The story of the
Groundhogs spans the most exciting years British rock will ever enjoy.
Springing from the same early roots as the Animals, Pretty Things and Rolling
Stones, they soon garnered a reputation as a blues band backing the likes of
John Lee Hooker and many other giants of the genre. From this solid base, they
graduated to writing some of the most challenging progressive rock music of the
1960s and 1970s, yet the next generation of musicians like Captain Sensible and
others were fans.
Led by visionary guitarist, singer and
songwriter Tony McPhee (who sadly passed away in 2023, age 79), abetted by the
powerhouse rhythm section of Ken Pustelnik and Pete Cruickshank. DJ John Peel
was a big fan and helped to send their Split album into the top five.
Other albums such as Thank Christ For The
Bomb, Who Will Save The World, Hogwash and Solid cemented their reputation and
their thirteen studio albums span four decades. Tony's adventures as a pioneer
of the synthesizer, taking it on the road on a solo tour and building one of
the first home studios to record with it, shows another side to the complex
McPhee that is far less widely known, understood and, let alone, appreciated.
This is the story of those classic years.