Pig (musical project)

"P.I.G." redirects here. For other uses, see pig (disambiguation).
PIG
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Industrial rock
Years active 1988present
Labels Metropolis, Wax Trax!, TVT, Nothing, Blue Noise, Grand, Cleopatra, Alfa, Concrete, Contempo, Invitation, Victor Entertainment, Rock, I, Absentee
Associated acts Einstürzende Neubauten, Foetus, KMFDM, Mona Mur, Schaft, Schwein, Sow, Primitive Race
Website The Swining

Raymond Watts (also known as Nainz, Nainz Watts, and Ray Scaballero) is the founding and sole member of the post-industrial music project PIG, sometimes written as <PIG>.

Watts was an early member and periodic collaborator of KMFDM, and has been a visible part of the industrial music scene since the early 1980s. He has toured with KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, Schaft, Schwein, and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Biography

Recent activity (2010–present)

Watts, Dr. Shinto and John Gosling released a four-song EP Titled Mellan Rummen on November 15, 2010 on Amazon.com.

On June 8, 2012 Marc Heal revealed a demo version of "the first new PIG track in eight years" entitled "Drugzilla (Rough As A Hog's Arse Mix)" via Cubanate's Official Facebook page and providing their followers a link to his personal SoundCloud page. The link was reposted by Watts a few hours later.[1][2][3][4][5][6] A second demo entitled Shake was released on July 15, 2012; again via Heal's Soundcloud page, this time also noting Dan Abela as engineer.[7] In November 2014 Watts approved mixes for an upcoming joint-release EP.[8]

In March 2015 another collaborative EP was announced with Primitive Race entitled "Long in the Tooth" with a worldwide release date of June 5, 2015 through Metropolis Records.[9] Later that month in an interview, Watts revealed a new PIG album has been written and recorded. Former KMFDM bandmate En Esch will be providing final touches to the album.[10]

On June 15, 2016 The official PIG Facebook page announced that the new PIG album (called The Gospel) is being released 9/9/16 on Metropolis. Soon after tour dates were announced The American Excess tour with opening bands En Esch & Peter Turns Pirate. The North American tour takes place Sept & Oct of 2016.

Style

PIG tends to sound more orchestral than KMFDM, with darker, more complex, more ambient beats. His album and song titles tend to be witty, rife with alliteration ("Prayer Praise & Profit") or are plays on the titles of popular works or phrases (The Swining / "Symphony for the Devil"). He also manages to work food, heroin or pork related terms into his albums. Like KMFDM, humor features prominently in PIG's lyrics, although they tend towards a darker/grittier tone than KMFDM's.

Collaboration with KMFDM

Because Raymond Watts is a central figure in both PIG and KMFDM, the two projects have seen much crossover. Watts has contributed his skills as a songwriter and vocalist to several KMFDM albums, including their first album Opium in 1984, and has a heavy presence on their 1995 album Nihil, which spawned the hit "Juke Joint Jezebel". A collaborative EP titled Sin Sex & Salvation was released in 1994 under the moniker "PIG vs. KMFDM". KMFDM has in turn assisted Watts with his PIG projects in production and personnel. Current KMFDM guitarists Steve White and Jules Hodgson (as well as former KMFDM guitarist Günter Schulz) and drummer Andy Selway have been involved with PIG. Watts has performed with KMFDM as part of the touring lineup, with the concerts billed as "KMFDM featuring PIG". The setlists for those shows feature KMFDM songs alongside Pig songs. A live CD from the 2002 "Sturm & Drang" tour was released on Metropolis Records that same year.

Watts was given a tongue-in-cheek description in the lyrics to the KMFDM song "Intro" from the 2003 album WWIII:

The Lord of Lard, the Mighty Swine
He loves Manchego and a bottle of wine
Also known as Raymond Watts,
He screams out his lungs while his brain slowly rots!

Other collaborations

Watts has worked with several industrial and avant-garde artists, receiving credits as PIG and Raymond Watts interchangeably. He has also been credited as "Nainz Watts" or "Nains Watts" on several early releases.

Discography (partial)

Several of his albums were originally released in Japan, where he enjoyed considerably more success than in the United States and United Kingdom, but some of those albums were eventually released in the US.

In 2004 he signed to Grand Recordings for distribution in the UK, under the name "Watts". The All Hamerican Pig Show was released in 2011 as a DVD via the Pig website, featuring performances from Pig's 2006 U.S. tour and a complete live performance from Osaka, Japan, 1999. The DVD also included the music videos for Painiac and Everything.

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Video Releases

Music videos

Several music videos have been filmed, but most remain unreleased outside Japan. Most videos have surfaced online on YouTube in questionable quality. The video for Arbor Vitate is actually a re-cut version of the Schaft video of the same song.

References

  1. NiNa (8 June 2012). "06/08/2012 Pig - "Drugzilla" unofficial mix available online". Fabryka Industrial Rock Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  2. Yücel, Ilker (Ilker81x) (8 June 2012). "PIG unveils a rough mix of first new track in eight years". ReGen Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  3. COMA Music Magazine (8 June 2012). ":Music News: New rough mix of a new PIG track.". COMA Music Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  4. Heal, Marc (8 June 2012). "And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present you…". Official Cubanate on Facebook. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  5. Watts, Raymond (8 June 2012). "Rough mix of new PIG track "Drugzilla".". Official PIG on Facebook. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  6. Heal, Marc (8 June 2012). "Pig - Drugzilla (Rough As A Hog's Arse Mix)". Official Marc Heal on SoundCloud. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  7. Heal, Marc (15 June 2012). "Pig - Shake (Rough Mix)". Official Marc Heal on SoundCloud. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  8. "Cubanate (Facebook) - Spoke to Watts on the phone...". 4 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  9. Metropolis Records (9 March 2015). "Long in the Tooth". Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  10. theswining.com - Official PIG Website (23 March 2015). "Eye to Eye with the Compound Eye - Marc Heal and Raymond Watts Interview". Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  11. http://www.discogs.com/Team-Cybergeist-How-To-Destroy-Something-Beautiful/release/2349917
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Official Sites". The Swining - Official Raymond Watts/PIG Website. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
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