In 2007 Tony McPhee once again put a working band together for live concerts. To date the band is still working fronted by Tony McPhee despite having had a stroke.
During the early 1970s, The Groundhogs were among the most popular and successful groups in the UK, with three Top 10 LPs to their credit in under two years. Originally formed circa 1964 (and first known as The Dollar Bills before becoming John Lee's Groundhogs, to reflect their admiration for John Lee Hooker), the group was led by singer/songwriter/lead guitarist Tony (T.S.) McPhee. The first version of the group lasted about a year, after which McPhee joined Truth, who had released a UK Top 30 hit in early 1966 with a cover version of 'Girl', the Lennon & McCartney song from the 'Rubber Soul' album by The Beatles, before McPhee joined. They followed it up later in 1966 with another near-hit, a cover version of 'I Go To Sleep', a song written by Ray Davies of The Kinks, on which McPhee did play, but soon dispersed. From there, he briefly joined Boz & The Boz People (led by Boz Burrell, later of King Crimson and Bad Company), and then Herbal Mixture (with John Dummer - McPhee also worked with John Dummer's Blues Band, and appeared on their debut LP, 'Cabal', in 1968). And even before all that, he had turned down the chance to replace Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, when Clapton went off on his legendary trip to Greece in the Summer of 1965...
In 1968, Roy Fisher, the manager of the early incarnation of The Groundhogs, was working as a photographer, and in that guise, went to Liberty Records, where he met Andrew Lauder, then a young A&R man for the label. Lauder told Fisher that if The Groundhogs could be reassembled, he would sign the group and they could make an LP. McPhee instantly agreed, and contacted bass player Pete Cruickshank, who had been in the original Groundhogs, and had also worked with McPhee in Herbal Mixture, and with the addition of drummer Ken Pustelnik and harmonica player Steve Rye, the group re-formed in 1968, when they released their debut LP, 'Scratching The Surface' (now reissued on BGOCD 15).
The producer of that album was Mike Batt, later the man behind the remarkable success of The Wombles. For the second Groundhogs LP in 1969, 'Blues Obituary' (with which the band tried to distance themselves from their image as a blues band, hence the album title), McPhee was the producer, and the considerably increased sales of that album (now re-issued as BGOCD 6) brought the band (now a three-piece, after Steve Rye's departure) to the brink of fame.
The LP which actually achieved that milestone was 'Thank Christ For The Bomb', released in 1970, which peaked in the Top 10 of the UK album chart. In 1997, McPhee recalled the circumstances behind the album with the attention-grabbing title, which ran against fashionable philosophy at the time (although some say that fearsome weapons like the Atom Bomb and the Hydrogen Bomb are the major reason for it being over 50 years since the last World War). McPhee refuses to take the entire credit for this revolutionary theory, admitting: "Well, it was forced on me a bit". Roy Fisher suggested that McPhee should think of something controversial for the new LP. "John Lennon had just made his famous quote about The Beatles being more popular than Christ, and everyone was up in arms. So Roy said 'Let's marry it up with the bomb. How about 'Thank Christ For The Bomb?'. So I went home and I had to write these lyrics, and my initial thoughts were that in the First World War, if you were injured you were sent home. And that was my first idea - a soldier is blown up and his toes are blown off so he goes home again. No, that's not enough. So I thought, well, let's make it the atomic bomb, really piss people off. My thought was, and it's been said by other people, that once something is invented you can't forget it, it's there, so there's no point in trying to pretend it doesn't exist. I always felt that through the ages, the broadsword must have been the ultimate weapon at one point, because they could chop people's heads off all over the place, and the crossbow and the longbow - there's always been the ultimate weapon, it's just a question of degree, really".
The album made The Groundhogs a fashionable chart act, helped, interestingly enough by a certain disc jockey: "It did very well. I've got to say that John Peel broke that album because he had that Sunday afternoon radio show, and he did the same for us as he did for 'Sabre Dance', he played that to death and he broke it, and he picked on 'Soldier' as a particular track and he really broke that album". As an aside, one of Peel's reputed favourite all-time acts, The Fall, in fact covered a Groundhogs song from the album after 'Thank Christ For The Bomb', 'Split' (now reissued as BGOCD 76).
The group's next LP came out in 1972 and was entitled, 'Who Will Save The World' (BGOCD 77). After its release, Ken Pustelnik left the band, and was replaced by Clive Brooks. The band recorded the following LP, 'Hogwash' (BGOCD 44), later that same year. After that, the Groundhogs moved to another label connected with the group's new management, who had taken over from Roy Fisher after 'Who Will Save The World'. The new arrangements ultimately proved to be a mistake, and led to the band splitting up in April 1975, only for McPhee to launch a brand new Groundhogs line-up later that year, responding to popular demand.
The new lineup rejoined Liberty/UA, where they had enjoyed considerable success, and recorded a new album, 'Crosscut Saw', in 1975, and a year later, made 'Black Diamond'; both these LPs have now been reissued on a single CD (BGOCD 131). After that, The Groundhogs again split up as punk rock became the order of the day. McPhee reflects: "We were never fashionable, and I'm sure that was because music writers couldn't pigeonhole us. They couldn't say we were a blues band, they couldn't say we were heavy metal, because we were neither, we were a heavy metal blues band, so whatever they didn't like, they called us. If they hated blues, we were a blues band, if they hated heavy metal, we were a heavy metal band. In the early 1980s, I went back to London and did some blues gigs and got the Tony McPhee Blues Band together. Then the 'Hogging The Stage' live double album was released, credited to The Groundhogs, which reached the independent chart, and I thought oh, I give in, it's Groundhogs again. And the daft thing was that when we were doing the 'Half Moon' at Putney as the Tony McPhee Band, we did pretty well, we got 200 people in there, but when we called it The Groundhogs, doing the same set we got 500 people. It's stupid..."
John Tobler, 1997
Taken from the CD reissue of "Thank Christ For The Bomb" (1970), BGO CD 67
http://www.alexgitlin.com/ghogs.html
Garden
Groundhogs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Grass has grown over two foot high and the trees are blocking out the sky.
French windows won't open any more from the moss that's grown outside the door,
Hundred birds are nesting in the trees, looks like a wild-life sanctuary.
BREAK
But I'm not going to cut a single blade of grass, my garden will look just like the distant past,
When I leave this house I'm going to stay, I'm forsaking my comforts to live another way,
Get my clothes from heaps, my food from bins, my water from ponds and have tramps for all my friends.
BREAK
SOLO
REPEAT VERSE 2
The lyrics of Garden by Groundhogs paint a vivid picture of an overgrown garden that has become a sanctuary for various creatures. The singer of the song seems to relish the wildness and chaos of his garden, as he declares that he will not cut a single blade of grass. The lyrics suggest that the singer is rejecting modern civilization and all its trappings, opting instead for a simpler, more natural way of life. He talks about getting his clothes from heaps, his food from bins, and his water from ponds, indicating a willingness to live off the land.
The line "before the days of agricultural land, before the time when pebbles turned to sand" is particularly powerful. It suggests that the singer longs for a time before humans had a major impact on the environment, a time when the world was free from the constraints of modernity. Overall, the lyrics of Garden can be seen as a manifesto for environmentalism and a rejection of consumerist, materialistic culture.
Line by Line Meaning
My garden is all overgrown and the weeds are creeping up on my home,
The singer's garden is overgrown with weeds and tall grass, which is encroaching on the house.
Grass has grown over two foot high and the trees are blocking out the sky.
The grass in the garden has grown to be over 2 feet high and the trees are so thick that they prevent sunlight from reaching the ground.
French windows won't open any more from the moss that's grown outside the door,
Due to the moss growing outside the door, the French windows can no longer be opened.
Hundred birds are nesting in the trees, looks like a wild-life sanctuary.
The garden has become a habitat for wildlife, evidenced by the presence of numerous bird nests in the trees.
But I'm not going to cut a single blade of grass, my garden will look just like the distant past,
The artist has no intention of cutting down the grass and plans to maintain the overgrown look of the garden, reminiscent of the past.
Before the days of agricultural land, before the time when pebbles turned to sand.
The singer idealizes a time before agriculture when the natural landscape was untouched by human activity.
When I leave this house I'm going to stay, I'm forsaking my comforts to live another way,
The singer plans to leave the house and abandon modern comforts to live a more primitive, self-sufficient lifestyle.
Get my clothes from heaps, my food from bins, my water from ponds and have tramps for all my friends.
The artist plans to obtain clothing from discarded heaps, food from waste bins, and water from ponds. They also hope to befriend homeless individuals, referred to as tramps.
Contributed by Charlotte B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@ray123ification
Groundhogs are my favorite band, loved them since scratching the surface. They are different from anyone else and each album is unique. Today, right now, as my mind wonders back 40 years to my little flat in holloway, John Peel on my transistor radio under my pillow so my mum couldn't hear me listening, today,right now this is my favorite all timer. I live the hogs and will die the hogs, a massive part of my life. Thanks El G and Tony TS.
@alantjs5
Yes you cant pigeonhole them,,each album was different,,i actually wore out thank christ for the bomb,,fantastic times .
@ThierryLerond
Les groundhogs était une direction rock et blues pour l innovation ,a la fois brut réelle instantané et pure , la voix de Tony est unique,lui et la rythmique excellente ,on les adore
@shemanic1
The garden is overgrown & nature is lovin it. R.I.P. Tony.
@stevenjgw9
This is a piece of music that transcends time space and becomes part of your being.
@Padraig656
!
@derekread763
absofuckinglutely
@spyridonkaprinis
Amen to that !
@Sabredance66
One of my fave G'Hogs tracks... saw them play this Live in London a number of times many years ago! Great treat for a then young Australian!
@stevemorley5748
So True