Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
-REBELLION, MANCHESTER-
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or Pigsx7) are one of those bands that are a bit of a mystery.
They shot onto the scene with their debut LP Feed the Rats at the beginning of 2017, bringing a riff heavy mix of stoner/sludge/pysch/metal to an unsuspecting scene and they soon made a name on the circuit.
Now the Newcastle based group are touring their latest album – King of Cowards (released September 2018) – and I’m off to Rebellion in Manchester to see how they do. It’s probably fair dinkum that our gigs editor Max told me to take earplugs, I reckon, as I head underneath Deansgate’s train line to get into an already busy venue just before Pigsx7 come on.
Matt Baty is the driving force for Pigsx7’s live performance, but the other four members of the band have such focus from the second that they step on stage it’s hard not to be drawn in.
Straight away they’re into the first of their mammoth songs. When I first listened to them last year I was immediately struck by the length and sheer power of each track (their debut has just three, each one over 10 minutes long, but King of Cowards is a little more accessible with six songs under 10 minutes a piece).
Baty gets some banter going with the sell out crowd, a humbling and eloquent interaction, and they’re in with another one of their tasty riffs that seem to go on forever.
The hard drive home of every song is apparent through tracks from both albums, including the heady ‘A66’ which is a delightful mixture of psych sludgery that leaves my knees feeling a bit funny and ‘Gloamer’, which is achingly repetitive and drudgey (in the most stomach-pulling way possible).
These heavy riffs, mixed with Baty’s facial expressions (which, by the way, could rival a woman in labour, I’m telling you) and a sheer determination make for a great show.
As the lights come up it’s understandable, if not a little disappointing, that their show lasted just short of an hour. Anything else probably would have been totally mind-bending and they would have had to play through two full albums. But I’m still wondering why I leave feeling like I want a little bit more.
Either way, these guys have sold out countless nights on this tour. As Baty stated at the beginning of the evening – if every person in Rebellion brought 50 people, they’d fill the Arena. Big ambitions. Guess I’ll need to keep a close eye on these guys.
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