interview with Pig'n'aif
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes, between us many. I (Pete) personally, have played as a session man over the years, both as a house musician and on other artists' recordings. I worked with the NWOBHM band Phoenix Rising, with the Prog/Fusion band ToshRollo as well as all of the incarnations of Pig'n'aif. The peripheral line-up of the band is quite fluid, so a lot of influences, backgrounds and experiences are brought into it on a regular basis, by the musicians that I include in the line-up. You can see some of the band member's backgrounds on our website at www.pignaif.co.uk.
How is it that you started playing music? I liked the concept of playing a musical instrument at an early age. I remember the joy of coming home from school as a young lad to find my Dad had bought me a recorder. I later started on violin at school, flirted with the school orchestra but became massively bored with the uninspired regimentation and lack of musical relevance. Picking up a guitar changed that completely and became a constant path through my life.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? My name is Pete Bangert. I am a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, keys, drums, vocals) and the writer for the band project. I am not as young as I once was. Other members for the current album projects are Mick Shedd – vocals and occasional bass, Mel Day – vocals and harmonica, Clatterfoot – drums and percussion and Session Pete on bass. I may bring in other musicians as needed, but the output is intended to be a studio album and so may continue to be a reduced roster.
Have you had other previous members? Yes many. This depends on the type of music and if the band included live performance or not. You need to check out www.pignaif.co.uk for biog and lineup details.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes. Somewhat through school but primarily as a solo musician until the end of school. Then with like minded enthusiastic friends and on to bands.
Where are you from? Originally and now Sheffield UK. Many other places in between
What year did the band form? Pig'n'aif as a project was started back in the early 70's and has been on the go ever since in one form or another. Even behind other more visible projects like Phoenix Rising.
What's your style of genre? We follow our muse and do not restrict ourselves to any particular genre. We are currently in the process of making four different albums. One contains Blues, Rock and Jazz. Another is unashamedly Prog Electronica. Another is pure Heavy Rock and the fourth is Prog Rock.
What inspires you? Many things. Primarily it is rooted in observation of life interacting (not always pleasantly) with my internal monologue. Occasionally I get to discuss some of these thoughts with close friends and that may well trigger other reactions that I can capture. The primary urge is to give an aural and/or verbal depiction of a scene or thought pattern. Hopefully the music evokes the image or emotion it was inspired by in the listener.
How often and where do you reherse? Mainly studio based and every day unless we are preparing gigs in which case the availability of band members dictates the frequency.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Continuously through experience. It is now second nature to play something on guitar for instance, with the ear being directly connected to the fingers without delay. Programmed learning and response I suppose, but it makes it easier to deliver what I am looking for more often. The key difference now is to warp the response to new areas rather than repeating old idioms we have previously visited.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? The band is part of the project framework so everything is outside the band. I am also interested in Painting and creative writing to a lesser extent.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Not actively currently.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We use the Rising Records label, which I own.
What made you decide to make this music? A natural consequence of where we are currently.
What are your songs about? Many things from the Human Condition, to Fantasy, to World Politics. We do not censor the muse.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? I do – Pete Bangert
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Either. It depends on the feeling I am trying to convey. One leads to the other.
Do you compose in a certain enviroment? Primarily in my studio.
Have you done any covers live? Yes on occasion. But not very often and then usually tweisting the covers into different genres. Check out the 'Pig'n'aif Blue' or 'Pig'n'aif Blue-ish' albums for examples of that. They were based on a Jam-Band session we put together for fun and I deliberately altered the way and styles in which numbers were performed. Jamming...
What language do you sing in? English as it is our native language. We would not be able to represent or do justice to the subtleties or context of another language effectively.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? 20 or so early days to 5000 at some of the bigger venues.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Very mixed nowadays. But in fairness we are more studio based than live currently.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Very varied. We have a large back catalog and it is dependent upon our line-up.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? No. Venues come and go too rapidly nowadays unless you are lucky enough to be doing a major tour.
What was your first gig like? Terrifying, exhilarating, ill conceived, financially rewarding and over too quickly.
Have you had to cancel a gig? We've always managed to honour our commitments – even when that has involved last minute substitutions of members.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have no immediate plans due to studio commitments.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Online approx 10 years ago. T Shirts and CD's mainly.
Where can people buy your merchandise? Our merchandising is done through the website on www.pignaif.co.uk
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?
Downloading is OK. The key drawback with downloading, is that people do tend not to download the full album. This is a real problem since most of our work is in the form of an album concept and should be viewed as a whole. Not in response to a particular immediate hook.
On the other hand, Streaming is an absolute nightmare as it largely cuts the artist out of any meaningful remuneration. The payback per track is almost zero unless plays are in vast numbers. Essentially, by streaming music rather than downloading it, people are taking the artist's livelihood away and then preventing them from being able to afford to continue to produce output. It also shows a lack of commitment to, and respect for, the artist's work.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? This trend is continuing to push music into the control of the corporate accountants. The end result is proliferation of stultified mediocrity, almost no choice of style or substance, and the consequent stifling of creativity.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Hopefully one or two more individuals will download a few of our albums and get a little more engaged with us and other peripheral musicians
What have been your biggest obstacles? Funding the distribution of product and resulting engagement.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Go for it and cooperate.
How do you get psyched for a gig? It's natural
Do you have any new material? Always
What are your web sites?
How can people reach you? Through the websites which also include Twitter and Facebook links etc.
What are your plans for the future? Continue writing, recording and performing as long as possible. First thing is to get the four albums currently under production finished and released.
