Let's get one thing straight: the Exploited are not 'punkers' or any of the other cutesy, watered down, MTV friendly names you might want to call them.

Formed in Edinburgh in 1980 by ex-soldier Wattie Buchan, The Exploited were at the helm of the harder, second wave of punk rock along with bands like Discharge and GBH. Their debut release was as much a rallying battle cry as a record and ‘Punk’s Not Dead’ went on to become the number one independent album of 1981 reaching number 20 in the UK mainstream charts.

Which kind of proved the point: if punk was indeed dead, no one had told the bands rapidly growing ‘Barmy Army’.

With a string of independent releases and over 20 years of touring The Exploited have reached iconic punk status worldwide and have been covered and cited as major influences by acts including Slayer, Queens Of The Stoneage, Atari Teenage Riot, Nirvana and Massive Attack.

'F#%k The System', their eighth studio album, sees the band on more explosive form than ever, riotous, unrepentant and wholly uncompromising. Tracks like ‘Never Sell Out’ and ‘Chaos Is My Life’ (both self-explanatory) are brutally heavy and prove that, not only is there life in the old dog yet, but this band’s got rabies!

Riot starting, bouncer bashing, cop baiting, hotel trashing, foul talking, noise making, chaos causing, venue wrecking, government hating, rule breaking, unrelenting, punk rocking, The Exploited are headed to Cape Town and Jozi at the end of June.

27 June 2008: Cape Town - Roar
Observatory (above Gandalf's)
Support by Mutiny, TDKM, Half Price
All ages show. Doors open 7.30pm. First band on at 8pm.

28 June 2008: Johannesburg - The Bassline
10 Henry Nxumalo Street, Newtown Music Centre
Support by Dean & The Deadbeats, Swivel Foot, Vendetta Cartel, Fuzigish, Bloodline Ltd
All ages show. Doors open 5.30pm. First band on at 6pm.

Tickets cost R210 pre-sale from Computicket and R250 at the door.