Herefordshire band, Mott the Hoople, inducted into Mojo magazine's Hall of Fame (From Hereford Times)

Herefordshire band, Mott the Hoople, inducted into Mojo magazine's Hall of Fame

7:37am Thursday 18th June 2009 in Search By Mark Bowen

A BAND forever associated with Herefordshire has been honoured by a top music magazine.

Mott the Hoople were inducted into the Mojo Hall of Fame before some of the music industry’s biggest figures.

The five-piece band, now reformed after 35 years, were honoured at the Mojo Awards last Thursday.

Elton John and The Doors are previous winners of the award, presented to Mott by Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. The (not so) young dudes got a massive cheer on a night that saw Yoko Ono and Paul Weller receive other awards.

Mott organist Verden Allen said: “We had an idea that something was going on but we didn’t know we were going to get this. It was really nice.

“Hopefully it’s a taste of things to come. We got on great and now it’s a case of getting some rehearsals.”

The original five piece – Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Pete ‘Overend’ Watts, Dale ‘Buffin’ Griffin and Allen – confirmed a reunion in January ahead of a five-night residency at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Fans from Canada and Sweden have bought tickets for the October concerts, while extra dates were added due to demand.

One face the band saw last week was Chris Blackwell, the Island Record founder who signed Mott in the 1960s.

Members also discovered they have plenty of admirers.

“I was chatting with the Manic Street Preachers and it turns out they’re fans,” said Allen, whose fourth solo album, My Masochistic Side has been released on Angel Air Records. “They said they’re coming down to London to see our concert in October.”