, Phillips was putting the finishing touches to another project under the alter ego Bernoldus Niemand, and his Wie is Bernoldus Niemand? album (1985). Targeting the monolithic Afrikaner "cultural establishment", the album was promptly