Review: The Groundhogs, Exchange

Let’s be honest: there was a bit of a brouhaha on the wide world of the web when it was announced that quintessential Groundhogs drummer Ken Pustelnik had put together a band that was going to play the back catalogue live. Sensible people decided to let the music do the talking and check out the validity of the project on stage. So what went down? Well, for a start there were a couple of support bands to warm us up…

Ulysses played a stomping set recently supporting Howlin’ Rain. They topped that performance with a belter of an opening set. Maybe their recent Dodgy support oop north primed them, or maybe it was in defiance of the godawful weather, but there was intensity and aggression in their playing that really lifted the material. Despite the belligerence in the performance, the banter was the usual laid back whimsical stuff: split between surreal song pronouncements and inter-band ribbing. Current single How Long is developing in to a tremendous live tune – an unholy mix of David Essex and Sabbaff that stakes a permanent claim on your brain. It’s a crying shame their latest LP remains unreleased; clearly indicating the industry is full of cloth-eared buffoons.

B247 knew nothing of second band Spider Kitten, and rather lazily presumed they would be some kind of psychedelic beat combo. In fact they are an experimental doom behemoth that bludgeoned the Exchange with a collection of massive pounding riffs. The material was dense and monolithic – you’re not gonna be singing these babies in the shower or whistling the melodies as you put out the bins, but there was intensity about the playing that sucked you in to a sonic vortex and spat you out pummelled. 

“Groundhogs” opened their set with their mission statement – to keep alive classic material and breathe new life into the songs. They’re not looking in to cash in and were respectful of Tony McPhee (currently unable to perform due to ill health). So did they deliver? Hell yes. The four piece line-up took the material and conjured up a psychedelic blues maelstrom to the delight of the crowd. Sticking to the LPs recorded between ’69–’72, the set was pretty relentless – full of energy and crackling with vigour. The twin guitar set up really does bring the new life promised, both Chris D’Avoine and Sol Latif peeling off some quite stunning solos, and riffs with real heft – extending and bending the material in to lengthy jams that avoided indulgence through the intensity of the playing.

The foundations laid by Ken Pustelnik and Latch were essential to the groove excursions, the former’s drumming relentless, somehow managing to swing with the beat whilst delivering thunderous fills and giving a relentless drive to the tunes. Latch in turn delivers remarkably fluid bass underpinning the riffs, and full credit to him for keeping up with Pustelnik, an inventive drummer who ignores the obvious in favour of the unexpected – the pair locked in tight for the duration. Songs? Choice picks from the four albums – and yes, of course they played Cherry Red.

The band are scheduled to play the splendid home-grown Temples festival in June. Let’s hope there are warm up shows before then, and if they play half as well there as they did tonight they’re gonna blow the roof off the place.