About this episode

Rob Zipper shares the untold story of the Otis Waygood Blues Band and their impact on music in the 1960s.

Rob Zipper (Otis Waygood Blues Band | Lead Singer and Saxophonist) tells the wild, full story This episode is for Gen X music lovers who grew up hearing the name Otis Waygood and wondering what really happened. Benjy Mudie sits down with Rob Zipper, lead singer and saxophonist of the Otis Waygood Blues Band, for the first time in decades to relive the extraordinary story of the band that Rian Malan called "our Led Zeppelin, our Free, maybe even our Rolling Stones." Rob takes you back to Rhodesia in the early 1960s, the teen band scene in Salisbury, and the moment Morris Trigger sang "Rock Around the Clock" in standard one and changed everything. He traces the blues education that began with Benny Millar, the maverick guitarist who introduced the band to Eric Clapton, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and Bob Dylan years before anyone else knew who they were. The episode goes deep on the band's explosive arrival in South Africa in 1969: the Battle of the Bands at Green Point Stadium, the Electric Circus in Linksfield, and the night a sharply dressed young man named Clive Calder walked up the stairs and offered them a ten percent royalty deal at EMI, an unheard-of figure that made…

People in this episode

Host: Benjy Mudie

Guest: Rob Zipper

Topics covered

• music history
• blues band
• Gen X culture
• South African music
• band dynamics
• music industry

Keywords

• Otis Waygood
• Rob Zipper
• blues music
• South Africa
• 1960s music
• music industry
• Clive Calder
• Rian Malan

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Otis Waygood Blues Band, Zomba Records

More episodes of From the Hip with Benjy Mudie

• Greek girls ! Post Punk energy! Tearaway songs! | The Peach Story · June 20, 2026 · 1h 3m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the From the Hip with Benjy Mudie podcast page.