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Clarke, Patricia (5 August 2021). "High On The Hogs: Artists On The Genius Of The Groundhogs". theQuietus . Retrieved 27 December 2021. Inspired by a Yardbirds’ freak out, hearing authentic Indian drumming and the magic that existed between this legendary trio, ‘Blues Obituary’ is a juggernaut of riffs. Undaunted, McPhee continued to take the band in a more progressive direction, adding an ARP 2600 synthesiser to their musical armoury. And following the departure of Pustelnik, the band’s new drummer was none other than Clive Brooks from Canterbury scene stalwarts Egg, who had supported the Groundhogs on tour. “Clive was a lovely man and there was a lot less stress involved with getting together on time playing and touring,” says McPhee. “He was a powerful player who suited the times and new material that I was writing.” The group also recorded an album with Hooker …And Seven Nights (later released as Hooker And The Hogs and On The Waterfront–the latter with added horns).

McPhee saw the album as a turning point, the moment when the Groundhogs stopped being just a blues band. “I like to call it progressive in the sense that we were progressing away from the blues,” was his assessment. The stage was set for their breakthrough with Thank Christ for the Bomb.The Radio 1 Sessions (2002, Strange Fruit) from 21 July 1970, 17 February 1971, 29 March 1971 and 26 July 1971. [8] In 2003, original manager Roy Fisher put together a short-lived 'original line-up' to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. McPhee left the band to pursue an acoustic career, embarking on a major tour in 2004 with Edgar Winter and Alvin Lee and issued an acoustic blues album Blues at Ten. The Groundhogs had emerged from the British blues boom of the mid-1960s, and as the 70s dawned they embraced the expansive, exploratory spirit of the era. A performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival affirmed their growing status. BBC Radio One Live In Concert (1994, Windsong International) from 24 February 1972 and 23 May 1974. [10]

BBC Live In Concert (2002, Strange Fruit) from 24 February 1972, 7 December 1972 and 23 May 1974. [12] The Groundhogs were also one of the coterie of underground bands on the Liberty/United Artists roster, which included Hawkwind, Man, Can and Amon Düül II. McPhee remembers an incident at a festival in Hamburg: “We opened the van, and much to our surprise, it was filled with a load of Orange gear, which wasn’t ours. The record company had bought it for Amon Düül II because VAT was cheaper in the UK than in Germany. They came and whisked it away, but when they played, they overran their time slot so much that the Groundhogs didn’t get to play. Not only had we unknowingly acted as a free taxi for their gear, but we’d driven all the way to Hamburg without playing the gig!”

As the flames of the early-’60s British blues were slowly extinguished, The Groundhogs split for several years and McPhee found session work. He sometimes recorded under the moniker T.S. McPhee, a blues-inspired name given to him by (John Mayall/ Fleetwood Mac) producer Mike Vernon –the T.S. standing for ‘Tough Shit’. The band were very popular in Euroape and I saw the several times. “Thank Christ for the Bomb” is also well worth a listen. a b c d BBC Live In Concert (Media notes). Strange Fruit Records. 2002. :"Cherry Red" and "Split Part 1" from 24 February 1972; "You Had A Lesson", "3-7-4-4 James Road", "Sad Is The Hunter", "Split Part 2" and "Split Part 4" from 7 December 1972; "Ship On The Ocean" and "Soldier" from 23 May 1974 The beginning of their domination as the hardest working band on the circuit, a testament to their creativity as they re-tooled the blues into a neo-psyche groove. Groundhogs". BBC. 2005 . Retrieved 20 October 2023. : Recorded on 29 February 1972 at Maida Vale 4; broadcast on 14 March 1972; "Earth Is Not Room Enough", "Music Is The Food Of Thought", "Bogroll Blues"

After the dust settled, it turned out the Damned and Joy Division were fans. Peter Hook proclaimed them “absolutely revolutionary”. “They were the first band I ever saw live and they’ve been a constant in my life ever since,” said Underworld’s Karl Hyde, who subsequently attempted to collaborate with McPhee. The results have never been released. The follow-up to Thank Christ was Split (1971), which climbed to No 5 and found McPhee wrestling with ideas around split personality and loss of self. “I went through a stage of split personality myself and in the lyrics I try to explain what it is like – a very deep, traumatic experience,” he revealed. “One moment you feel all right, the next you don’t know who you are.” The album included the frantic, heavy-metal stomp of Cherry Red, which got the band on to the BBC’s Top of the Pops. Tony McPhee and the Groundhogs playing a 40th-anniversary show in 2003. Photograph: James Emmett/Redferns

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Music Classic Concert - The Groundhogs". BBC. 2017 . Retrieved 21 October 2021. "Ship On My Ocean"; "I Love Miss Ogyny"; "Free From All Alarm"; "Dog Me Bitch"; "Light My Light" [PH]; "Soldier"; "Sins Of The Father" [PH] - introductions by Mike Harding; credited as from Paris Theatre 1974, except [PH] Playhouse Theatre 23 May 1974 a b c BBC Radio One Live In Concert (Media notes). Windsong International. 1994. : "Split Part 1", "Cherry Red", "Split Part 2", "Groundhog Blues", "Still A Fool", "Ship On The Ocean" from 24 February 1972 and "Free From All Alarm", "Dog Me Bitch", "Light My Light", "Sins Of The Father" from 23 May 1974

Groundhogs". BBC. 2005 . Retrieved 20 October 2023. : Recorded on 14 May 1970 at Paris Cinema, London; broadcast on 24 May 1970; "Eccentric Man", "Garden", "Unknown Title", "Catfish"; However, despite getting to No.8 in the UK charts, it got a decidedly frosty reception compared to their previous albums. “A lot of fans and the press didn’t like it. To be honest, it was rushed and I never had the time to work on the production or even think about what we were playing, and I agreed with them for a while. It was only a few years later, when I could listen to it objectively that I realised its strengths. We often get people now saying that it’s their favourite album.”

He never seemed fond of the spotlight. The Groundhogs sold a lot of records in the early 70s: after supporting the Rolling Stones on their 1971 UK tour, they found themselves subsequently filling the same venues as headliners. But to the end of his life, McPhee maintained that the highlight of his career wasn’t their run of Top 10 albums but the time he had spent in the 60s as a sideman with John Lee Hooker. He downplayed his shift from playing straight blues to something more experimental as merely a matter of pragmatism – “to keep the Groundhogs working and recording” when the late 60s blues boom began to wane – which didn’t really account for how far out he was prepared to take his music. Plenty of blues players diverted into heavier territory, but few released a 19-minute conceptual synthesiser piece bemoaning the cruelty of foxhunting and “the English upper classes … [who] I loathe”.