Interview: Ken Pustelnik

Ken Pustelnik played with the mighty Groundhogs during their heyday, including a support slot with the Stones at the request of Mick himself. He’s put together a cracking group to play a Groundhogs set at the Exchange, and as well as the headline act there are a couple of great supports and DJ sets to entertain. We caught up with Ken and he kindly answered a few questions about the past, present and future.

So, for those who aren’t familiar with what’s happening, who will be on stage with you?
“Latch Manghat on bass, Sol Latif on guitar and Chris D’Avoine on guitar and vocals.”

Inevitably people will be wondering about other line-ups of the band (after all, we’re awash with bands arguing about who has the right to tour/record under a band name after a split); how are things in the wider world of the Groundhogs?
“Actually there are no current line-ups of ‘The Groundhogs’, only this one, which goes under the name ‘Groundhogs’ in order to identify the fact that Tony McPhee doesn’t perform in the band. Tony announced his retirement from performing Groundhogs material several months ago, citing his feeling that he could no longer do justice to the songs. Pete Cruickshank will be appearing with the band at certain larger shows in the future.”

If things go well with this outfit do you see yourselves laying down some songs or is this just a live proposition?
“We will be writing new material, this band will continue evolving: there will be news of a vinyl single release featuring a guest singer in the near future and which should be out before our show at Temples Festival 2016.”

Apart from the fact that when you started out you were cruising the A roads in a transit van and musicians now are cruising the information superhighway with a smartphone, what is the major difference between then and now?
“All the bands on the road would regularly meet up with one another and exchange news, so you got to know the real people behind the image.” 

Given that you were around the British blues boom of the sixties and shared stages with a phenomenal range of both British and American artists, how would you describe the blues now in comparison with then?
“Awkward question but here’s my personal opinion: the Blues scene at this time is quite active, with a healthy sprinkling of young players to continue the tradition into the future. However, to be brutally honest with you, I find a great number of the modern bands just don’t grab me; they seem not to realise that Blues, like any language, needs to constantly evolve. The emphasis on the guitar rather than the voice doesn’t seem the right way round somehow, it’s not dark & edgy, unsettling even; somehow not as heartfelt as it needs to be (well that is me out of next year’s Blues Awards!).”

Who do you rate amongst the current crop of musicians playing the blues?
“With regard to British acts, King King; internationally, Gary Clark Jnr., (reminds me a lot of the early Groundhogs, an element of musicality blended with a hint of psychedelic menace.)”

Whilst talking of young hotshots, you played a storming aggressive set with Snatch it Back in support of Dan Patlansky, is that outfit on hold for now and likely to be back on the boards in the future?
“The Snatch It Back situation can be summed up as ” business as usual”, too good a band to waste, so trucking on.”

You were involved in some of the prime pieces of ‘hogs vinyl, and those recordings took the blues in a lot of new directions – did you get grief from purists for daring to mess with the blues?
“You always get grief whenever you deviate from the so called mainstream, deviation is my middle name.”

The ever reliable Wikipedia refers to the band’s material as “psychedelic blues”, do you agree, and if so, what led you into psychedelia?
“While still at school I was into Stockhausen & Jimmy Smith; lots of Beat poets & writers; jazz, contemporary folk and the blues of course. Holst, Vaughan Williams, early Sci-Fi novels & comics, so I feel psychedelia was inevitable in my case.”

Finally, what’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a musician starting out right here, right now?
“Find out what you do best, then do your utmost to get better at it at all times in the future, always get it in writing and the tour isn’t on until the return tickets arrive.”

Read more music interviews.