From AudioCulture:
There was no middle ground with Hogsnort Rupert, people either loved them or they hated them. But the Wellington pseudo skiffle pop band’s No.1 hit ‘Pretty Girl’ ensured everybody knew them. It outdid The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to become the highest-selling single in New Zealand for 1970. It sold more than 55,000 copies, spent three weeks in the top spot, won the band the Loxene Golden Disc group award, was released in Great Britain, declared a hit pick in both Melody Maker and New Musical Express and Top Of The Pops requested a copy of the film clip. Centred around songwriter Dave Luther and affable frontman Alec Wishart, Hogsnort Rupert followed up with two albums produced by Peter Dawkins on HMV and toured New Zealand as part of promoter Joe Brown’s stable but had called it a day less than a year after ‘Pretty Girl’. (Read more...)
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Music we hold — on our catalogue
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L to R: Alec Wishart, Dave Luther, Billy Such, Ian Terry and Frank Boardman.
Line-Up:
Alec Wishart (Percussion / Vocals)
Dave Luther (Rhythm Guitar / Harmonica / Vocals)
Ian Terry (Lead Guitar / Vocals)
Frank Boardman (Tea Chest Bass / Bass Guitar)
Billy Such (Drums / Washboard)
Hogsnort Rupert were originally called Hogsnort Rupert’s Original Flagon Band and first came into the public eye when they entered the 1969 Studio One New Faces series on television. They were made for television and made the finals. In 1969 they released an album called “All Our Own Work” under their original name. From this album came their first two singles, “When I Was Young”/”Maggie Maggie” and “All Our Own Work”/”Photograph”.
The next two singles were not as successful. The first at the end of 1970 was “Aunty Alice (Bought Us This)”/”Something Old Something New” and the other at the beginning of 1971, “Little Bird”/”Coming Back To You”.
Musical differences led to John Newton and Graham Brown leaving, so Alec, Dave and John Reilly remained a three-piece, adding a drummer and bass player whenever they needed it.
Dave, Alec and John
A third album, “Ways Of Making You Laugh” came out in early 1971, from which two more singles were released. The first “Monday”/”Act Naturally” didn’t make the charts, but was good enough to make the finals of the 1971 Loxene Golden Disc Awards. The other was “Charlie Was A Good Man”/”Digging My Potatoes”, but by now the public had tired of them. The novelty had worn off and they disbanded in June 1971.
In 1975 Axis released a best of album called “A Portrait Of Hogsnort Rupert”.
In 1973 Alec Wishart released two singles. The first was with the Jelly Roll Revival and was called “Taking Wine With Lil”/”Have A Cuppa Tea”, while the second was with the Society Jazzmen and called “Grandad’s Piano”/”Champs Elysees”.
1976 saw Dave Luther playing in a group called the Jo Michat Group, who were resident at Wellington’s Burma Motor Lodge. Another person who was in that group was David Curtis.
Sadly John Reilly died in 1979. In 1981, Wishart and Luther reformed the group as a duo and in 1982 released a new album called “It’s Hogsnort Rupert”. From it came two singles “Tokyo Rose”/”Hey Good Looking” and “Don’t Make Me”/”Little Ukulele”.
They didn’t last long, so they disbanded and Dave Luther formed another group called Dave and the Dynamos, a trio with Dave, Kevin Findlater and Bernie Reber. They had three singles, the best being “Life Begins At Forty” in 1983, which was also a national number one hit.
Dave and the Dynamos
1985 saw their sixth album, on which they contributed five tracks. The album was called “Something Old, Something New” and was shared with Bulldogs Allstar Goodtime Band, Dave and the Dynamos, and Alec Wishart.
Since their first recording sessions with HMV in 1969, they have released only six albums, that’s roughly one every five years. So it didn’t take much convincing for them to decide to record another. With the approaching millennium it seemed like a good enough reason and so late in 1998 they entered Marmalade Studios with slight trepidation, do they record an album of new tracks, or one of old tracks from their stage act? In the end they compromised with a mixture, four brand new songs, two previously recorded originals reworked, including “Pretty Girl”, and five favourites from their live performances. The resultant album was “Hypnotic”, released in 1999. The line-up for this album was Alec Wishart, Dave Luther, Neil Worboys, originally from Bulldogs Allstar Goodtime Band, Kevin Findlater, Dean Ruscoe and Graeme Luther.
In 2001 EMI released a compilation CD called “The Very Best Of Hogsnort Rupert”.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to Bruce Sergent for letting us use this material from his great discographical site New Zealand Music of the 60’s, 70’s and a bit of 80’s.