Ancient Grease Records released another little piece of underground rock history with ‘Looking At The World’ by Brighton based rockers Tonge.

The track was recorded in Winter of 1972 and it’s part of the Max/Tonge split issued by Ancient Grease Records. Tonge almost did a nationwide tour with Rod Stewart. More about that in the following interview with their lead singer, Alan “Albert” Grinyer.

“Tonge were the support act for both Wizzard — Roy Wood and Supertramp on their first UK tour”

Who are members of Tonge?

Alan Grinyer (Albert): The members of Tonge are:
Dave Barnard (Barny)- bass guitar, backing vocals (born in 1953)
Eric Wright (Rico)- lead guitar, backing vocals (born in 1951)
Hugh Moore (Mooie)- drums (born in 1952)
Alan Grinyer (Albert)- lead vocals (born in 1953)

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

Tonge is a rock band from Brighton, which historically was a coastal town on the south coast of England. Brighton is now regarded as a city but for most locals and certainly for us it will always be our home town!.

Albert and Mooie lived in the same street in Brighton and have been friends since the age of about 6. Albert met Dave at secondary school when they were aged 11. Another school friend Pete Newham a vicar’s son suggested forming a band when Albert and Dave were about 13 and this led to auditions / selection process in the basement of the vicarage which eventually left Pete, Dave and Albert sticking with the band idea and they began rehearsing/ trying to learn their instruments. Mooie was invited along by Albert and he was naturally gifted on the drums so a band was formed in 1966 and we worked hard practising for about a year doing a few small local gigs along the way. Pete decided to leave when we were about 14 (1967) and Dave told us about a guy from Hollingbury who played lead guitar like Jimi Hendrix by using his teeth and so then we met Eric who was a bit older and more accomplished as a musician which was a brilliant addition to the band and this was when the heartbeat of Tonge was formed.

How did you decide to use the name “Tonge”?

Although we tried different band names before eventually sticking with the name Tonge and a couple of the names we tried were The Haze and H2SO4. The word Tonge is a northern English slang term for a dick/prick or penis which you can imagine as teenage boys we found hilarious!.

In the early days Albert was the bass guitarist and played bass quite badly, Barny was the lead vocalist, Mooie on drums and Eric on the lead guitar along with another friend introduced by Eric called Steve on rhythm guitar but by the time Steve left the band in 1968 Albert and Dave had switched instruments in the band which proved to be a master stroke for the band. From this point on Dave, Mooie, Albert and Eric really committed themselves to the band and worked hard for the next few years writing songs and playing gigs at every opportunity. We played most of our earliest gigs (1968/69) in Hollingbury which was an estate on the outskirts of Brighton, playing at local youth clubs, church halls et cetera and this is why our only album was given the name ‘Hollingbury’.

“When the smell of drugs filled the air and the music was loud…”

What can you say about songwriting?

As our songwriting abilities grew so did our fan base and by around 1970/71 we began playing at much bigger gigs in the local area, The King and Queen and The Hungry Years being two of our favourite Brighton venues at the time. When the smell of drugs filled the air and the music was loud, psychedelic rock with loads of experimental stuff happening all the time and this was well received by our audiences. We were renowned for using a very dynamic light show to accompany our shows and this clearly enhanced the experience for our audiences.

What about gigs?

It was at this time in the band history that Tonge was pencilled in to do a nationwide tour with Rod Stewart but the management team at the time failed to get the deal over the line which was very disappointing.

What influenced the band’s sound?

Some of our musical influences at the time were bands like The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Free, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, The Kinks, The Beatles (individually and collectively), The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan to name but a few.

Over the years the Tonge have had various different managers who were all able to see the potential of the band and when we were very young maybe 15 or 16 we were introduced to a keyboard player who had just returned from Germany and our manager at the time said he was interested in joining the band but we stupidly declined the offer because in our words at the time “The Who didn’t have a keyboard player!”. The keyboard player in question was Dave Greenfield and he went on to join other local bands before eventually becoming a founding member of The Stranglers and we all know about their worldwide success.

What’s the story behind ‘Looking At the World’?

The song ‘Looking at the World’ was written in the winter of 1972 along with another song called ‘Old Father Time’ and both songs were recorded at a studio in Kilburn, London which was run by Paul and Barry Ryan. It was part of a package advertised in the Melody Maker magazine for a £25 fee the recording session was accompanied by a photo shoot in the snow. Although nothing really came out of the recording session at the time both songs have now been released to different record labels. ‘Old Father Time’ has been released on Cherry Red Records on a compilation album ‘I’m A Freak 2 Baby’ and as you know ‘Looking at the World’ has been released by Ancient Grease Records and we are really pleased with result.

What followed after recording those songs?

In about 1973 unfortunately Mooie decided to leave the band so a new drummer (Nick) joined Tonge and so the band played on. Eventually in 1974 Tonge introduced another band member (Melvyn) on rhythm guitar and at the same time a new manager (Ian) arrived on the scene and the gigs became more prestigious and Tonge were the support act for both Wizzard — Roy Wood and Supertramp on their first UK tour, a very exciting time for the band. Albert decided to leave the band in 1974 to do other things and the band carried on for about another year before eventually splitting up completely by the end of 1975.

What happened after Tonge broke up?

Mooie had settled down to family life, Albert joined the Fire Service and Dave and Eric continued their musical adventure and over time they both became accomplished professional musicians.

Dave and Eric formed a brilliant British punk band in 1977 called The Depressions and they supported the band Slade on a nationwide tour in 1978. The Depressions made a couple of successful Albums which were very popular at the time and are well worth checking out!.

Over the years Dave and Eric have played in many different bands both collectively and separately.

Mooie joined Dave and Eric in a band called The Mystery Boys and they recorded ‘The Goldstone Rap’ in 1983 when Brighton & Hove Albion football club reached the prestigious FA Cup final and this song was the clubs official song for the final. Brighton lost the final so the song did not enjoy the commercial success that might have occurred if they had won that match.

Dave (Barny)became a very successful bass guitarist and worked regularly with Terry Callier the renowned American jazz guitarist appearing on The Jules Holland show with Terry in late 80’s and early 90’s.

In about 1993 Albert and Dave were reunited musically again when Dave formed a nine piece soul band called The Soul Review playing all of the original Stax and Atlantic classics by the soul greats – Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin et cetera. Amazingly Dave wrote all of the musical parts for all of the instruments which was a clear demonstration of his musical genius. The three original vocalists in this band were Albert, Steve Ellis (from The Love Affair fame) and Sonia Maz (from Frankie Goes to Hollywood fame). This band played for about 12 years with their biggest gig being millennium night in Brighton playing to an audience of 40,000 in the centre of Brighton.

Barny, Rico, Mooie and Albert the original Tonge members decided in 2017 to go back into the studio to record the album ‘Hollingbury’ which is an honest reworking of 10 of Tonge’s original songs that they wrote between 1969 and 1974.

So tell us more about the ‘Hollingbury’.

We all laughed about it but it is true to say that the reason why we decided to record ‘Hollingbury’ is because as life long friends we are all still alive so the perfect time for us to do this and especially now during this pandemic I’m so pleased we did.

Dave (Barny) was running Spiral Studios in Brighton which is a studio to support students with additional learning needs and he and Eric produced the album. The album ‘Hollingbury’ took about a year to complete and was recorded using traditional techniques and by that I mean no copy and paste used so all doubled vocals or overlaid instruments have been played twice giving a unique and honest sound. Some of the vocals on the album were one take recordings which I’m pleased about especially the way it all worked out, I really think Dave and Eric have done a great job on the production of this album.

Big thanks to our guest musicians on the album and they are:
Charlotte Glasson – saxophone/flute
Chris Kibble – keyboards
Beau Barnard – acoustic guitars

‘Hollingbury’ is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer and all other online platforms- if you do take the time to check it out I hope you enjoy it!.

Klemen Breznikar

Tonge Facebook / Spotify
Ancient Grease Records Official Website / Instagram

Headline photo: Tonge in 1969