Just come off the phone after having a lovely chat with Tony TS McPhee and his wonderful partner Joanne.I’m currently working on a piece about The Groundhogs mindmelting classic Split and have been getting in touch with the eclectic cast of characters either devoted to or involved in the bands career.I’m not going to bore you on why I think the Hogs are a much underrated band and still relevant today,I’ll let more eloquent fans like Karl Hyde ,Captain Sensible,Julian Cope and Mark E Smith do that for me when the feature comes out.
Suffice it to say that I took Jimmy Page to see them at the 100 club a few months ago and even he was impressed by Mcphhe’s virtuosity which still shines even those he is recuperating from his third stroke.They met backstage afterwards and Jimmy told Tony how much he loved his performance on Blues Brittania.
Towards the end of my concversation with Joanne I told her how pleased I was to see that EMI have reissued four of The Groundhogs albums on three cd’s.She said she only found out about it a few days ago,which is not unsual because nobody tells them when the material is being re-released.
I find it disgusting that record companies don’t have the sensitivity or class to get in touch with artists when they are recycling their product.Even if the musicians don’t own the product labels should have the decency to send them a copy.It also makes good buisness sense to get them involved in the publicity.All they have to do is get the secretary to check Google and bingo you’ve sold a few more copies.
One Response to who will save the world?
hi Pete, long time no see !! Im refering to the heady days wheni lived in B’mouth.glad to see your back to what your good at. When i came back to South Shields, I was fortunate enough to see Tony do a solo set at the amphi theatre and he had’nt changed much since i saw the band at the palace theatre in Westcliff-on-sea.Very sory to hear hes had three strokes but it does’nt seem to have impared him any.The band had just released Split when i saw them at the palace , so its brought back a few memories.Tony was’nt feeling his-self that night and was none too pleased at the slow hand clap for comin on 20 mins late.Still he put on a good show and stole it for me with groundhog blues. Well Pete, would be nice to get an E-mail off you so take care ‘n be lucky my friend