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(added August 2008)
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD GUNSON
( BASS SLAPPER WITH 80S PSYCHOBILLY GROVELHOG )
made by John McVicker
Where and what year did you form ?
In Birmingham, U.K. in 1987 at a Long Tall Texans gig. Duncan and myself had just moved there to go to the college- within two weeks we were practicing together.
First line up?
Simon Mabbot- vocals , Duncan Thompson- guitar, Richard Gunson- double bass and Clive Meldrum- drums.
This was the first and only Grovelhog line up!
Where was your first gig, how often did you play and did you play abroad?
First gig was in Cardiff, supporting Demented are Go! as we got to know them quite well. we did loads of gigs with them to promote their albums Kicked Out Of Hell and The Day The Earth Spat Blood 88-89 ! We played loads of support gigs to any punk or Psycho band that came to Birmingham. -We were cheap!-Plus we played in London, Bromley, Manchester, Leeds, The Santa Pop festival and at two of The Night Of The Long Knives all-dayers, but never abroad.
Any good / funny gig stories ?
At a squat gig in London with Demented Are Go!. This guy had a drum stick in one hand and a bag of glue in the other and played Cliveīs ride cymbal all through the set with his head in the bag and then started to eat the glue ! Another time we had Boz Boorer " guest " on guitar when Duncan couldn't make one gig.
How much recording did you do?
Two demos and a live set from a Take Two gig in Sheffield!
How come you only ever had one track released on a compilation album?
Well, we sent Howard at Raucous our first demo and he used -one track- "Times Gotta Change" on his Psycho Tendencies album, which I also did the cover for and we had two tracks, "Disease" and "Take A Trip" ,on the Live At The Take Two album on Links Records. Howard was thinking about doing something with our second demo, but we had split by then.
Did you have any t-shirts or other merchandise out?
Yes, I designed two t-shirts for the band, "Necrophilia Baby" and "Mind Squeeze. If anyone out there reading this and still has any of those shirts, could I have it !
Why and when did you split up ?
We split at the end of 1989, start of 1990. Quite amicably- largely because it wasnīt any fun anymore. It was never about making money. Also college finals were upon us and Duncan had to concentrate on passing a law degree- never easy at the best of times. Actually at our last gig in Birmingham, we made some money. Also some people thought we were too metal for the scene, which was wrong.
What happened to you all after the band split?
Simon did a bit of driving in Europe for Demented Are Go, then Filthkick and Cain. These days he plays and records with several "arty" bands such as Black Galaxy, KBG, Spectrum Noh, Phantom Hex, Migarant and Chronic Surburban Masturbates. Clive Meldrum is now the soundman at the Rep Theatre in Birmingham. Duncan is now a partner in a firm of solicitors in Windsor and I (Richard )am now a teacher.
Any chance of Grovelhog reforming and / or having any old material released?
As you know Bracko (ED: Craig Brackenridge) of Stormscreen Productions is putting together a compilation CD of unreleased 80s/90s Psychobilly and a few of the tracks from our 2nd demo should see the light of day on that and soon I will have Grovelhog MySpace site up and running so check it out !