 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Pigbag" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Pigbag | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Cheltenham, England |
| Genres | Dance-punk,funk rock,post-punk,alternative dance |
| Years active | 1980–1983 |
| Labels | Y,Rough Trade,Fire |
| Past members | Simon Underwood James Johnstone Chris Lee Ollie Moore Roger Freeman Chip Carpenter Chris Hamlin Mark Smith Brian Nevill Oscar Verden Angela Jaeger |
Pigbag were a Britishpost-punk band, best known for theirinstrumentals, active between 1980 and 1983.
Pigbag were formed inCheltenham in late 1980 by Chris Hamlin, a fashion student atCheltenham Art College. Hamlin recruited multi-instrumentalist Roger Freeman, an old friend from his hometown ofBirmingham, along with Chris Lee on trumpet and James Johnstone, a guitarist, record shop assistant and newcomer to thealto sax, for initial jam sessions which would eventually evolve into Pigbag. The group would jam in parks and various other places, but their usual practice space was Hamlin's flat in Beech House, on the corner of St James's Square and St George's Place in Cheltenham.
After a couple of months they decided to expand the line-up, adding a rhythm section and rehearsing more seriously. They recruited Andrew "Chip" Carpenter on drums and Mark "Miff" Smith on bass, both old school friends of Johnstone's, and former members of their previous bandHardware. It was at these jam sessions that "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" was developed from an idea Chris Hamlin and James Johnson had had before the band was formed. The song would become their signature tune.
When Hamlin heard thatSimon Underwood had leftThe Pop Group he invited him to join the nascent band (to replace Mark Smith who had left by this point), the band then trading under the tentative name Us Corporation. Through a friend who knewMark Stewart, The Pop Group's vocalist, Hamlin and Johnstone acquired Underwood's address and hitched down toBristol to convince him, using tape recordings of their jam sessions. To their surprise Underwood agreed, also suggesting his friend Ollie Moore as tenor sax player.
Through Underwood's connections with Dick O'Dell, then manager ofThe Slits and head ofY Records, they landed their first gig, supporting The Slits at Romeo and Juliet's in Bristol on 21 October 1980.[1] They played a twenty-minute version of what was to become "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" to a positive reception, and the next day O'Dell invited them to record the track for Y Records. At this point they adopted the name Pigbag, in reference to Chris Hamlin's scruffy cloth bag bearing a screen-printed warthog.
The band made their first recordings in 1981 at Berry Street Studios in London. Later that year they released their first single, the instrumental "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag", on Y Records, distributed byRough Trade, the title being a pun onJames Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".[2] The track became an underground dance hit. The song, and the remix "Reach Up (Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag)" byPaul Oakenfold under the aliasPerfecto Allstarz (which became a UK and Irish Top 10 hit in early 1995), has become a stadium anthem in English football (particularly in theFootball League), originally adopted byQueens Park Rangers supporters in 1994 after some of their fans took it on as an anthem at a music venue in Westbourne Park, often played or chanted before a match or at half time, or after the scoring of a goal, and often incorporating the name of a player into the song.[3]
Around this time Hamlin left the band, feeling that he had created an unmanageable group with too many egos to contend with, and that he was "losing control of the band".[4] Soon afterwards he recorded a version of "Swinging on a Star" which was never released.
During September and October 1981, the band toured the US, playing inNew York City,Philadelphia,Washington, D.C.,Northampton, MA,San Francisco andBerkeley, California.[1] They followed "Papa..." with "Sunny Day", a similarly brash, bright and funky track for whichEd Steinberg shot a video in New York. It became their first to chart on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at 53. They also recorded another single, "Getting Up", in early 1982 which peaked at 61. March 1982 saw the release of their first albumDr Heckle and Mr Jive, which reached the Top 20 of theUK album chart,[2] and topped theUK Indie Chart for several weeks, despite including only one of their previous singles - "Getting Up".
The band embarked on a long and gruelling college tour in the spring of 1982, which placed them under considerable strain. Roger Freeman was replaced by Brian Nevill for several gigs. Club play and the extensive tour had stimulated demand for "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag", which was consequently re-released onStiff Records, peaking at No. 3 in theUK Singles Chart and giving the band their only significant mainstream success.[2]
The band made two appearances onTop of the Pops, on 8 and 22 April 1982. Brian Nevill sat in on both appearances, andPaul "Nellee" Hooper (later producer forBjörk,Madonna andSoul II Soul) also appeared with the band, although he was never a band member and did not play on any of the Pigbag recordings. The firstTop of the Pops appearance also saw Roger Freeman's departure from the band. Already stressed from touring, Freeman refused to switch hisdonkey jacket for the suits which the band had decided to all wear for the show, so departed from the band the day before the recording.[4] He went on to record the 1986 non-stop forty-minute prototype chill-out / house albumDesigner Beatnik with ex-Duran Duran memberStephen Duffy under the name Dr Calculus mdma (the cover photo showing the "Spirit of Ecstasy" car mascot).
On 27 April 1982, a new line-up, including Brian Nevill and Oscar Verden, started rehearsing. The band changed their sound slightly, following up with "The Big Bean", a slower track with a more Caribbean vibe, which peaked at No. 40 in the UK Singles Chart.[2] The single was recorded atAbbey Road Studios on 5 and 6 June 1982. This was followed by a short UK tour, then a European one, and dates in New York on 9 and 10 July and in Japan from 18 to 31 July.
Soon afterwards Angela Jaeger, a New York jazz singer, joined the band. Jaeger had previously sung with a band called The Drowning Craze. The next LP,Lend An Ear, was recorded in the late summer of 1982, and the band appeared on the Christmas edition ofTop of the Pops.
Underwood and Jaeger were married at Hammersmith Registry Office in 1983, attended by many notables from the music scene, includingJohnny Rotten. During 1983, the band released a single, "Hit The 'O' Deck" (a reference to turntables), and the album recorded the previous year,Lend An Ear. The band toured the UK from 14 February to 13 March 1983. A European tour followed from 29 March to 16 April. Their last live gig was inPortsmouth on 28 April 1983.
Following a poor critical reception to the new direction and differences in the band, Pigbag split in June 1983,[2] with Johnstone, Jaeger and Underwood forming Instinct. Y Records released two posthumous albums,Pigbag (including seven live tracks and one remix), andFavourite Things (including all the singles plus a few other album tracks). The press accused Dick O'Dell of releasing the albums purely to buoy Y Records' finances, which were in trouble following the failure of most of their roster to make significant sales (with the possible exception ofShriekback, who instead fell out with O'Dell and left the label).
Kaz Records (part ofCastle Communications) took over Y Records' operations when the label finally went bankrupt, and have subsequently releasedDiscology: The Best Of Pigbag on CD.
Although never hugely commercially successful, Pigbag had a distinctive sound. Members of the band went on to record with many other bands, some still active today. Their career took place during the huge mushrooming and cross-pollination of genres that followed thepunk movement, and their music can be said to incorporate elements ofpunk,jazz,funk,ska,reggae and even tribalworld music, such asafrobeat, all accompanied with undeniable pop sensibility. Pigbag's influence can be heard today in the more funk-influenced percussive side of thepost-punk revival, in such bands as!!! andLCD Soundsystem.
Their single "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" has entered mainstream consciousness, and is considered a classic pop hit of its era. It is removed somewhat from the rest of the band's career, to the effect that Pigbag are sometimes consideredone-hit wonders. It has been used extensively as soundtrack music and at sporting events, particularly byMiddlesbrough Football Club andQueens Park Rangers, and is still a popular dance record in clubs. In 2003, an anthem row erupted before a play-off final at theMillennium Stadium in Cardiff between Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers. Eventually neither "God Save the Queen" nor "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" were played and the clubs could choose their own song. Cardiff opted for "Men of Harlech", while QPR went for "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag".[3]
The track was sampled inAlex Gaudino's song "Watch Out" and has beencovered by several other artists. It featured on the soundtrack of the 2006 film of Alan Bennet'sThe History Boys. English groupMadness have included a cover version of the song in their live set on occasion.[5] In Canada, the song was used as the theme forThe NewMusic, a music newsmagazine show for over 25 years. British gymnastClaudia Fragapane used a remix for her floor music between 2015 and 2016.[citation needed]
| Month | Year | Title | UK Indie Chart Position | UK Albums Chart[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 1982 | Dr Heckle and Mr Jive | No. 1 | No. 18 |
| May | 1983 | Lend An Ear | No. 7 | — |
| 1983 | Pigbag | — | — | |
| 1983 | Favourite Things | — | — | |
| 1987 | Discology: The Best Of Pigbag | — | — | |
| 1998 | BBC Sessions | — | — | |
| 2000 | Dr Heckle and Mr Jive (re-issue) | — | — | |
| 2010 | Volume 1 Dr Heckle and Mr Jive (re-issue) | — | — | |
| 2010 | Volume 2 Lend An Ear (re-issue) | — | — | |
| March | 2013 | Year of the Pigbag[8] | — | — |
| Month | Year | Title | UK Indie | UK[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | 1981 | "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" | 2 | — |
| November | 1981 | "Sunny Day" | 2 | 53 |
| February | 1982 | "Getting Up" | 2 | 61 |
| March | 1982 | "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" (re-issue) | 1 | 3 |
| July | 1982 | "The Big Bean" | 3 | 40 |
| April | 1983 | "Hit The 'O' Deck" | 7 | — |
| June | 2010 | "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" (2 remixes) | — | — |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
