(c’69-’72) – Bob Thomas (organ/piano/vocals), Roy MacGregor (guitar/vocals), Max Thomas (flute/alto sax), Phil Plant (bass), and Alan “Al” Butcher (drums).
Guildford Arts Lab ‘house band’ Poppa Ben Hook started at the Chelsea School of Art c’69 where Bob Thomas formed a band with brother Max, Plant, MacGregor, and Butcher. The band appeared at London venues Blazes and The Speakeasy, but ultimately became based out of Guildford where, aided by Fred Pipes management skills who stored their gear in his place on Epsom Road, the band kicked it up a notch. The band’s first gig under Pipes’ management was at the Youth Centre Annex, Guildford on 21 February ’70, supported by Bernie Roy. The band continued to play small venues and big events, such as Reading Rock Festival precursor and brainchild of The Marquee founder Harold Pendeleton, the National Jazz and Blues Festival, Plumpton supporting the likes of Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Black Sabbath, Chicken Shack, Warm Dust, and Van Der Graaf Generator.
They gigged a lot, including festival’s like the one in Holcombe Regus ’71 and a number of Guildford’s University of Surrey Free Festivals, and they almost played Glastonbury Fayre in ’71.
Poppa Ben Hook supported Kevin Ayers & the Whole World along with Third Ear Band at the Civic Hall, Guildford on 7 March ’71 as part of The Guildford Festival. So what happened to Poppa’s appearance at Glastonbury? The band were booked to go down to Holcolme Rogus, Somerset to play a free festival (Nick Black’s commune was based there), so manager Pipes wrote to the organizer’s of a new festival called Glastonbury Fayre to see if they could play. They received a reply and ultimately got on the bill. They headed to Worthy Farm directly from their Somerset appearances. On arrival the band, shattered from touring and gigging, thought it was all such a shambles they voted not to stay and headed home to Guildford!
That same month, Poppa Ben Hook joined May Blitz, and C.M.U. supporting Horse, Bridget St. John, Plinth, Genesis, and Patto on the main stage of University of Surrey Free Festival Stage on 27 June ’71. It was around this time the band spent a week or so in Oak Studios, Morden and at the University of Surrey’s Tonmeister Studios. They played live, not that you can tell from the recordings, with Bob Thomas using a Watkins copycat echo device with a moving tape loop that he would slow down manually to add various effects to the bands live performance; overdubbing flute, drums and guitar as needed later. Their ‘demo’ didn’t secure any deals with rejection letters a common sight through the end of ’71.
The next year there were more label rejections, including one from Transatlantic in January. ’72 would be mark the band’s end. Plant went on to play with Stomu Yamash’ta’s Come To The Edge and he subsequently appeared in another of Yamash’tu project: Red Buddha Theatre, and Woody Woodmansey’s U-Boat. In ’76 Plant played bass on the soundtrack to ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’. He’s currently with Roxi and the Blue Cats. Butcher is also still playing with Flying Visit. Graphic designer Bob Thomas went to Belgium for a job illustrating children’s books, but unfortunately died less than a handful of years later. MacGregor and Max Thomas have disappeared!
45 years after their demise, Poppa Ben Hook secured a record deal; a shared vinyl release on the Record Collector Magazine label (RCLP014) with a band called Museum. This 500 issue run gate-fold sleeved release hit the market in Jan’ 2015 and featured 7 tracks by the band and 3 by Museum and come with a certificate of authenticity. The bands “killer proto-progressive rock with a strong jazz flavour” was finally pressed into vinyl.
Tracks:
Gallery:
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