Pig (musical project) explained

PIG
Birth Date:	1 September 1961
Background:	solo_singer
Origin:	London, England
Genre:	Industrial rock
Occupation:	Musician

Raymond Watts (also known by his former stage names Nainz, Nainz Watts and Ray Scaballero) is an English musician, the founding and sole member of the industrial music project PIG, sometimes written as <PIG>.

Watts was an early member and periodic collaborator of KMFDM, and has been a visible part of the industrial music scene since the early 1980s. He has toured with KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, Schaft, Schwein, and Einstürzende Neubauten.

History

Recent activity (2010–present)

Watts, Dr. Shinto and John Gosling released a four-song EP titled Mellan Rummen on 15 November 2010 on Amazon.com.

On 8 June 2012, Marc Heal revealed a demo version of "the first new PIG track in eight years" titled "Drugzilla (Rough As A Hog's Arse Mix)" via Cubanate's Official Facebook page and providing their followers a link to his personal SoundCloud page. The link was reposted by Watts a few hours later.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} A second demo titled "Shake" was released on 15 July 2012; again via Heal's Soundcloud page, this time also noting Dan Abela as engineer.^[7] In November 2014, Watts approved mixes for an upcoming joint-release EP.^[8]

In March 2015, another collaborative EP was announced with Primitive Race titled Long in the Tooth with a worldwide release date of 5 June 2015 through Metropolis Records.^[9] Later that month in an interview, Watts revealed a new PIG album has been written and recorded. Former KMFDM bandmate En Esch will be providing final touches to the album.^[10]

On 15 June 2016, the official PIG Facebook page announced that the new PIG album titled The Gospel would be released on 9 September 2016 on Metropolis. Soon after. tour dates were announced The American Excess tour with opening bands En Esch & Peter Turns Pirate. The North American tour takes place in September and October 2016. A remix album, Swine & Punishment, was released in 2017.

In 2018, PIG released the album Risen, supported by another North American tour. 2019 saw the release of a collection of cover songs on an LP titled Candy. The release of Candy was followed in the fall of the same year by the Divine Descent North American Tour, supported by Cyanotic and A Primitive Evolution. The Divine Descent Tour concluded on 6 October 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A brief tour of the United Kingdom followed.

In 2020, PIG released a compilation album, Pain Is God, which featured some new tracks and included songs from prior tour EPs dating back to the previous year. The album was released digitally, and on CD and vinyl, including special edition packages with unique 3D features in the digipack or record sleeve.

Musical style

PIG tends to sound more orchestral than KMFDM, with darker, more complex, more ambient beats. His album and song titles tend to be witty, rife with alliteration ("Prayer Praise & Profit") or are plays on the titles of popular works or phrases (The Swining / "Symphony for the Devil"). He also manages to work food, heroin or pork related terms into his albums. Like KMFDM, humor features prominently in PIG's lyrics, although they tend towards a darker/grittier tone than KMFDM's.

Collaboration with KMFDM

Because Raymond Watts is a central figure in both PIG and KMFDM, the two projects have seen much crossover. Watts has contributed his skills as a songwriter and vocalist to several KMFDM albums, including their first album Opium in 1984, and has a heavy presence on their 1995 album Nihil, which spawned the hit "Juke Joint Jezebel". A collaborative EP titled Sin Sex & Salvation was released in 1994 under the moniker "PIG vs. KMFDM". KMFDM has in turn assisted Watts with his PIG projects in production and personnel. Current KMFDM guitarists Steve White and Jules Hodgson (as well as former KMFDM guitarist Günter Schulz)and drummer Andy Selway have been involved with PIG. Watts has performed with KMFDM as part of the touring lineup, with the concerts billed as "KMFDM featuring PIG". The setlists for those shows feature KMFDM songs alongside Pig songs. A live CD from the 2002 "Sturm & Drang" tour was released on Metropolis Records that same year.

Watts was given a tongue-in-cheek description in the lyrics to the KMFDM song "Intro" from the 2003 album WWIII:

Other collaborations

Watts has worked with several industrial and avant-garde artists, receiving credits as PIG and Raymond Watts interchangeably. He has also been credited as "Nainz Watts" or "Nains Watts" on several early releases.

• From 1984 to 1986 Watts was sound engineer for Mona Mur.
• From 1985 to 1989 Watts was a sound engineer for Einstürzende Neubauten.
• Watts has occasionally collaborated with J. G. Thirlwell, briefly playing bass in Foetus Corruptus and co-writing songs for Steroid Maximus on the album Gondwanaland. Thirlwell, in turn, has cowritten and remixed songs for PIG.
• Watts recorded music for ex-girlfriend spoken-word artist Sow (born Anna Wildsmith)'s 1994 album Je M'Aime and again for her 1998 album Sick and 2010 album Dog. "Je M'aime" was reissued under the name "Pig/Sow" in 1999.
• PIG's 1995 album Sinsation was released in the US on Trent Reznor's label Nothing Records. PIG also toured with Reznor's band Nine Inch Nails in the UK.^[11]
• Japanese-based band Schaft employed Watts as a lyricist/vocalist for the 1994 album Switchblade and companion remix collection Switch.
• In 2001, Watts and KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko teamed up with Japanese musicians Atsushi Sakurai (Buck-Tick) and Hisashi Imai (Schaft and Buck-Tick) to form the project super group Schwein. Schwein released two albums Schweinstein and Son of Schweinstein ; the latter being remixes from the first.
• Watts has also provided production, mixing, remixing, and/or vocals for Psychic TV, Chemlab, Haloblack, 2-Kut, Hoodlum Priest, Steroid Maximus, H3llb3nt, The Hit Parade, Brain Drive, Buck-Tick, D.I.E., Atsushi Sakurai, Sprung aus den Wolken, The Megaton Men, Mortiis, Judda], Tweaker, Prong, West End and Zos Kia.
• Watts contributed an original composition to the soundtrack of the computer game MDK2. It plays on the title screen and one of Max's levels.^[12]
• Watts has composed music for several Alexander McQueen fashion shows, including the final show before McQueen's death entitled "Plato's Atlantis".^[13]
• Watts has contributed vocals to the track "Second Coming" by Team Cybergeist^[14]
• In 2020 Watts became a member of industrial supergroup The Joy Thieves by contributing vocals to "Empty Spaces", a song the band recorded for Riveting Music's Tear Down the Walls: A Riveting Tribute to Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Solo band members

Current members

• Raymond Watts – vocals, keyboards, programming, guitars (1987–present)
• En Esch – vocals, guitars, programming (2016–present)
• Steve White – guitars, programming (1993–2007, 2018–present)
• Galen Waling – drums (2016–2018, 2019–present)

Former members

• Steve Crittel – live guitars (1991–1992)
• Jim McKenchnie – live keyboards (1991–1992)
• Kevin Bass – live drums (1991–1992)
• Michael Watts – keyboards, organ, vocals (1991–1993, 1998–2006, 2016–2019)
• Karl Hyde – guitars (1993–1994)
• Santos De Castro – drums (1993, 1994, 1996)
• Imai Hisashi – guitars, noises (1994–1998)
• Olivier Grasset – drums, percussion, programming, production (1994, 2002, 2010)
• Joanna Peacock – bass (1994)
• Günter Schulz – guitars, programming (1994–1999, 2006, 2016–2017, 2019–2020)
• Jules Hodgson – guitars, bass, keyboards (1997–2006)
• Andy Selway – drums (1997–2006)
• Jason Knotek – live guitars (2006)
• Angel Bartolotta – live drums (2006)
• Mark Gemini Thwaite – guitars, bass, synthesizers, programming (2015–2017)
• Gregory "Z. Marr" Steward – guitars, keyboards, programming, production (2016–2018)
• Eric Gottesman – live keyboards (2016–2017)
• Luke Dangler – live guitars (2017)
• Ben Christo – guitars (2018–2019)
• Martin Eden – guitars, bass, keyboards, programming, production, mixing (2004–2010, 2016–2019)
• Jan-Vincent Velazco – drums (2018–2019)

Guest members

• Alex Hacke – guitars (1988)
• Nikkolai Weidemann – guitars, piano, saxophone (1988)
• Axel Dill – drums, piano, mixing (1988)
• Achim Mennicken – guitars (1988–1989; died 2014)
• Uwe Wüst – guitars (1988)
• Remo Park – guitars (1988)
• Christian Graupner – percussion, programming (1988–1989)
• J.G. Thirlwell – production (1988–1992)
• John Caffery – production, recording (1989–1991)
• Roli Mosimann – mixing (1989)
• Martin Hawkes – recording, mixing (1991)
• Paul Kendall – mixing (1991)
• Siewert Johannsen – engineering (1992)
• Anna Wildsmith – vocals (1989–1992, 1995–1996, 1998–1999, 2003–2006, 2010; died 2016)
• John Gosling – programming, engineering, mixing (1993, 2010, 2018)
• Enrico Thomaso – flugelhorn (1993–1994)
• Sascha Konietzko – vocals, synthesizers, production, engineering, mixing, programming (1994, 1997, 1998, 2020)
• Jennifer Ginsberg – vocals (1994)
• Julian Beeston – programming, mixing (1995–1997)
• Carol Anne Reynolds – vocals (1995, 1997–1999)
• Sakurai Atsushi – vocals (1997–1998)
• Chris Shepard – (1997–1998)
• Giles Littlefield – production, noises, programming (1996–1997)
• Rob Henry – programming (1996–1999, 2018)
• Jennie Bellestar – vocals (1996–1997)
• Ruth McArdle – vocals (1996–1997)
• Lian Warmington – vocals (1996–1997)
• James Reynolds – engineering (1996–1997)
• Ben Drakeford – engineering (1996–1997)
• Jo Maskell – vocals (1997)
• Andrew Bennett – guitars (1999)
• Lisa Millet – vocals (1999)
• Andy Cooke – programming (1999)
• Arianne Schreiber – vocals (2001–2006)
• Bryan Black – vocals, production, mixing (2001–2006)
• Marc Heal – vocals, keyboards, programming (2004–2006, 2015–2019)
• Dan Abela – guitars, engineering (2015–2016)
• Nathan Cavaleri – guitars (2010, 2016)
• Tim Skold – vocals, keyboards, guitars, programming, production (2018)
• Anita Sylph – vocals (2018)
• Joshua Broughton – guitars (2018)
• Emre Ramazanoglu – keyboards, programming (2018)
• Phil Barry – guitars (2018)
• Ben Lee – violin (2018)
• Sasha Grey – vocals (2018–2019)
• Michelle Martinez – vocals (2018–2019)
• Susannah Doyle – vocals (2018)

Discography (partial)

Several of his albums were originally released in Japan, where he enjoyed considerably more success than in the United States and United Kingdom, but some of those albums were eventually released in the US.

In 2004 he signed to Grand Recordings for distribution in the UK, under the name "Watts". The All Hamerican Pig Show was released in 2011 as a DVD via the Pig website, featuring performances from Pig's 2006 U.S. tour and a complete live performance from Osaka, Japan, 1999. The DVD also included the music videos for Painiac and Everything.

Studio albums

• A Poke in the Eye... with a Sharp Stick (1988)
• Praise the Lard (1991)
• The Swining (1993)  - Japan only release; reissued in 1999 in the US as The Swining/Red Raw & Sore
• Sinsation (1995)  - US release in 1996
• Wrecked (1996)  - Japanese release; US release in 1997 has somewhat different track listing
• Genuine American Monster (1999)  - US release in 2002
• Pigmartyr (2004)  - UK only release, using the "Watts" name, although it was re-released in 2005 as Pigmata under the "PIG" moniker
• The Gospel (2016)  - co-written and co-produced by Z. Marr^[15]
• Risen (2018)
• Candy (2019)  - album of covers
• Pain Is God (2020)
• The Merciless Light (2022)
• Red Room (2024)

Remix albums

• Swine & Punishment (2017)  - remixes of songs from The Gospel
• Stripped & Whipped (2019)  - remixes of songs from Risen

EPs

• Hello Hooray (1992)
• A Stroll in the Pork (1992)
• Sin Sex & Salvation (as PIG vs KMFDM) (1994)  - collaborative EP with KMFDM
• Red Raw & Sore (1994)  - Japan only release; reissued in 1999 in America on The Swining/Red Raw & Sore (1999)
• Painiac (1995)  - Japan only release
• Prime Evil (1997)  - Japan only release
• No One Gets Out of Her Alive (1998)  - Japan only release
• Disrupt Degrade & Devastate (1999)  - Japan only release
• Compound Eye Sessions (2015)  - with Marc Heal
• Long in the Tooth (2015)  - with Primitive Race
• The Diamond Sinners (2016)  - digital only release
• The Redeemer (2016)  - tour only release
• Prey & Obey (2017)  - digital only release
• Second Coming (2017)  - tour only release
• Hell to Pay... in the USA (2018)  - tour only release
• That's the Way (I Like It)^[16] (2018) – with Sasha Grey
• Mobocracy (2019)  - tour only release
• The Wages of Sin (2019)  - digital only release available only with purchase of Ultra Limited Edition "Hogtags"
• Sex & Death (2020)  - digital only release

Singles

• "Never For Fun" (1988)
• "Sick City" / "Shit for Brains" (1989)
• "Shit for Brains"  - Germany-only release
• "The Fountain of Miracles" (1993)
• "Black Mass" (2018)- (Free Digital only album of Christmas Covers)
• "Seed of Evil" (2019)  - with Black Needle Noise

Video releases

• The All Hamerican Pig Show (2011)

Book releases

• PIG - The Word of the Lard: The Scripture of Raymond Watts (2017)  - book compiling all of Raymond Watts' lyrics to date

Music videos

Several music videos have been filmed, but most remain unreleased outside Japan. Most videos have surfaced online on YouTube in questionable quality. The video for Arbor Vitate is actually a re-cut version of the Schaft video of the same song.

• "Shit for Brains" (1988)
• "The Fountain of Miracles" (1993)
• "The Seven Veils" (1993)
• "Painiac" (1995)
• "Everything" (1996)
• "Arbor Vitate" (2004)
• "Long in the Tooth" (2015)
• "The Diamond Sinners" (2016)
• "Found in Filth" (2016)
• "Prey & Obey" (2017)
• "The Chosen Few" (2018)
• "The Revelation" (2018)
• "That's The Way (I Like It)" (2018)
• "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (2018)
• "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (2019)
• "Mobocracy" (2019)
• "Sex & Death" (2020)
• "Rock 'n' Roll Refugee" (2020)

Notes and References

1. Web site: NiNa. 06/08/2012 Pig - "Drugzilla" unofficial mix available online. Fabryka Industrial Rock Magazine. 8 June 2012. 8 June 2012.
2. Web site: PIG unveils a rough mix of first new track in eight years. ReGen Magazine. 8 June 2012. Yücel, Ilker (Ilker81x). 8 June 2012.
3. Web site:

   Music News: New rough mix of a new PIG track.

   . COMA Music Magazine. 8 June 2012. COMA Music Magazine. 8 June 2012.
4. Web site: And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present you…. Official Cubanate on Facebook. 8 June 2012. Heal, Marc. Marc Heal. 8 June 2012.
5. Web site: Rough mix of new PIG track "Drugzilla".. https://archive.today/20121129112602/https://facebook.com/theswining/posts/191052334354988. dead. 29 November 2012. Official PIG on Facebook. 8 June 2012. Watts, Raymond. Raymond Watts. 8 June 2012.
6. Web site: Pig - Drugzilla (Rough As A Hog's Arse Mix). Official Marc Heal on SoundCloud. 8 June 2012. Heal, Marc. Marc Heal. 8 June 2012.
7. Web site: Pig - Shake (Rough Mix). Official Marc Heal on SoundCloud. 17 June 2012. Heal, Marc. Marc Heal. 15 June 2012.
8. Web site: Cubanate (Facebook) - Spoke to Watts on the phone... . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/181903017655/10153251905917656 . 2022-02-26 . limited. Facebook.com. 18 November 2014 . 4 November 2014.
9. Web site: Long in the Tooth . 11 March 2015 . Metropolis-mailorder.com. 9 March 2015.
10. Web site: Eye to Eye with the Compound Eye - Marc Heal and Raymond Watts Interview . 24 March 2015 . 23 March 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150330012106/http://theswining.com/eye-to-eye-with-the-compound-eye/ . 30 March 2015 .
11. Web site: The All Hamerican Pig Show. Daviet. Brandon. 29 June 2006. Westword.com. 5 January 2019.
12. Web site: Raymond Watts Forums - MDK2 Track 2 . 17 May 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080106165225/http://raymondwatts.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=projects&action=display&thread=1133155860&page=1 . 6 January 2008 . dead .
13. Web site: OFFICIAL SITE of Raymond Watts's . Bio . OFFICIAL SITE of Raymond Watts's . 13 August 2024.
14. Web site: Team Cybergeist - How to Destroy Something Beautiful (CD, Album) at Discogs . . 1 March 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170707031911/https://www.discogs.com/Team-Cybergeist-How-To-Destroy-Something-Beautiful/release/2349917 . 7 July 2017 . dead .
15. Web site: Official Album Credits for The Gospel. Discogs.com. Metropolis. 9 September 2017.
16. Web site: Ilker Yücel . Music video for PIG and Sasha Grey cover track premieres on Pornhub . REGEN Magazine . 8 September 2018 . 30 August 2018.