FEATURE: Spotlight: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

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I am not sure off the top of my head…

IN THIS PHOTO: The band chilling with Marc Riley/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

where the Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs name comes from - but it is definitely fun to say. It is amusing hearing D.J.s say it, as they take a run up and forget how many times they have said ‘pig’! It might be easier saying ‘pigs times seven’, as that does the job too! In any instance, the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne band are one of the moist exciting and popular out there. They are on tour next year, and I suggest you go out and catch them. In terms of sound, they occupy their own territory; there is a little bit of Motörhead and other bands but, really, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are in a league of their own! Whilst they have been around a bit, I think 2020 is when they will really explode and conquer. Go and check out their work on Bandcamp and experience this truly refreshing, tight and powerful band. Matt Baty (Vocals), Sam Grant (Guitar); Adam Ian Sykes (Guitar), Christopher Morley (Drums) and John-Michael Hedley (Bass) are a sensation who have caught the ear of stations like BBC Radio 6 Music. The BBC have just announced their Sound of 2020 longlist, and I am surprised bands like Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are not in there. Maybe they are not eligible, but I do think there is an absence of great Rock music; artists who blow your socks off.

Of course, the lads might not see themselves as a Rock band; maybe it is foolhardy applying genres and labels so easily. They have not put out too much this year, although the lads have been hitting the road and look set to have a very exciting and busy 2020. I will bring in some reviews and interviews; first up, here is a bit of the interview they gave to CRACK in 2017:

“Band-wise there’s been loads of amazing music for quite a while,” Sykes says of the Newcastle scene. But the problem lies in the closure of many of the city’s most precious event spaces. Among them the Star and Shadow, where that first gig was played. “That left a big hole,” says Baty. Though hope has not left the city’s music scene completely: the volunteer-run cinema and venue now owns its own building and will re-open to the public in due course, as will The Old Police House, the revered underground spot just across the bridge in Gateshead, which had to shut its doors recently.

Venue troubles aside, Baty has a theory as to why Newcastle maybe doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. “I suppose it’s because there’s a lack of music industry in Newcastle. I’d be surprised if many labels or managers come to scout bands. They’ll find them in Manchester or London. You could be the greatest band on earth playing in Newcastle and no-one will ever fucking know about you. Sometimes people talk about it as if you’re on Mars”.

The band has been making waves for a few years now. Their Feed the Rats album of 2017 is extraordinary! It consist three tracks – Psychopomp, Sweet Relief and Icon -, and there are these two epic cuts and a much shorter track in the middle. It is a dizzying listen and one has to admire the ambition and balls of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs! The album won some positive reviews. People could detect this experimental band who were creating their own world of sound. I do suggest you have a listen to the album, as it makes for a truly wonderful experience. Here is what Psych Insight Music had to say:

“I first came across Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, one of my favourite band names ever, through their split with the Cosmic Dead back in 2013. I’d just got into the Cosmic Dead and basically bought anything that they had brought out. This was a very good move as the Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs side was, to my ears, every bit as good as the other side; which in itself is a reliable sign of quality. So when Rocket Recordings recently announced that they were putting out a Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs album I assumed that I had probably missed a few releases in between. After a bit of digging it appears that very little seems to have been released in the interim, a mini-cassette album from Box Records being the only release I could find, and the Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs track on that is to be found on this new release.

“Somewhat relieved that I had missed anything I settled in to listen to ‘Feed The Rats’. As you would expect from a band who share members and/ or orbit in the same heavy psych galaxy as the likes of Blown Out, Haikai No Ku, Terminal Cheesecake, Luminous Bodies (to name just a few); this Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs album is bloody heavy. To be clear, its not heavy like metal is heavy…it’s getting sucked into a black hole heavy, and from the very beginning of album opener ‘Psychopomp’ (the title should be a clue) ‘Feed The Rats’ is an unrelenting motherfucker of a listen from start to finish. Beginning with a massive bridgehead-assaulting riff ‘Psychopomp’ starts as if an army led by Lemmy is invading to grant sonic liberty to all that stands in its wake. That riff is massive, firm and unstoppable and Matt Baty’s vocals just add that extra level of menace to what is an already scary proposition. But the thing is, that this is arguable the least heavy track on the album. Because, when ‘Sweet Relief’ opens up, ‘relief’ is not the first word that comes to mind. A much shorter track than the other two, this is like getting a bowling ball at full pelt between eyes. I again love Baty’s Lemmy-esque vocals together with a more classic 70s rock aesthetic mixed in with the psych/ stoner heft. Just a brilliant track, and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Martin for CRACK

Those who were new to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in 2017 were treated to King of Cowards in 2018. This album/mini-album has six tracks and nothing as long as on Feed the Rats. Although many of the tracks were over five minutes, the album as a whole is tighter and more focused. The lads lost none of their spark and genius. In fact, I think there was a step-up in terms of quality and production. GNT is about as good an opening track as one can imagine; Gloamer brings things down to landing with plenty of bang and crash. I love King of Cowards and it was the first thing I heard from the band. In their review, Drowned in Sound, were full of love:

“Opening track 'GNT' begins with echoey feedback before crashing riffs come in waves and a rabble-rousing chorus backs Baty’s roaring charge. All of which is paired with battering percussion, courtesy of ex-Gnod drummer Chris Morley, and scorching guitar solos that heighten the pitch. It’s an auspicious start, to say the least, and one that gives you eardrums a good kicking. This is rock music in all its glory.

The record may be a more focused effort, but Pigs have lost none of their psychedelic dexterity in the process: billowing tempos make for a trippy sense of time and slippery guitar lines trick the senses. A track like ‘Shockmaster’ rocks you gently into a false sense of security, then tears the rug from beneath. Lyrically it’s equally unpredictable - “Angels are easy to love… demons are easy to love” - blurring the ever-tricky defining lines of morality. On the other hand, ‘A66’ abandons sludgy rhythms for ravenous rapidity. An ominous midway break merely builds suspense for the cascade of heavy riffs and deliberate percussive thumps that follow. It builds to a dizzy apex matched by the immense capacity of Baty’s vocal.

King of Cowards is an album rich with detail, it’s a brassy racket that keeps on giving. ‘Thumbsucker’ forges a banging groove that the band stay true to aside from the snaking guitar that appears periodically, one of the many little features that make the record so mesmeric. Towards the end, Baty bellows the unlikely (and quite hilarious) line, “I LOVE YOU, MUMMY… I LIKE IT WHEN YOU RUB MY TUMMY AND LET ME SUCK MY THUMB.” Pigs may conjure a demonic din, but there’s something genuinely loveable and warm about their ruckus. That said, the deranged commotion of King of Cowards actually reduces you to a state of wanting to curl up in the foetal position and suck your thumb, so the jokes on us really”.

I will wrap this up in a bit but, just before I do, I want to bring in another review for King of Cowards. I wonder whether Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs will bring out an album next year or whether we might get an E.P. Indeed, will they return to the longer and more sprawling sound of their debut or hone their songs down a little? I love Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in every guise as they have this incredible sound and are so different to anybody else in music right now.

The Guardian offered their opinions in 2018:

“Their second album is rather more accessible than last year’s debut, Feed the Rats, in relative terms at least. Where that had only three tracks, two of them more than a quarter of an hour long, this one offers six, and none break the nine-minute mark. It’s more sonically expansive: on Feed the Rats, all the instruments sounded as if they were recorded on top of each other, in the world’s loudest broom cupboard, but there’s rather more space to breathe this time round. That doesn’t reduce the effect of the riffs: they’re still pulverising, but now they sound like an advancing storm front rather than as if you’ve been trapped in a sudden downpour. I’d love to tell you about the lyrics – sin is apparently a big theme – but they’re largely obscured by the guttural bellow of singer Matt Baty. Still. It’s hard not to hail the magnificence of a group who name the album’s centrepiece track A66, though they’re probably thinking of the Middlesbrough end rather than having afternoon tea in Cockermouth”.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have been getting a lot of praise and attention from many different sources. So many people want to see the band play so, as such, they have been hammering the road hard. I know that will continue next year, but I also hope they can get back into the studio and lay down another album.

Many ask whether Rock is dead and whether it will ever be like it was years ago. I do not think it is dead, but we are seeing a lot of Post-Punk bands emerge. That is great, as we are getting a lot of truth, politics and mind-opening songs. There are fewer bands that bring us grit, riffs and something a bit more classic and fun. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are spearheading a new wave of bands that you need to go and see. Whilst Rock might not be back on its feet and leading a charge, you can never make sweeping statements or assume all is lost. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have an element of Rock and Heavy Metal bands of the 1970s; there are a lot of other seeds that makes their garden blossom with colour and wonder. I want to bring in an interview from earlier this year, when the boys were asked about playing the 6 Music Festival:

“Hi, how are you? Your work has had a lot of support from 6 Music, how did it feel to get asked to play the 6 Music festival?

So far I’m feeling good, I’m very tired, we played in Cardiff last night and we set off at midnight to get to a Travelodge at 4am. It’s good to be here, it’s amazing to be asked to play, it’s very exciting and for that reason I’m sure it’s going to be really, really good.

“To our knowledge you are by far the ‘heaviest’ act on the line up, I would suspect that has happened multiple times in your career; how do you approach a performance when this is the case?

I don’t think we approach it any differently, we just do it.

You said about considering changing your name in the early days, was that because of negative feedback about the name?

‘If you’re at a festival and you see [our name] on the line up and you’ve not heard of us and you don’t want to go and see that out of curiosity then maybe there’s something wrong with you.’

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything too negative about the name. The way I see it is if you’re at a festival and you see [our name] on the line up and you don’t want to go and see that out of curiosity then maybe there’s something wrong with you.

As we earlier commented we can’t hide that you’re not another indie band and we and other critics have been very complimentary of your work but Adam Sykes (of Pigs x7) said yourself that “If anything I think we’re incredibly derivative.” What do you think has been the reason you’ve been able to penetrate some mainstream media in ways that other heavy bands aren’t?

‘I think what’s great that’s happening with our band is that it shows there is a hunger and a thirst for people to enjoy this music that might not otherwise come across it. If you put this music in front of people, ‘wow this is great and I’m surprised that I really enjoy it’ and I think that’s a beautiful thing.’

I feel that sometimes the kind of music that we play can be very serious and a bit dark whereas there’s some sort of levity in what we’re doing. That’s not to say there’s not other bands out there doing it very well too because there are; maybe it’s just our name! I think there’s something about the sonics of what we do as well, we’re in the thick of it but I don’t experience it as something abrasive or dark and I think that’s possibly opening our doors to a wider audience who feel like they can enjoy it as well. I said earlier on in an interview that quite often music like ours gets cornered and tucked away in specialist shows or journalism which is great but I think what’s great that’s happening with our band is showing there’s a hunger and thirst for it. People are enjoying our music that might not otherwise come across it. It goes to show. if you put this music in front of some people they might think ‘wow this is great and I’m surprised that I really enjoy it’ and I think that’s a beautiful thing”.

Make sure you get acquainted with Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, as they have a very long future ahead. There are tour dates booked for next year, and many will be looking to see how they follow King of Cowards. With music still very London-centric – the BBC’s Sound of 2020 features a majority of artists from London and the South -, it is great to talk about a grand group from the glorious North! Get behind Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, because this incredible crew are…