Pigbag

Pigbag’s radio sessions recorded for the BBC in 1981-83 are being released on vinyl for the first time on 10th October 2025 (or 26th September 2025, depending on which site you believe).

The record will be released by “Room On Fire” who specialise in releasing radio broadcasts. Catalogue number is ROOM174, and it will be pressed on black vinyl.

The sessions were previously released on CD by Strange Fruit / BBC Music in 1998. There are 10 tracks on the vinyl release, as there were on the CD, so sadly, nothing which was previously unavailable. Great to have the radio sessions available again after so many years.

The tracklisting is:
Side 1
1.”Honk Wild”
2.”Eating Burgers”
3.”Vile In”
4.”Me & Your Shadow”
 5.”The Dug Out”
Side 2
 1.”You Can Wiggle My Toe To That”
2.”Jack Frost”
3.”En Ti La Tierra”
 4.”Ubud”
5.”Can’t See For Looking”

I know there’s at least one track recorded for a session which hasn’t been released, being the band’s cover of the Louis Jordan number “Caldonia“. I had an off-air recording on a cassette tape, but that’s been lost at some point in the last 40+ years, and has been missed from the releases.

You can order the record from your usual favourite independent music shop, and it’s available for pre-order from Rough Trade, Juno and Punk to Funk Heaven.

Another almost-too-late post but worth sharing.

Friday, May 16th (7-9pm) *In conversation with amazing writer and musician ADELE BERTEI at Stories Books & Cafe, Echo Park 

Plus a book signing, Saturday May 17 (2-3pm)  at the Hat & Beard stand at the Printed Matter book fair ~Pasadena

This is a bit late but I’ve been catching up on things.
Brian Nevill made a fascinating appearance on the C86 Show – a podcast run by David Eastaugh back in February.

In the two hours, he covered his early life and musical adventures in West London in the 60s and 70s, his time in Shriekback, Pigbag, and subsequent career(s).

Well worth a listen if you have an interest in early 80’s music, as well to marvel at Brian’s encyclopaedic memory!

Brian Nevill – Shriekback, Pigbag, Kirsty MacColl etc – C86 Show – Indie Pop

On Tuesday 11th March, Angela will be in conversation with Gina Birch of The Raincoats, talking about NYC punk and more. The event will be at Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace in Walthamstow, London E17 with the event promoted by The Rock’n’Roll Book Club.

Tickets and further info via EventBrite

Following a number of successful events in the US, Angela’s book will be published in the UK on 27th March. UK distribution is by Turnaround.

In preparation for the launch, Angela will be coming to the UK in early March for the London Book Fair.

The first event to be announced is Angela in conversation with Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth fame) at Rough Trade on Denmark Street in London on Friday 7th March. Angela will also be signing copies of her book. Details and tickets are available via DICE.

UK booksellers are starting to take pre-orders for the book – so far the lowest cost I’ve found is £30 (+ £3.95 delivery) at Browns Books. The RRP is £40 and it can be found online at Rough Trade, Amazon, Waterstones and can be ordered from your local bookshop.

Another pre-Pigbag post – Hardware, the band in which James Johnstone and Andrew Carpenter played before Pigbag, are releasing their “Untitled 1979” album.

The album is available for listening or as a digital download on Hardware’s Bandcamp page with a vinyl release coming in October from Dirty Knobby Records.

It’s been a long time coming but finally, Angela Jaeger’s diaries are going to be published.

The 250 page softcover volume, titled “I Feel Famous – Punk Diaries 1977-1981” will be published by Hat & Beard Press, shipping Winter 2024. The diaries are extensively illustrated by Angela, as well as having accompanying photos from 1977-1981, when Angela was living in New York’s East Village.

Click below for more information and to pre-order!

I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977-1981

My thanks (again) to Roger Freeman for pointing me to the video for Pigbag’s “Sunny Day” – something I hadn’t seen previously and which had been unavailable for the past 40 years, until it was posted on YouTube by Videowave Music Videos. It was filmed in 1981 and edited by Ed Steinberg and includes footage of the band playing at The Peppermint Lounge in New York. Guest appearance by Y Records head honcho Dick O’Dell with the cash.

On Friday 15th December 2023, ZTT released “The Value of Entertainment – Time Capsule Highlights”, a compilation of tracks by ZTT acts recorded live at the Ambassador’s event in 1985.

Included is Instinct’s “Sweat To Pay”, previously available only in video format on “The Value of Entertainment” (see Instinct page).

The album is available on Spotify,  YouTube, Amazon Music and Apple Music.

Several months ago, Roger Freeman sent me a draft of an autobiographical story he’d been writing. A few drafts later, and getting past my own lethargy, I’ve published the writing on here as ‘Roger’s Story‘.

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