Pool Of Sound - Groundpig

It all started back in 1979 when John O‘Connell found a tiny hand written advertisement on a clipboard in Frank Hessy‘s music store in Stanley Street, Liverpool. It read, 'Musician wanted to form folk/bluegrass band'. John kept the advert for some weeks then finally called and was asked to audition in Rock Ferry, Wirral, accompanied by a close friend, Eddie Catharell, who played bass guitar. Everything went well in the audition and the four piece folk/bluegrass band was formed called 'Riley' consisting of John Anderson on guitar and vocals, Eddie Catharell on bass, Charlie on banjo and John O‘Connell on guitar. Shortly afterwards, 'Riley; became a three piece band when Charlie left and sold John O'Connell his banjo, so John now moved from acoustic guitar to banjo. John Anderson was a great singer and nice bluegrass guitarist and he had a large influence on John O'Connell, teaching him some great songs such as 'Little Sadie', 'Turpentine Wine' and many others which remained in the 'Groundpig' repertoire throughout the years. Things then took a turn for the better when John O'Connell and Eddie Catharell went to Music College and it was there that John met Graham Evans. However, when John Anderson, the lead singer, moved to Birmingham it left 'Riley' without a singer. This took the band in a new direction with an introduction of several new band members but with musical differences eventually causing problems the band disbanded in 1982. John and Graham enjoyed each others company and worked extremely well together so started a duo which they called 'Groundhog'. They had to re-adjust though, which meant John playing electric keyboard while Graham took lead vocals and began to introduce other instruments such as mandolin, penny whistle, flute and harmonica. After a while Graham encouraged John to begin to sing which then changed 'Groundhog' from a solely bluegrass band to a more contemporary band. Under the name of 'Groundhog' John and Graham held a resident spot at the Scooner Inn in Exchange Street East, Liverpool, which came to a close in 1983. They then moved across the same street to a bar called the Crooked Billet and were joined by Paul Catharell on bass, and it was after a gig in Sefton Park (Larks in the Parks) that the name 'Groundhog' was finally dropped after much confusion regarding the rock band 'The Groundhog's', so Graham came up with a similar name, 'Groundpig'. The band dominated the Liverpool pub scene for years; holding residencies in various live venues across the city. The hazy nights in the likes of the Bierkeller and Daleys were legendary and are still talked about today.

Peter Hooton, Kevin Sampson and Phil Jones paid tribute to the band in their legendary fanzine 'The End'.
'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....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.'

The passing of Graham on the 5th of February 2006 brought 'Groundpig' to an end leading John to embark on an entirely new repertoire including his own original songs and his 'Simply Dylan' nights. Here he has collaborated with other highly reputable musicians from the city to form his Dylan Band. This came about from a modest project recognising Dylan's 70th Birthday in 2011 and has gone from selling out the Cavern Club 6 times, to receiving fantastic reviews from the Spanish Press, to impressing Dylan fans from across the UK on their Tours with SJM Concerts, to opening up the IOW Festival 2019 performing on the Big Top Stage.

Born and raised in the Everton area of the city, John's early influences were routed in acoustic, folk and classical guitar. Stefan Grossman; Bert Jansch; John Renbourn; and Martin Carthy all inspired John and ignited his passion for music. It is these early influences that delicately resonate through his Simply Acoustic set with John mixing his own original songs with timeless guitar classics. The compelling fusion of popular, acoustic and folk music that resonates through his music captivates across the generations. Having had his name ineligibly written in to the tapestry of the Liverpool Music Scene with his Groundpig days John has gone on to perform at a variety of events including the Liverpool Irish Festival, Liverpool Santa Dash, Matthew Street Festival, LIMF, Hope Street Feast, Foodies Fesitval Tattenhall. Aintree Races, Haydock Races and Epson Races. It is only recently that John has found the urge to revisit some of the Groundpig classics and often throws one or two of them in to his sets. With some half a million hits on his Youtube channel, placed 2nd in the recent Indie International Song Writing Competition; and supporting Stephen Bishop on his UK Tour, John's appeal continues to expand. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/01/pool-of-sound-glass-skies.html