The Pigs

The Pigs
Cover of their EP, "Youthanasia"
Background information
Origin	Bristol, England
Genres	Punk rock
Years active	1977-1978, 2009-present
Labels	New Bristol Records Bristol Archive Records
Website	The Pigs on myspace
Members	Eamonn McAndrew Kit Gould Ricky Galli Paolo Mastrandrea
Past members	Nigel Robinson

The Pigs are a Bristol-based punk rock band formed in 1977. They recorded an EP, Youthanasia, for independent label New Bristol Records in August of that year. Following renewed interest in the band after their original recordings were re-released by Bristol Archive Records in 2009, the Pigs reformed and are currently recording again.

The band first got together at Henbury School. They launched themselves as a punk band after seeing the Cortinas, the Damned, the Jam and other early punk gigs in Bristol. After just a few gigs these ‘aggressive, confrontational upstarts’ were spotted by punk impresario Miles Copeland who ran Step Forward Records with Mark P. Copeland saw the Pigs supporting Generation X at Chutes on Bristol’s Park Street and arranged for them to record at Sound Conception studios. Four tracks were released as an EP on a new label, New Bristol Records. The record was a success in Bristol and received repeated plays (at various speeds; the label misstated 33rpm) from John Peel, foremost champion of new music on UK radio at that time.

The Pigs featured on bills with bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and their high-energy live shows generated positive reviews in the UK's influential weekly music press with Simon Kinnersley in the Melody Maker citing the 'verve and aggression of the Who in their heyday' while jazz authority Ian Carr emphasised their 'wired momentum'. Unfortunately the chance to open for the Sex Pistols went up in smoke when the venue mysteriously burned down the night before the gig. Nevertheless, the EP enabled the Pigs to play further afield, at the Marquee in London and at the famous Roxy Club. They supported the Cortinas on a number of dates. However disillusionment set in at the increasingly mainstream direction of the punk movement and early in 1978 they split up.