Description
Tracklist:
A2: Rabid Beach
A2: Heat Wave
A3: Pig Pen
A4: Power Love Train
A5: Mental Mentality
B1: Highway
B2: Venom Moon Rising
B3: Problem Mind
B4: Howl & Veil
B5: XJXIXDX
250 copies – Seaweed Glitter – Flatspot Exclusive
250 copies – Cream w/ Black Splatter – Tour* Exclusive
300 copies – Golden Nugget – REVHQ Exclusive
300 copies – Orange w/ Black Smoke – Rough Trade Exclusive
500 copies – Red Swirl (a.k.a. Red Ripple) – Canada Exclusive (This)
1150 copies – Red & Black Marble w/ Pink Splatter – **FLATSPOT US/**EU/UK/AUS Webstore Exclusive
2600 copies – Garnet – General Retail
The plan was to start a band that was all longtime friends. The idea was to embrace the scene they grew up in. The conspirators are as follows: Matty Matheson (singer), who grew up in the Niagara hardcore scene (with his late 90’s band, Hanging Hearts), and who has gone on to become a chef and restaurateur. Wade MacNeil (guitarist), an active member of Alexisonfire and Dooms Children. The Romano brothers, Daniel(guitarist) and Ian(drummer), rocknroll veterans from Daniel Romano Outfit and Tommy Major (bassist) of Young Guv -Tommy and the Commies – Daniel Romanos Outfit.
It was during the pandemic and we were all back home, says Matheson. The conversations began – to make something heavy, noisy and touched on the classic 80s hardcore we all love so much. Everyone showed up with a bunch of riffs, scraps of lyrics, talked influences and principles, bounced ideas back and forth, then got chinese food. We wrote 10 songs in one day, says Matheson, and the next day we recorded them.
What resulted is the band Pig Pen. And, from this flash of inspiration, the groups debut full length, Mental Madness, will be released on Flatspot Records June 27th. Its tough and its harsh, the music is dark and noisy, and its got depth. Theres an ease to the energy too that spiritually aligns it with those rare fully realized hardcore demos from the classic era one of those golden, hallowed megaphone announcements that show up now and then in the scene from a band with good ideas, who seemingly came out of nowhere, but who knew what they were from the jump, and who just did it.
Due to the band members extracurriculars, Pig Pen is starting off as a contained explosion and a distilled expression, which is what the music itself is about. The subject matter on Mental Madness sticks to themes that Matheson describes as mental health shit: topics like isolation, loneliness, and letting your mind destroy you. A representative sample: Teach me to hate myself, teach me not to care, bellows Matheson in Mental Mentality, the bands first singleIm sick, Im sick, Im sick, during the bridge. These are words that might ring an alarm bell, but sound perfectly at home in a hardcore song, but are they ever just hardcore lyrics?
