Timeline

This is a work in progress, as Battery9 is also a work in progress.

1994

• Paul Riekert, having disbanded his previous act Joos Tonteldoos & Die Dwarstrekkers a year earlier, spends quality time with his sampler, a portable DAT machine, a guitar and an old analogue synth, and creates the Battery9 sound.

1995

• On April 1, the first Battery9 live performance takes place at a "rave", held in a warehouse in the old industrial part of central Johannesburg called Silos (the name of the venue had changed to Carfax, and most recently, Loaded, and is still operational). The line-up comprised Paul on vocals and junk percussion, Anton L'amour on guitar, Ampie Omo on junk percussion, At Nel who loaded data into the sampler and Huyser Burger who did a painting from behind the canvas.
• Protskrog, the first Battery9 album, is launched on 20 April at The Fridge in Pretoria. Flyer: Front, Back
• As the album starts to sell at a pace, Battery9 start a long cycle of live performances that would last until 1999. A Durban club called The Station gets the honour of having hosted the first Battery9 gig outside of Gauteng. Noteably, Club Uranus (Cape Town), Zeplins (then in Vanderbijlpark) and Oppikoppi (Northam) were also early birds.
• Barney Simon starts playing Protskrog on his nighttime show on 5FM.
• Paul starts recording the second Battery9 album.

1996

• On August 28 the second album Strop is released at a packed and sweaty The Fridge that had just made the move to Johannesburg. The album would receive daytime airplay on national radio with the tracks 'Kiss the Machine' and 'Cross No More Rivers', resulting in Battery9 breaking through to a wider audience.