The Troggs -

The Troggs were an English rock band, best known for the 1966 British Invasion hit “Wild Thing” from their debut album From Nowhere. On Page One, they made the 1967–68 albums Trogglodynamite, Cellophane, and Mixed Bag. Outside the US, they scored further hits with “I Can’t Control Myself,” “Any Way That You Want Me,” “Love Is All Around,” and the UK No. 1 “With a Girl Like You.”

Members: Reg Presley (lead vocals, bass, 1964-2012), Ronnie Bond (drums, vocals, 1964-89), David Wright (guitar, vocals, 1964-65), Howard Mansfield (guitar, 1964-65), Chris Britton (guitar, vocals, 1965-70, 1977-present), Pete Staples (bass, 1965-69), Tony Murray (bass, 1969-89), Richard Moore (guitar, 1971-75), Colin Fletcher (rhythm guitar, 1975-77)

Background

The Troglodytes formed in May 1964 in Andover, Hampshire, when singer-guitarist Dave Wright, bassist Reginald Maurice Ball, drummer Ronald James Bullis, and guitarist Howard Mansfield assembled an R&B quartet. Ball, born June 12, 1941, in Andover, first sang publicly with a schoolmate at the 1955 Andover summer carnival, then moved from saxophone lessons to guitar and the skiffle group the Incognitos. He left Andover Secondary Modern at fifteen and entered the building trade, where he worked as a bricklayer alongside local music engagements.

The Troglodytes established a Hampshire circuit through Copper Kettle and Fiesta Hall in Andover, Haymarket Lounge in Basingstoke, Winchester Lido, and Plaza Ballroom in Newbury. A December 1964 Basingstoke booking placed them on a bill with blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson and the Muleskinners. Spring bookings brought shared bills with the Pretty Things and The Animals. The group took a demo to Denmark Street in 1965 and approached Kinks manager Larry Page, who heard material close to the Kinks and told them to practice for another twelve months.

Personnel turnover subsequently weakened the Troggs while fellow Andover group Ten Feet Five went through a parallel breakup. Pete Staples had played acoustic guitar and served as drum major in the 2nd Andover Boys Brigade Company during the late 1950s, then joined Bruce Turner and the Senators on rhythm guitar. Chris Britton recruited Staples into Ten Feet Five after bassist Dave Glover left the group, prompting Staples to switch from rhythm guitar to bass. Britton played classical guitar at an Andover charity show prior to his lead-guitar work in Ten Feet Five. Fontana issued the Ten Feet Five single “Baby’s Back in Town” (b/w “Send Me No More Lovin’”) in May 1965 while Britton and Staples remained in the lineup.

Managers Stanley Phillips and Lance Barrett combined the remaining personnel of the two groups after further departures from each lineup. Ball and Bullis joined guitarist Britton and bassist Staples, who brought Ten Feet Five equipment into rehearsals under the Troggs name. Ball moved from bass to lead vocals, leaving Staples on bass alongside drummer Bullis and guitarist Britton. The rebuilt quartet played Moore Hall in Andover on Dec. 26, 1965 and prepared a demo with the Kinks song “You Really Got Me,” a Rolling Stones song, and Ball originals “Lost Girl” and “The Yella in Me.”

The Troggs returned to the Denmark Street office of Larry Page early in 1966 and played their material for the manager. Page signed the group to a probationary management agreement on Feb. 1, 1966 and booked Regent Sound, where they recorded “Lost Girl” and “The Yella in Me.” Page licensed “Lost Girl” to CBS for a Feb. 11 release (b/w “The Yella in Me”). Page and journalist Keith Altham recast Ball as Reg Presley, while Bullis adopted the name Ronnie Bond.

Page selected the Chip Taylor composition “Wild Thing,” first recorded by Jordan Christopher and the Wild Ones, for the second Troggs single. He placed the quartet at Olympic Sound after a Larry Page Orchestra session, where they recorded “Wild Thing” and the Presley composition “With a Girl Like You” within a short block of studio time. Page coupled “Wild Thing” with the Presley original “From Home” for an April 22 Fontana release. The Troggs reached No. 2 on the UK singles chart with “Wild Thing,” prompting Presley to leave the building trade for full-time work with the band.

Page formalized the Page One recording agreement on May 26, several weeks into the British chart run for “Wild Thing.” He returned the group to Olympic Sound for a compressed session that supplied most of the remaining material for the first LP. The Troggs followed “Wild Thing” on July 8 with “With a Girl Like You” (b/w “I Want You”), two weeks ahead of the debut album From Nowhere… The Troggs.

Discography: