SKINNY PIGS were formed in about April 2007 when long time friends Craig and Wez decided to start a band. An unnamed guitarist was recruited followed shortly by Sam who at the time was on Bass and Lee playing Rhythm Guitar. After about 2 months things turned to shit and the unnamed guitarist had to go as he was holding back the rest of the band. Next a guy called Gaff was set on to do Bass and Sam moved on to Lead, things were going well until one day Gaff just decided to fuck off and we never saw him again. After around 3 months without a Bassist we were finally joined by Ben who now completes the SKINNY PIGS line-up 2008.
Tonight’s headliners were the ever increasingly popular Skinny Pigs. Unfortunately tonight’s gig had not been very well advertised and after some confusion with dates, their usual large crowd was not present. This had no affect on their performance though and as ever, they put on a memorable show. Frontman Craig Paterson has a rock and roll attitude that puts Liam Gallagher to shame and the lad’s appearance suits the Indie Rock genre like no other bands. The track ‘I’ve got the fever’ has the potential to be one day released as a single and showed the bands qualities all around from the powerful vocals of Craig, the frantic drumming of Wez, the authoritive bass playing of Ben Nixon to the tight sounding guitar riffs of Lee and Sam. Skinny Pigs have a gritty sound that stands out from other bands in Stoke at the moment and was best shown in crowd favourite ‘It’s all about the Rock and Roll.’ The band continued their fast tempo in tracks ‘You never listen’ and ‘Want for nothing’ and Craig was superbly supported by the backing vocals on Lee and Sam. The band weren’t at all effected by the crowd size and ‘Drinkin up’ saw the audience screaming back the chorus. Ending the night with ‘Wish you were here,’ the band ended the night in style with a excellent instrumental solo for the final few minutes and left the stage to rapturous applause and chants of ‘Skinny Pigs na na na.
[Review by Liam Kelly]
stokesounds.com
As punters began descending from the roof terrace into the darkness of the auditorium, chants of “Skinny Pigs” broke out as the headliners walked on to the stage. They nonchalantly broke into opening number ‘You bring out the best in me’. With an energetic performance from beer drinking frontman Craig Paterson. It was fairly clear that this band fit comfortably in the lad-rock’ genre. Offering a slightly gritty edge to a menu of Kasabian and Oasis influenced numbers, the radio friendly song ‘I said, he said’ really stood out as a crowd pleaser. Skinny pigs couldn’t be defined as genre shattering, but they are definitely good at what they do, exemplified by their song ‘Drinkin up’ with a strong Stoke drawl over riotous guitars.
Having said this ‘A day out’ a heavily distorted number driven by Wez on drums changed the atmosphere considerably. From my vantage point it felt like the band should’ve been stepping through swathes of dry ice in front of 1000’s of excited fans rather than in Hanley on a Friday. (The presence of additional security at tonight’s gig may well reveal the fact that others think this too).
Sadly it was only during the last number that the band got the response they’d been after from the audience, bathing in cheers as they all (bar Wez who held the drum fort) stood on the bass boxes. If Skinny pigs can take up the gauntlet and move away from the ‘Stoke rock ‘ sound that so many before them have succumbed to then they could well go on to great things.
[Review by Charlotte Lunt]
stokesounds.com
October 08 and SKINNY PIGS play the Tremolo Showcase at the Sugarmill, nothing unusual with that except that it's their first ever gig and they sold 250 tickets, headlined the show and actually pulled it off!
Fast forward 2 months and the band are headlining the Sugarmill again and I doubt they will sell 250 tickets this time and I was right... They sold it out!
Stoke seems to like their gritty no nonsense guitar bands and the Pigs are all this and more. Its still early days for this Stoke 5 piece but 2009 looks very exciting hopefully they will spread their wings further afield, as if pigs can fly?
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Cheers for letting us know about the review. See Wez, Liam thought you were mint as well. We'll try and get to another of your gigs soon, take care, The Nanateas
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