Steve Louw founded trail-blazing eighties band, All Night Radio, with Nico Burger and Rob Nagel. They released two hit albums, The Heart’s The Best Part (1984) and The Killing Floor (1986), their gritty, bluesy, rock-and-roll sound firmly establishing Steve as a star on the South African music scene.
I was freelancing as a record reviewer for The Cape Times, so that I could get all the new releases from the Record Companies. I offered to interview Little Steven (Van Zandt) for the Cape Times and they said sure. I was really keen to meet him as I loved his work as an Arranger/Producer with Springsteen, Southside Johnny and Gary “US” Bonds. I also loved his debut first album, and he had just released Voice of America his second album. We had a great time talking music, studios and production and a 20 minute time slot stretched into hours. He asked me if I was gigging and recording, and said he would love to hear some of the songs. I had the cassette of our live 4 track recordings with me, and the band sounded good after a year of gigging. He listened to the set while I took photos to go with the piece on him. I can still see him in his bandana and leopard print coat looking into the camera while listening to ANR on my walkman. It was a great moment in my life. Anyway he liked what he heard and put me in touch with John Rollo in New Jersey. John agreed to come to Cape Town and work with us on Little Steven’s recommendation, so that meeting was the start of my career.
Steve Louw, April 2021
Singles
- Breaking Hearts (1984) from The Heart’s The Best Part
- Here Comes The Night (1986) from The Killing Floor
- Reign Of Fire (1986) BANNED in South Africa, from The Killing Floor
Albums
Concert In The Park
Breaking Hearts, recorded live on 12th January 1985
Steve Louw 
9 thoughts on “All Night Radio”