P.I.G.Z.: Bloody Belgium

Bloodstains says:

I (1997): "… Next the Pigz, from Kortrijk, who played a lot with the Kids & regularly blew them off stage (at least that's what the old punks from Kortrijk claim, I'm sure they see it different in Antwerp). We give you two tracks of their one and only record, a 12", cos it's so rare (their only other output is two songs on the 'Punk live, First Belgian Punk Contest'-compilation album). It's from 1978, the tracks are in a different order than the labels say & it came in an originally white paper sleeve that had the Pigz name glued on it & was further hardcolored with some black. The vinyl ranges from transparant white to dark pink (the result of a cleaning fluid added to the machine while this 12" was being pressed), later there was a second pressing on black vinyl. In 1978 the Pigz also participated in Humo's RockRally, Belgium's most important musical contest for upcoming bands, set up by Humo magazine. However the tastes of the musical staff of said magazine have always been pretty conservative, so no wonder the Pigz already got barred during the preselections (probably cos of their wild behaviour). Guitarist Xavier Rathé resurfaced in the early 90's as a member of Gent-based noiseband No Tomorrow Charlie & recorded one 7" with them for Pit'sbull Records. Shortly afterwards though he met with an accidental death in Amsterdam. According to Rathé the Pigz recorded an entire album with Leo Caerts (who also recorded the first two Kids albums) but an argument over the payment of the bill between the label & Caerts didn't get settled & as a result the studio held on to the tapes, which in the mean time have probably long been erased. The Pigz singer spent some time in the USA & is supposed to have recorded some material for the Wax Trax label (this well after the Pigz ceased to exist though, they were only around for a year and a half). Their bassplayer played on an lp & 2 7"s of the mid 80's garage-band the Midnight Men (who released ao a 7" on Sympathy for the Record Industry & where particular popular in Greece). We mentioned the First Belgian Punk Contest, well the Pigz actually won that contest & part of the reward consisted of landing the support spot for Iggy Pop. At that show the Pigz singer & one of their roadies introduced stagediving to the Belgian audience. The Pigz drummer Rik Masselis hooked up with a bunch of their roadies to form the Definitivos (including the stagediver Lucien Callewaert who became the singer), there were various other incarnations of this band but the only thing really interesting is their first 7" from 1981."