Big Sugar – Diggin a Hole

I was looking for a band to cover, and CB sent me a link to this terrific Canadian band. I liked the music right away. The first thing I noticed was the great musicianship on the songs. They are the real deal musically, and the guitarist Geordie Johnson is top shelf, and so is the bass player Garry Lowe.  

They were formed in Toronto in the late 1980s, initially as a blues trio built around the guitar work of frontman Gordie Johnson. Before Big Sugar became popular, Johnson started out backing legends like the Muddy Waters alumni and Mavis Staples. 

Another member who made them sound distinctive was bass player Garry Lowe. Lowe joined Big Sugar in 1994 and played on eight of their albums.  He bridged the reggae and Rastafarian culture of his native Jamaica with a rock audience.  Lowe was sometimes criticized for working in Big Sugar by Rastas and Jamaican music followers who wanted him to keep reggae pure, but he continued to play and blend his style into others. 

They have released 11 studio albums since 1991 and 2 live albums. Their last studio album was released in 2020 and is called Eternity Now. Their success has been mostly in Canada, with one song getting some US airplay with You Better Get Used To It.

I’ve been listening to different cuts, and they cover a lot of ground. They have some heavy blues riffs, some reggae rhythms, roots music, with a pinch of psychedelia here and there. Their breakthrough album was Five Hundred Pounds, which hit big on Canadian college radio at the time.

This song was on the 1996 album Hemi-Vision. It was their biggest hit in Canada, peaking at #9 in the Canadian Charts. I asked my friend Deke if he had heard of them, and he has seen them live a few times. He also sent me this video of Jack White (who is a fan) who is releasing their album Five Hundred Pounds again on vinyl.

Diggin A Hole

Got my head in a haze
Feel like a cat in a cage
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart
Give me the lies on page
I’m feelin’ twice my age
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart

Digging a hole is that the way you treat me
Digging a hole just tie me up and beat me

Got my head in a haze
Feel like a cat in a cage
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Give me the lies on page
I’m feelin’ twice my age
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart

Digging a hole is that the way you treat me
Digging a hole just tie me up and beat me

Got my head in a haze
Feel like a cat in a cage
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Give me the lies on page
I’m feelin twice my age
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart
Digging a hole is that the way you treat me
Digging a hole just tie me up and beat me

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “Big Sugar – Diggin a Hole”

  1. Pingback: Big Sugar – Diggin a Hole – MobsterTiger

  6. Wow, hadn’t heard that in years! But I remember Big Sugar were indeed big in Toronto for a few years. Thanks for jogging my memory.
    Second time this week a somewhat obscure Toronto band re-entered my life, earlier I heard ‘Don’t Walk on Past’ by Blue Peter, a new wave band of the ’80s , on Sirius First Wave.

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    1. I searched your site for this band but all I found was Sugar not this one…I thought you might had covered them but I don’t think so.

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      1. no. I never have, maybe will add them to mylist to get to. I really hadn’t thought of the name in years, but yes, for maybe 5 years they were pretty big where I was and had some quite good records

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  8. they were a part of a cool era in Canadian Music History…at the time there was everything, and I remember Ska being huge as well….for something fun, I don’t know if it’s on ITunes, but there’s an album called Talk Don’t Dance with musicians from Big Sugar (Gordie Johnson), the Barenaked Ladies(Tyler Stewart), and the great Bourbon Tabernacle Choir(Chris Brown and Dave Wall)…a lot of members of those bands along with Wild T and the Spirit had a history of jamming a lot, the album is so cool on so many levels, including one jam that mixes the rhythm/bass line from Barney Miller TV show theme and the melody, the Flintstines meet the Flintstones….it works well.

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    1. They were new to me…very enjoyable band. Randy did you post today? I’m going to have your posts come up in my reader…that way I won’t miss them.

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      2. Oh I meant the comment bar on the right…I miss your posts all of the time and I don’t know why! Now it won’t happen anymore.

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  13. Love how the bass sets the tone right off. Kickass progression to the refrain. The harmonica funkifies it. I told you before that Jack White was doing good things with Third Man Records.

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