Grotto - 1977 - At Last...

Grotto

1977

At Last...

01. Come Along With Me

02. Bad Times

03. Funk From Mother

04. Grottic Depression (2)

05. Grottic Depression (1)

06. Change Of Tide

07. Doomed

Etim Bassey

Femi Lasode

Martin Amenechi

Skid Ikemefu

Soga Benson

Grotto formed from the ashes of War-Head Constriction, one of the heaviest of the nigerian schoolboy rock bands. Impressively versatile, within the course of a few years they would shift styles from proto-metal to funk to jazz and disco.

A rare gem from the Nigerian archives, Grotto's lost Afro-rock classic At Last..., originally released in 1977. Formed at "Greg's" (St Gregory's college in Ikoyi, Lagos), Grotto came up at the same time as several other influential student bands based there, including Ofege. "As Grotto, we played a rock/funk fusion. We were probably aged 15, 16 or thereabouts and we were heavily into music; we listened to Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and lots of rock bands," explains lead guitarist Soga Benson. Their debut album is a heavyweight trip, drifting from psychedelic workouts to crunching breaks and funkier directions. "Odion Iruoje was the A&R manager at EMI at the time and he auditioned us, liked the material and signed us. He also produced our recordings," continues Benson. "Most of us were boarders and the school encouraged music and had instruments so we had time to jam and really gel together. The group still continued after we left Greg's. We had to juggle A-Levels with gigs and we used to skip school whenever we had a show, rehearsal or a recording date." While many Nigerian student bands were studio-based projects, Grotto was an active live unit during the '70s. "We played at The Shrine with Fela, with Tee Mac at Batakoto, with Sonny Okosun at Kakadu, Segun Bucknor at Granada Hotel."

Formed at “Greg’s” (St Gregory’s college in Ikoyi, Lagos), Grotto came up at the same time as several other influential student bands based there, including Ofege. “As Grotto, we played a rock/funk fusion. We were probably aged 15, 16 or thereabouts and we were heavily into music, we listened to Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and lots of rock bands,” explains lead guitarist Soga Benson. Their debut album is a heavyweight trip, drifting from psychedelic workouts to crunching breaks and funkier directions.

“Odion Iruoje was the A&R manager at EMI at the time and he auditioned us, liked the material and signed us. He also produced our recordings,” continues Benson. “Most of us were boarders and the school encouraged music and had instruments so we had time to jam and really gel together. The group still continued after we left Gregs. We had to juggle A-Levels with gigs and we used to skip school whenever we had a show, rehearsal or a recording date.” While many Nigerian student bands were studio-based projects, Grotto was an active live unit during the ‘70s. “We played at The Shrine with Fela, with Tee Mac at Batakoto, with Sonny Okosun at Kakadu, Segun Bucknor at Granada Hotel.”

A rare gem from the Nigerian archives, Grotto's lost Afro-rock classic At Last..., originally released in 1977. Formed at "Greg's" (St Gregory's college in Ikoyi, Lagos), Grotto came up at the same time as several other influential student bands based there, including Ofege. "As Grotto, we played a rock/funk fusion. We were probably aged 15, 16 or thereabouts and we were heavily into music; we listened to Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and lots of rock bands," explains lead guitarist Soga Benson. Their debut album is a heavyweight trip, drifting from psychedelic workouts to crunching breaks and funkier directions. "Odion Iruoje was the A&R manager at EMI at the time and he auditioned us, liked the material and signed us. He also produced our recordings," continues Benson. "Most of us were boarders and the school encouraged music and had instruments so we had time to jam and really gel together. The group still continued after we left Greg's. We had to juggle A-Levels with gigs and we used to skip school whenever we had a show, rehearsal or a recording date." While many Nigerian student bands were studio-based projects, Grotto was an active live unit during the '70s. "We played at The Shrine with Fela, with Tee Mac at Batakoto, with Sonny Okosun at Kakadu, Segun Bucknor at Granada Hotel."