The End fanzine tribute to Groundpig (and Graham Evans).
For people of a certain age, in Liverpool The name Groundpig will bring back floods of
wonderful, exuberant memories of strange days and nights in the 80’s when Folk
and Hippy fused together with the thriving scally
(not fuckin “casual”!) scene on Merseyside. Red or blue, male or female, we
fuckin adored Groundpig.
Back in the early 80’s The End dipped its toes into the
fanzine scene and bucked the trend by not aligning itself to a particular music
scene or genre. The musical tastes of the End’s staff members differed greatly,
(as did its football alliances) but what we did share was an absolute love of
football, music and the city centre scene at the time.
For me personally I went to Anfield AND Goodison on a
regular basis (Goodison when I couldn’t afford Liverpool away’s) and for music
I could find bands and venues in Liverpool spanning genres such as Punk, Ska
and reggae (Eric’s Brady’s the warehouse) Mod (Brady’s The Lincolns inn)
Rockabilly (the slaughterhouse). And in between was the Liverpool scene with
bands like The Bunnymen, Wah, teardrop explodes, Afraid of Mice, Cook da books etc….not
mention clubs where you could listen to the likes of kraftwerk and early Human
League etc (the Harrington or Michelle Claires), the city was buzzing!
Musically, there were so many options and football wise
both teams were successful and this
helped us create The End fanzine and
become a massive part in the creation of the new scally scene (I won’t go into
all that entailed as you’ve read it all many times now, other than to say, for
the main part scallies can be
described as clued up, well dressed, innovative young lads with more than a
smattering of naughty hooligans firmly at the heart of it all).
Around 81-82 the name Groundpig (or Groundhog, as they had previously been know) started
to get bandied about more and more amongst our merry band of red and blue brethren
(especially by those of us who had started moving away from warm lager and
cheap nasty spirits and had discovered the magic of marijuana after meeting the
Liverpool 8 boys on many a Monday Reggae Night in the jukebox room at Eric’s around 1979.)
So we started to seek out Groundpig gigs on Saturday
nights following the match and outsiders were astonished to suddenly find
200-300 young, sharply dressed scallies turning up to see what was essentially
a folk band of typically “folk looking”
musicians…
On the outside it all looked very odd, but for us it
was a natural progression from the eye watering, smokey nights in “genesis corner” in Gatsby’s where ex punks and skins, who were now, flare wearing,
scallies, were sharing tales and
cassette tapes of Dylan, Neil Young and Pink Floyd.
And so it was that we would turn up, mob handed every
week at whatever venue Groundpig played (and they are too many to mention them
all, but a selection from my memory would be; The Big House, the Pen & wig,
The Philharmonic, and regular Saturdays in Daley’s Dandelion, as well as midweek
residencies in the likes of The Bow and Arrow and the Yewtree)
This ramshackle band of folkie hippies would roll
through sets of songs that in all seriousness, half of which would, never in a
million years, have appeared in my then record collection! Songs by artists
such as Simon and Garfunkle, Cat Stevens, Lindisfarne, Ray Stevens…for gods
sake they even covered Dire straits and Peter fuckin Gabriel! (They Drew the
line at Phil Collins though, thankfully!) interspersed with Dylan and Neil
Young covers and mad little gems such as the Beverley Hills theme tune and an amazing duelling Banjo’s cover.
The diversity of the songs, the unbelievable
musicianship and the unbridled joy of performance (at every gig!) captivated
the scally scene and this little folky / hippy band went through a spell of at
least 8 years of playing to packed out pubs and clubs to rapturous 300+
football hooligans.
The End featured reviews and plugs on many occasion and
we even went as far as promoting some Groundpig gigs of our own, most notably a
momentous gig sailing up and down the Mersey on the Royal Iris Ferry (where a
bemused John Peel DJ’d and couldn’t
believe his eyes when he saw the crowds reaction to this mad collection of old
hippy songs.
Groundpig became one of the most accomplished and most
watched of Liverpool bands in that decade and certainly remain one of the most
fondly thought of to this day.
I must have seen them at least 70 times during that
time and every single gig, without fail, had me up on my feet singing along.
One gig (or “concert” as we used to say back then) that
stood out to me for all the wrong reasons was a Saturday night gig at Daley’s around 86/87 I think. I went
with about 30 good friends, all of us Liverpool fans and regular Groundpig
attendee’s. This night however seemed more packed than usual…around 500 mad
bastards all going crazy as fuck. It was
a brilliant brilliant gig and when it finished our group headed to our regular Saturday
night seats by the jukebox where we carried on singing some of the bands regular
songs. One of the songs Groundpig covered regularly in those days was Don McLean’s
“American Pie”. This may have
prompted a certain group to alter the words to that song and quite often you
would hear “bye bye Everton goodbye, you’re
going to the 2nd division don’t cry, with good old kopites drinking
whiskey and rye, singing this will be the day that you die”. And although
it was sung in jest, it had clearly been noted.
What we
didn’t note on this particular evening was that the massive majority of the
audience was a full on, hard-core Everton hooligan firm. My mate Tony tapped me
on the shoulder at one point and simply gave a nod to indicate that I turn
around to see what was behind me.
What was behind scared the holy shit out of me…there
were about 300 older, bigger boys than our little crew and it was clear they
didn’t just fancy a little catch up about the price of winklepickers in the Jew Shop on London road.
Thankfully the bouncers, who knew us well as regulars,
cottoned on really quickly and around 8 bouncers stood between us and the
Everton mob and had already radioed for assistance….when this assistance
arrived (about 20-30 bouncers from nearby bars and clubs) and tried to move the
blue boys on, all hell broke out! Chaos ensued for about 15 maniacal minutes
and thankfully, for us, the bouncers bore the brunt of the attack and none of
us were seriously injured. We were back the following week, but as expected things
were back to normal with the audience of even numbered reds and blues just
getting off on the music and no further threat of violence occurred. A big
fucking “phew” was the resounding
feeling from that memorable night!!
Another night that sticks in the memory for me, like it
happened yesterday, was one of the nights The End fanzine promoted at the Fur
and feathers on the border of Cantril farm.
On this night Groundpig were the headliners, the DJ was
the legendary John Kelly and the support act was …..The Farm! Even the
door staff that night consisted of the co-founder of The End fanzine (your
humble narrator) with my trusty oppo’s Moggie and Eddie Fitz (trying to stop
what seemed like the entire, under 30’s, population of Canny farm from sneaking
in without paying!). A wonderful night from start to finish which nobody would
deny was topped with yet another show stealing performance from Groundpig,
getting everyone on their feet singing along to songs like “Cecelia” and “Like
a rolling stone” with gusto not normally associated with such mid-seventies
hippy classics.
I’m struggling to describe just how joyous those nights
were and how much Groundpig were revered by this odd fitting following they
had, but it’s no coincidence that whenever I’ve mentioned Groundpig on the Ends
facebook page I’ve been deluged with similar tales of joy and revelry.
I asked Peter Hooton (The Farm, and co editor of The End Fanzine) and kevin Sampson (another ex End writer and author of such books as Awaydays, Stars are Stars and Killing Pool about their favourite memories, Peter recalled ,“The most memorable Groundpig concert for me was the
night they played the Royal Iris in Aug 1985 as part of a concert which
included The Farm, Ted Chippington and John Peel. I had helped organise a
‘friendship’ visit after the Heysel stadium disaster earlier in the year with a
group of 25 Juventus fans from their fan club. As a youth worker in Cantril
Farm the original intention had been to organise a ‘youth exchange’ with youth
groups from Liverpool and Turin. After the Heysel tragedy in May 1985 when 39
football supporters tragically lost their lives this visit became a
'friendship' exchange.
The Labour Council at the time were very helpful as were
the John Moores Foundation who partly the funded the trip. The Juventus fans
stayed at the Holiday Inn in Paradise St and I helped arrange a week of
activities including visits to Anfield and Goodison and a civic reception at
the Town Hall. The highlight of the week though was undoubtedly the party on
the Royal Iris ferry.
We set off from the Pier Head and sailed up and down the
Mersey for over 4 hours. As far as I’m aware there are no photographs of this
historic event which has gone down in folklore. James Brown who worked for the
NME at the time was totally gobsmacked at the proceedings as the 500 on board
were entertained through the night. I’m pretty sure he wrote a review which was
published by the NME were he described scenes of hedonism and wild revelry as
people went crazy to the music.
Ted Chippington an ‘alternative’ entertainer and a John
Peel favourite had the crowd the crowd in hysterics offering people outside (ie
The Mersey) as the friendly abuse was directed his way. I’m sure The Farm played but because I was
organising the night I have no recollection of our set as I was so obsessed
with the organisation as I didn’t want anything to go wrong. The highlight of
the night was definitely Groundpig. They were at the height of their powers in
the mid-80s and they drove tweed jacketed youngsters into a frenzy. They went
through their repertoire which included Dylan, Gabriel, Lindisfarne Simon &
Garfunkel and James Taylor. John Peel
who had played some brilliant tunes between the sets was open mouthed as he
witnessed young scousers going mad to acoustic classics. The Juventus fans
seemed to have a ball as music united the audience.
I will never forget this historic night and the smiles on
the Juventus fans faces as they left the boat surrounded by Groundpig fans
singing Meet Me On The Corner!”
Kevin told me,
"My comrades Mick Potter and Peter Hooton got me
into Groundpig (though I think the band was still called Groundhog,
back then). I couldn't tell you the first time I saw them - possibly The
Crooked Billet. That whole period when match lads started having a
draw and dressing like history teachers was a law onto
itself. Teenagers, 16, 17 year-olds started getting into Zappa, Genesis,
Captain Beefheart - music that chimed with a laid-back, long-term,
unemployed lifestyle. There was a healthy cabaret scene with bands like
The Munchies and The Muffin Men feeding the growing demand for a
folky, more hippyish type of live music - but Grounpig's following just grew
and grew. Every place they played - The Scotty Club and Daley's in
particular - was bursting at the seams, and the atmosphere was exuberant and
celebratory; a real antidote to dole-life.
Before long, they were the biggest live act in the
city. I can remember chart acts like The Jo Boxers struggling to sell out The
Haig Building, while Groundpig had to be moved to The Bierkeller to accommodate
the masses who wanted to join the party. For some reason, all my tough
Liverpool pals used to call the Bierkeller the Offenbraus. It was the
Hofbrauhaus - I think - sat in the cellar of that cultural
hot-spot that once housed Studio 1-2-3 (an 'experimental' cinema); Scamps - one
of the city's finest discotheques/saloon brawls; and, latterly, the 051 Club.
Anyway, Groundpig had a Saturday residency there and the sweat used to drip
from the ceiling.
One of the most memorable gigs of my life was when
Groundpig's Saturday residency at the Bierkeller coincided with Christmas Eve.
It was always a great atmosphere at Groundpig shows, but this was Bacchanalian.
Everyone had been out all day, and people were licking their own eyeballs in
drunken anticipation as John and Graham came out to Shea Stadium-level adulation.
The whole crowd was up and bouncing before they'd even played a
note. There were hundreds up on those long refectory tables, pogoing
up and down to standards and favourites like Cecilia and Solsbury Hill. Solsbury
Hill always blasted it but, for me, the highlight of any Groundpig
show was always Duelling Banjo’s; Graham playing the fall guy while John
veered off into this speed-blur of whirring fingers, picking away at his banjo
while the crowd erupted into scenes of demented euphoria. People were giving
each other shoulder rides up and down the tables, girls were Ceilidh-dancing,
and the legendary Willie Struth was, for reasons best known to himself,
attempting a hand-stand. It was, quite simply, off its head.
Groundpig had quite a few band members over the years
but the main members during those days were; Kenny O’Connell, Paul Catherell ,Steve Maudsley,
Tommy Ainsworth John O’Connell, Eddie Catharell and the charismatic multi-talented
eccentric wonderful oddball that was Graham Evans (who sadly passed away on
this day, February 5th 2006). Graham’s performances on guitar, banjo and fiddle
were the personification of the joyous spirit of Groundpig.
The incomparable Graham Evans. R.I.P.
You can read all about Groundpig, see gig reviews and
photo galleries etc here
John
Oconnell has carried on performing and recording and last year
performed a rousing set at The End fanzines’ Book launch night at the casa
(again stealing the show!). You can read about John and hear his music here on
his own web page
John O'Connell with Graham
The background to me writing this tribute is that I am
currently looking forward to my good friend Nick,
being released from nick this coming March and came up with the idea to compile
a CD mix of old songs that Groundpig used to perform, as the theme to my
friends welcome home party. I contacted Groundpig member, John O’Connell about
this and between us we came up with a typical assortment of songs the band
covered on a regular basis back in the day…I’ve put the songs on a Spotify so
you can listen to them here https://play.spotify.com/user/11122619804/playlist/4BrVcrG8SJQC8XYmgeSI7u
(or enter the Spotify website, search for END fanzine and play the “Groundpig party” playlist)
I hope you enjoy it……… even fuckin Romeo & Juliet
by Dire Fuckin straits!
As it turns out the idea for this tribute coincided with the anniversay of Grahams passing away, so i hope this acts as a fitting tribute to Graham and Groundpig.
Thank you for the memories Groundpig, The End salutes
you!
Rest in Peace Graham, I hope you are duelling banjo’s and guitar with Hendrix!
