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The true origins of HOLEHOG! have always been a mystery, until now!! I am very excited to bring you this new, unofficial, unendorsed, independent website. Not because I disrespect the band, because I love the band. Their inability to cooperate with any biography or profile has always been a source of great frustration to Hogheads like me.
Up until 1985, I had resigned myself to just accepting the fact that I would never get the real scoop behind my favorite band. I would have to just sit in my room and stare at the album covers, imagining my own background story. The popular rumor back then was that they were four wayward monks who needed to rock as part of a spiritual journey they had planned for themselves. My parents, however, remembered Wolfman Jack saying they were four siblings from St. Louis who met when they were all filing a similar lawsuit against Chuck Berry. (they settled out of court). My grandparents tell me that Walter Winchell used to spend an inordinate amount of time praising the band as a healthy, all-american alternative to jazz and swing music. Write ups in Dynamite magazine, bubble gum cards, comic books, and made-for-tv movies all confused the matter even more.
I consider the summer of ’85 to be the most awesome time in my life. It was then that I first began to learn the REAL story. I was an intern for Jet magazine and spent my days running errands for the staff. I would get lunch, deliver letters, whatever the staff wanted me to do. One of my favorite stops would be the newsstand right outside the building. I would pick up all the major newspapers and sometimes bubble gum for the reporters. What I liked about it though, was the owner of the newsstand. A seventy-six year old ex-marine, who three days out of the week, wore an old, beat up HOLEHOG! t-shirt. He never gave me his name, even when I asked for it. He always said if I had to call him something, call him Darling Jill.
Darling Jill had an interesting story, not about himself, but about our favorite band, HOLEHOG! He claimed to know several ex-marines that worked as roadies for the infamous 1965 Pig Pen tour. Any Hoghead knows this to be the tour when all four band members supposedly beat a mentally challenged fan when they mistook his unadulterated enthusiasm as sarcastic mocking. The incident led to a sharp decline in the HOLEHOG! fanbase. Even though some of their best work appeared after that incident it was the last time they would see crowds of that size in the U.S.
According to Darling Jill, no one was more upset with the band than the roadies themselves. After all the dust had settled and the band was safely backstage, the ex-Marines administered some justice. All four members of the band were beaten for more than three hours. At the end of the third hour, the beans began to spill. In an attempt to distract the angry roadies and get a break in the beating, one band member, the drummer, began telling fantastical stories about the true origins of the band. The drummer at that time was in someway related to current drummer, Jim. This is why Jim's name is not included on HOLEHOG! stationary. The revealing of true Hog History is something the family will have to pay for in this way for generations to come.
Anyway, the plan worked and the roadies stopped hitting and began listening. Darling Jill was able to relate alot of what was said, but could not vouch for every detail. The drummer at that time was also named Jim. Anyone that bothers to check, will see that every HOLEHOG! drummer has been named Jim, James, or some form of the name. One of the first things Jim said to stop the beatings, was this, "I am not responsible for my actions! What I do is at the whim of Bucky!" This only got the attention of one roadie. The rest continued beating. Jim kept talking, "Bucky Chow Chow III is the master of all Hog action. It has been so since the beginning." Another roadie stopped hitting, the rest continued.
To be continued...
Up until 1985, I had resigned myself to just accepting the fact that I would never get the real scoop behind my favorite band. I would have to just sit in my room and stare at the album covers, imagining my own background story. The popular rumor back then was that they were four wayward monks who needed to rock as part of a spiritual journey they had planned for themselves. My parents, however, remembered Wolfman Jack saying they were four siblings from St. Louis who met when they were all filing a similar lawsuit against Chuck Berry. (they settled out of court). My grandparents tell me that Walter Winchell used to spend an inordinate amount of time praising the band as a healthy, all-american alternative to jazz and swing music. Write ups in Dynamite magazine, bubble gum cards, comic books, and made-for-tv movies all confused the matter even more.
I consider the summer of ’85 to be the most awesome time in my life. It was then that I first began to learn the REAL story. I was an intern for Jet magazine and spent my days running errands for the staff. I would get lunch, deliver letters, whatever the staff wanted me to do. One of my favorite stops would be the newsstand right outside the building. I would pick up all the major newspapers and sometimes bubble gum for the reporters. What I liked about it though, was the owner of the newsstand. A seventy-six year old ex-marine, who three days out of the week, wore an old, beat up HOLEHOG! t-shirt. He never gave me his name, even when I asked for it. He always said if I had to call him something, call him Darling Jill.
Darling Jill had an interesting story, not about himself, but about our favorite band, HOLEHOG! He claimed to know several ex-marines that worked as roadies for the infamous 1965 Pig Pen tour. Any Hoghead knows this to be the tour when all four band members supposedly beat a mentally challenged fan when they mistook his unadulterated enthusiasm as sarcastic mocking. The incident led to a sharp decline in the HOLEHOG! fanbase. Even though some of their best work appeared after that incident it was the last time they would see crowds of that size in the U.S.
According to Darling Jill, no one was more upset with the band than the roadies themselves. After all the dust had settled and the band was safely backstage, the ex-Marines administered some justice. All four members of the band were beaten for more than three hours. At the end of the third hour, the beans began to spill. In an attempt to distract the angry roadies and get a break in the beating, one band member, the drummer, began telling fantastical stories about the true origins of the band. The drummer at that time was in someway related to current drummer, Jim. This is why Jim's name is not included on HOLEHOG! stationary. The revealing of true Hog History is something the family will have to pay for in this way for generations to come.
Anyway, the plan worked and the roadies stopped hitting and began listening. Darling Jill was able to relate alot of what was said, but could not vouch for every detail. The drummer at that time was also named Jim. Anyone that bothers to check, will see that every HOLEHOG! drummer has been named Jim, James, or some form of the name. One of the first things Jim said to stop the beatings, was this, "I am not responsible for my actions! What I do is at the whim of Bucky!" This only got the attention of one roadie. The rest continued beating. Jim kept talking, "Bucky Chow Chow III is the master of all Hog action. It has been so since the beginning." Another roadie stopped hitting, the rest continued.
To be continued...
07-26-2008
I feel I need to tell the fans something. I cannot go into great detail, but the current drummer of HOLEHOG! is apparently now friends with some real seedy looking members of the coast guard. I was payed a visit by these gentleman and was convinced that this story should be put on hold.
I am choosing to do so, for the sake of the fans. They need me.
I feel I need to tell the fans something. I cannot go into great detail, but the current drummer of HOLEHOG! is apparently now friends with some real seedy looking members of the coast guard. I was payed a visit by these gentleman and was convinced that this story should be put on hold.
I am choosing to do so, for the sake of the fans. They need me.
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