John and Paul Biggerstaff were young teenagers when they left the village of Ahoghill, with their parents, for a new life in Australia. They were already naturally talented musicians when they left Ulster and for several years now it has been their main occupation in Australia. between them the Hog Hill Boys play fiddle, accordion, guitar, dobro, harmonica, mandolin, bodhran, spoons and stompbox.

In their promotions they emphasize no drum machines, no midi files, no pre-recorded backing tracks. On their CD that they brought out a few years ago entitled Demo (don’t be confused by the name of the 12-track album, you’re meant to buy it) there definitely are none of the above and you can be certain that there won’t be in their live shows. The Hog Hill Boys music is a fusion of Rocking Hillbilly Blues with Ulster Irish Trad, and in spite of a slight Aussie twang it has Ahoghill written all over it. It is raw, its rough, its real true grassroots, its great spirited stuff.

The Hog Hill Boys now live in the Perth area of Australia and are well known in Western Australian Irish Trad circles having had several write-ups in the Irish Scene Magazine. They do get out beyond the hinterland of Perth on occasions and have had a couple of tours in Indonesia. Its warmer there in their winter - our summer. At present they’re negotiating a gig in the famous Irish bar in Cambodia. I bet you didn’t know there was an Irish bar in Cambodia.

When John and Paul are not performing as the Hog Hill Boys they form the basis of a pop rock band called Splash. There is also another instrument that John has mastered that he hasn’t played in Australia, and for good reasons as it is the Lambeg drum. A couple of years ago John was back in Northern Ireland for a visit and in the middle of a music session in my kitchen we got Lambegs and Fifes out in my backyard. It might be near 40 years since he last played one but he hasn’t lost the touch. I recall being in Ahoghill at a drumming match around 1970 and witnessed John picking up a junior award for his drumming. Little wonder as on his mother’s side he is of the Wilkinson family, famous for drumming and drum making. I’ve encouraged him to become the first Australian Lambeg drum maker. I’m sure Kangaroo skin or dingo skin would work just as well as a goat skin.