The Ants Council

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the ants council is the national developement agency for the ants in england.distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery.
Arts Council England works to get more art to more people in more places. We develop and promote the arts across England, acting as an independent body at arm's length from government.

The Grasshopper’s Green Herbarian Band (1958 ­ 1967)

The beginning
It was of course in October 1959 that Jonny Grasshopper, Derek Bugg and Dave ‘Scratcher’ Cricket first exploded onto the British music scene, with their smash hit ‘Six-legged Shuffle’. The sound was heavily reminiscent of traditional skiffle fused with the influence of their church background and immersion in English folk. Jonny and Derek had first met aged 14 at their local church youth band based at St Paul’s Church on Hills Road, Cambridge. Jonny played the banjo to Derek’s tambourine, and although they mainly provided the accompaniment to hymns and religious songs, the effect that the time with the band had on their later work should not be underestimated. It was really where the young ‘Hoppers were to learn their trade as musicians, and echoes of the anthemic metre and liturgical lyric of hymns was to creep into even their more psychedelic recordings such as the inimitable ‘In Us Confide’.
Early years in Cambridge
At 16, Jonny and Derek began to distance themselves from the church scene, discovering a freer form of expression and a nascent Cambridge music scene that centred on jam sessions at The Mill and The Portland Arms. It was here in early 1958 that the friends met Dave ‘Scratcher’ Cricket, a talented bassist of the genus gryllus who was some two years older but looking for an opportunity to make some music with other hip young insects. The trio would meet up weekly to enjoy watching older local jazz musicians jamming, notably Sid Barrett, the drummer who was to give his name to Roger Keith Barrett, and well-known keys player Twinkle Malone. Their shared passion for improvisation as well as their rich musical backgrounds (Scratcher and Jonny’s fathers had both competed in the Cicada solo chirping competitions of the early fifties) meant that forming a band was the most natural path for the trio to take. After some deliberation over instrumentation, it was decided that Jonny Grasshopper would lead the band on guitar, vocals and,

periodically fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, comb and paper and rear-legged chirp, whilst Derek would develop the percussion skills that he had learnt with the church band and Scratcher would stick to bass, both double and electric. Always prone to eccentricity, Scratcher, a field cricket, proposed that the threesome should practice in the open air, by the Mill Pond or on the Grantchester Meadows. Somewhat compelled by a lack of any other performance space options, but equally seduced by the idea of allowing the Cambridge countryside to affect their song-writing, Jonny and Derek agreed. Dave Gilmour, who grew up by the meadows, has often said that he could hear the sounds of those early sessions as a lad playing in his back garden. It is also believed that a thirteen-year old Roger Barrett encountered the band as he trundled back from Grantchester on his bicycle, and that this chance meeting was something of a musical epiphany that encouraged the budding painter to focus his efforts on learning to play the guitar. It is important to note however that Roger Waters strongly denies this story, claiming that neither he nor Syd had ever met the legends that were to become the biggest insect band in recorded history before their rise to fame in the mid-sixties. Whatever the truth, it is nevertheless undeniable that the ‘Hoppers sound and their Cambridge roots were to have a profound effect on the early Floyd work. In fact, the video for Arnold Lane can be seen to draw directly on the ‘Hoppers video for In Us Confide, in which the zany threesome are seen to be running haphazardly around the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge (?).
The move to London
Jonny Grasshopper, though undoubtedly a most consummate musician, quickly realised that he did not possess the business acumen necessary to propel the trio to stardom, and appointed Robert ‘Bob’ Mantis to the post. Bob Mantis, pictured here in 1959, reclines on a branch in the Botanic Gardens. Mantis had a great eye for publicity, and having heard about the great rock ‘n’ roll scene in Hamburg that was to launch The Beatles career, sent the group over to Germany for a six month stint on the student club circuit. It was there that Jonny penned ‘Six-legged shuffle’, ‘Don’t Bug Me (I’m only trying to sing)’ and ‘Aphid Rock’ which together formed the unforgettable Chrysalis EP, followed swiftly by the LP of the same name and released upon their return to London. Melody Maker called it “the most important debut in rock history”, eclipsing even Elvis Presley’s Sun Records recording sessions, and they ran the story under the classic headline THE PUPATING’S OVER: THE GRASSHOPPERS EMERGE FROM THE CHRYSALIS.
The big time
The early sixties were dominated by the ‘Hoppers upbeat, folk-infused sound, and at one point, in April 1964, three of their tracks occupied the top spots of the Top Forty hit parade. They successfully broke the American market later that summer, taking the Billboard 100 by storm with their seminal LP Entophilia and staying at number 1 for seventeen weeks straight with the classic double A-side ‘Shake Your Antennae’ and ‘Make Way for the May Nymphs’. In Us Confide was the smash third album that marked a real sea-change in the song writing style of Grasshopper, Cricket and Bugg. Labelled by many music journalists “the record that invented psychedelia”, the 1965 offering was to be hugely influential on Syd Barrett and the recently formed Pink Floyd, reportedly prompting them to cover ‘(I’m a) King Bee’, the 1957 Slim Harpo blues track, in homage to the hottest insects in London.

STOP PRESS We have recently received a letter from Sir Ronald McPeak, Chairman of the Insect Circus Society. Sir Ronald, for whom we have only the greatest respect, has pointed out that there are a number of possible errors in our summary biography of Jonny Grasshopper. However, Jonny is adamant that his version of events is completely accurate. So, without wishing to offend either party, we have left Jonny's biography as it was, but we also have decided to print Sir Ronald's letter in full at the bottom of this page.