Pigbag

Back in 1979 before Pigbag, Angela was in a New York band called Stare Kits. They didn’t play many gigs or release records, but were an interesting band, influenced by The Slits and other punk/post-punk bands, as well as Jefferson Airplane.

The band have just announced the release of a live album, recorded at Tier 3, the club run by Angela’s sister, Hilary. The songs are taken from two gigs, in May and June 1979. The album can be previewed and purchased on the band’s BandCamp site – https://starekits.bandcamp.com/releases

Initially it’s a digital download-only release, but a release on vinyl is a possibility.

The page also mentioned Angela’s soon-to-be-published diaries, so more to look forward to.

Fire Records’ Punk and Post-Punk specialist label “Call of the Void” re-issued Pigbag’s original 8-track album on black vinyl on 29th August 2020 as part of the online Record Shop Day 2020.

You can order it from the Fire Records website or from Rough Trade. It is a limited edition of 1,000 copies, selling at £19.99.

Y Records founder Dick O’Dell has been recording a monthly radio show for internet station Soho Radio discussing his career from doing lighting for bands in the 60’s through to his more recent management roles with Bat for Lashes and Mute Management. This month he covers the years when he was running Y Records, home to Pigbag, Maximum Joy, The Pop Group, Shriekback and The Slits and many others.

https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/dick-odell-22122018/

Several members of Pigbag were interviewed for the BBC Four TV programme “Top of the Pops: The Story of 1982”.

The programme will be broadcast on Friday 17th June 2016 at 22:00.

1982 was the year Pigbag reached number 3 in the UK Singles Charts with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag”, so it’ll be interesting to see what the band members have to say, particularly about their Top of the Pops appearances. They were allegedly banned from appearing after some high-spirited “misbehaviour”.

Info about the programme on the BBC website: The Story of 1982

Chris Lee’s Pigbag will be venturing forth once again at the start of June.

They’ll be playing The Jam House in Birmingham on 2nd June 2016, gig starts at 9pm.
Tickets start at £5 – get them here.

There’s an article on The Guardian website today made up of interviews with members of cult bands who had huge hits.

Alongside Gerald Casale (Devo), Stephen Jones (Babybird), David Cunningham (Flying Lizards) and others is Pigbag’s James Johnstone.

James talks about forming the band, appearing on Top of the Pops, Instinct, and the recent Pigbag resurrection.

Read the full article on The Guardian Online

Chris Lee’s Pigbag will be playing at The Plough Arts, Great Torrington in Devon on Saturday 19th December 2015.

The current band line up is given as:

• Chris Lee (trumpet, percussion)
• Alan Short (saxes, flute)
• Olly Nelkin (trombone)
• Max O’Donnell (guitar)
• Sam Alexander (percussion)
• Sven Atterton (bass)
• John Sam (drums)

You can follow the band on Twitter @Pigbag_LiveBand

Tickets are £10 in advance from The Plough website or Songkick.

Support will be from local ska band, Raggamuffins.

There’s a 30 second clip from a Chris Hawkin’s BBC 6Music show on the BBC iPlayer, about how far ahead of their time Pigbag were with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag”.

BBC 6 Music on Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag

Thanks to ex-Pigbagger, Roger Freeman, for letting me know about that.

Saturday 22nd August sees Chris Lee’s Pigbag playing a gig in Peckham as part of  “The South London Soul Train” line up.

Tickets via Resident Advisor

Chris Lee’s Pigbag will be headlining the Friday night at CalvertStock in Kentisbury, Devon on 19th June. The event is to raise money for the Calvert Trust charity.

http://calvert-trust.org.uk/calvertstock for more info