Surely one of the most memorable group names out there at the moment is Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, which is often not surprisingly abbreviated to “Pigs x7”.
They hail from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and consist of Matthew Baty (lead vocals), Sam Grant (guitar), Adam Ian Sykes (lead guitar), John-Michael Joseph Hedley (bass) and Ewan Mackenzie (drums). The quintet are a truly entertaining outfit that over the past few years have regularly cropped up as one of the go to acts for music festival organisers.
The Brighton & Hove News caught them thrilling crowds last September with their blend of psych rock and heavy metal at ‘End Of The Road Festival’, at Blandford Forum in Dorset, where we reported thus:
“Tonight’s headliner is the very wonderful Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. I’ve seen and reviewed them before, and I must say that they’re one of my favourite live bands of the moment. They serve up their music with a hefty dollop of Black Sabbath, but with plenty of indie sus as an accompaniment. Arguably, and this may be perceived as sacrilege in some quarters, they are more interesting than Sabbath.
Tonight vocalist Matthew Baty looks like a cross between a 1920s gentleman bather and a toddler. Luckily he doesn’t sound like a toddler, or a gentleman come to that. He announces one song as capturing “the energy and excitement of ordering a takeaway on a weeknight”. However, that particular act is nowhere near as exciting as the song. Their final song is ‘A66’, a road Baty says is a serious threat to the North, which apparently it is, due to the annual death toll amongst motorists that use it. Whilst Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are a lot of fun live, and have a demonstrable sense of humour, their songs do deal with social issues too. A band who are not to be underestimated”.
Prior to this, we caught them live last June at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, where we stated that:
“We’re here to see the magnificent Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, a band that could have been specifically invented to play at Glastonbury. To say that their approach and attitude is somewhat ‘out there’ only just about begins to do them justice. They were formed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and comprise Matthew Baty on vocals, Sam Grant on guitar, Adam Ian Sykes on lead guitar, John-Michael Joseph Hedley on bass and Ewan Mackenzie on drums. Baty is barefoot. Well, why wouldn’t he be?
Their Sabbath-influenced mayhem seemingly isn’t sufficient to prevent the crowd from chanting “turn it up”!!! Sometimes no amount of volume can cut through the wall of deafness. It’s perhaps not altogether inaccurate to describe Baty as an Ozzy Osbourne who can actually sing. He doesn’t lack in showmanship either. He puts his mic in his mouth and screams – very Napalm Death!”
The band have been building their reputation over the past decade, although they only released their debut album ‘Feed The Rats’ back in 2017. ‘King Of Cowards’ followed a year later and then in 2020 ‘Viscerals’ dropped. Their fourth instalment, ‘Land Of Sleeper’ will hit the record shops on 17th February.
Just two days later, on Sunday 19th February, they will be playing live in Brighton at Chalk, which is located in Pool Valley. This is an unusual event as it is a lunchtime/early afternoon performance, with doors swinging open at 12:30pm and there will be a 3pm curfew. This is an outstore event organised by Brighton’s Resident records and tickets and album purchase options can be located HERE.
