Groundhogs - Blues Obituary

By 1969, The Groundhogs had already had their day in the studio, scratching the surface with their debut album paying homage to the masters who'd written the old time blues songbook. It was time to, as Arthur Alexander might say, move on. "I wanted to write my own songs. The blues was just too 'restrictive'," explained Tony McPhee. So move on they did. Even though the songs were based on the blues, The Groundhogs Darwinian slim to a three piece with McPhee on guitar, Pete Cruikshank on bass and Ken Pestulnik on drums made them tick yet louder, a crafted multi-layered jam that never quite set. "In a three piece every little change that moves the sound around becomes huge. If anyone changes anything then you have to come up with something new to balance it out," noted Pestulnik.