Hogsnort Rupert

(c’62?-’65/78?) – Bob “Hogsnort Rupert” McGrath (vocals), John Constantine (drums), John Claydon (baritone sax), David Brown (bass), Milton James (tenor sax), Rod Jones (piano) and Brian Chambers (guitar).

Originally formed in 1962 as Hogsnort Rupert, they were as known as Hog-Snort Rupert’s Famous Porkestra, Hogsnort Rupert’s Good Good Band, Hogsnort Rupert and his Band and H.S. Rupert & his Soul Builders; and should not be confused with ’68’s Hogsnort Rupert’s Original Flagon Band from New Zealand or the Pete Burt (ex-The Kool drummer), Bob Brittain (keyboard) and Rod Wharton trio also called Hogsnort Rupert.

In ’62-’64, Hogsnort Rupert were oft billed as The Famous Porkestra and around this time Guildford educated student John Renbourn, later guitarist with Pentangle, certainly played electric guitar – which he’d borrowed – in the band around ’63-’64, while he was at Kingston Art College. Renbourn recalls playing Jimmy Reed covers while in the band in the DVD booklet to ‘John Renbourn, Rare Performances 1965-1995’. On his first album and eponymous LP released on Transatlantic (TRA 135) he dedicates the self-penned track “The Wildest Pig in Captivity” to Hogsnort with the line: ‘An instrumental dedicated to a friend of mine Hogsnort Rupert, in whose rock ‘n’ roll band, The Famous Porkestra, I once played.” In a biographical article for the Folk Blues & Beyond music website, Renbourn reports “I found that some of the band’s riffs sounded interesting played fingerstyle on an acoustic guitar and pieces like “The Wildest Pig In Captivity” came out of that. We also know that Tony Hoadley played with Hogsnort Rupert at one stage.

Farnham Art College student McGarth was the nucleus of the band with an encyclopedic knowledge of R ‘n’ B and similarly large record collection. Constantine lived near Ripley in 1963, assisted at the Ricky-Tick, Guildford and at one time played with The Pretty Things. Claydon lived above Cafe Cantata, Windsor next door to the police station, on the Eton High Street for a while – The Rolling Stones used to hang out in the Cafe during their residency at the Ricky Tick Club. In the early 60’s you could find Hogsnort’s huge 30×40 inch posters with screaming face (that later became the Ricky Tick’s signature image) fly posted over Guildford.

We know that on 16 February ’63 supported by the John Ford Combo and Mick Wayne and his Band; and a month later on 16 March with Group 3 + 1 and Mick Wayne and Ork supporting, they played the Village Hall, Merrow; covering the likes of James Brown, Bobby Bland, Larry Williams, and Fats Domino. At the latter they met Ricky Tick promoter John Mansfield and got booked to play some Ricky Tick Club nights. Hogsnort’s appearances at the Ricky Tick even get a fleeting reference in Bill Wyman’s book ‘Rolling with the Stones’ when he writes of the 14 December ’62 and Wyman’s first gig with The Rolling Stones: “[The Ricky Tick was] a large, square room, with a small triangular stage in one corner and a bar on one side. On the walls were posters of other groups that had played at the club, including the Mann-Hugg Blues Band and Hogsnort Rupert’s Band”. On 6 July ’63: Hogsnort Rupert and his R&B Band were booked to play the Ricky Tick in the St. John’s Ambulance Hall, Reading.

Hogsnort’s connection to Ricky-Tick secured them a gig in Slough, for the Aldermaston Marchers, along with Cyril Davis All Stars and Long John Baldry. In fact, Ricky-Tick’s Mansfield would later take up management of Hogsnort Rupert’s Good Good Band, including booking them at Peter Stringfellow’s Mojo Club in Sheffield, a residency at Ricky-Tick, Windsor (Clewer House) on Sundays and becoming Larry Williams and Johnny Guitar Watson’s backing band.

Williams, when asked about his backing band is reported to have said “they’re so good they had to name them twice.” Unfortunately when it came time to record an LP with Williams and Watson, agent Roy Tempest opted for The Stormsville Shakers. In March ’65, Hogsnort Rupert and the Good Good Band supported Gary Farr and the T-Bones at the Marquee, Wardour Street on the night Radio Luxembourg recorded ‘Ready, Steady, Radio’. A couple of months later, on 2 May ’65, the band were further north at the Ilkley D.J. Club held in the Troutbeck Hotel, Ilkley.

We have also found a single released in England in 1978 titled “The Plant Song” on the Creole Records label [CR 156] by Hogsnort Rupert, and one of the credited writers is Bob McGrath. On this “Plant Song” 45, one of the producers is named as Peter MacGregor who played tenor sax with The Stormsville Shakers.

Hogsnort Rupert gets mentioned in two books: John Platt’s ‘London’s Rock Routes’ and Nigel Enever’s ‘Guildford – The Rock n’ Roll Years’. McGrath is now running eyeballproductions.com, producing blues, R&B, gospel, soul, and zydeco discographies. Brown unfortunately died in 1991.

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