Pig Destroyer
Encyclopedia
Biography
The band formed in 1997 with vocalist J. R. Hayes (Enemy Soil), guitarist Scott Hull (Agoraphobic NosebleedAgoraphobic Nosebleed
Agoraphobic Nosebleed is a grindcore band formed in 1994 in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Its line-up has changed often during the years, leaving the only permanent member Scott Hull , also a guitarist in Pig Destroyer...
, Japanese Torture Comedy Hour, ex-Anal Cunt
Anal Cunt
Anal Cunt, also known as AxCx and A.C., was an American grindcore band that formed in Newton, Massachusetts in 1988. Since its inception, the band underwent a number of line-up changes. Known for its grindcore musical style and controversial lyrics, Anal Cunt released eight full-length studio...
), and drummer John Evans. Evans was later replaced by Brian Harvey. Sampler Blake Harrison joined prior to recording Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb (album)
Phantom Limb is an album by the band Pig Destroyer. Released on June 12, 2007 in America and June 18 internationally. The release comes as a CD and vinyl LP format. Vocalist JR Hayes says the line up of 14 songs are, “the most deranged metal songs we could come up with” . The album cover art was...
.
In an interview, Scott Hull claims that they picked the band name on the criteria that it was insulting, yet somewhat more creative than the name of his last band, Anal Cunt. Deciding that "Cop Killer" or "Cop Destroyer" would be tactless, they eventually settled on "Pig Destroyer" ("pig" being a pejorative American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
term for the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
). Derived from a non-musical source as extreme as the band's sound, Pig Destroyer's easily identifiable logo was created using the emblem from ANSWER Me!
ANSWER Me!
ANSWER Me! is a discontinued magazine which was edited by Jim and Debbie Goad and published between 1991 and 1994. Extremely misanthropic in its editorial content, it focused on the social pathologies of interest to the Los Angeles–based couple. The magazine was a major source of inspiration for...
magazine as a template. However, the band has become less political in recent times.
Relapse Records
Relapse Records
Relapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...
signed the band and issued a split 7" with Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
on the label's Singles Series in July 2000. 38 Counts of Battery
38 Counts of Battery
38 Counts of Battery is a compilation album by the deathgrind band Pig Destroyer. The album is made up of the entire "Explosions in Ward 6" album, parts of the split "Orchid / Pig Destroyer", and parts of the band's 1997 "Demo". 38 Counts also comes in edited version, but it is hard to come...
was a complete discography of Pig Destroyer releases up to the year 2000, which included split records with Gnob and influential screamo
Screamo
Screamo, though used loosely to generally describe music that features screamed vocals, is actually a musical subgenre of hardcore punk which predominantly evolved from emo, among other genres, in the early 1990s...
act Orchid
Orchid (band)
Orchid was a screamo band from Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Considered by many to be one of the pioneers of the "screamo" sound, Orchid combined this with a post-modern aesthetic, releasing several extended play and splits as well as three LPs...
, as well as their debut album, Explosions In Ward 6, and the demo that secured their record deal.
Prowler in the Yard
Prowler in the Yard
Prowler in the Yard is an album by Virginian Grindcore band, Pig Destroyer. It was released in 2001 by Relapse Records. The album follows a dark and twisted story of love, obsession and gore. The booklet also features an extra page of prose about the protagonist and 'Jennifer'...
, released in 2001, was the first of the band's records to really break through to what could contextually be considered the "mainstream." Garnering rave reviews from popular press such as Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and Terrorizer
Terrorizer Magazine
Terrorizer is an extreme music magazine published by Dark Arts Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It is released every four weeks with thirteen issues a year and features a 'Fear Candy' covermount CD, a twice yearly 'Fear Candy Unsigned' CD, and a double-sided poster.-1993:Terrorizer published its first...
, the record earned Pig Destroyer headlining slots at the 2002 New England Metal and Hardcore Festival
New England Metal and Hardcore Festival
The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival is an annual festival held in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a weekend-long concert of heavy metal and hardcore bands along with a merchandising and promotional area for record labels and other vendors...
and the 2002 Relapse Records CMJ Showcase, as well as a high placing at 2003's Relapse Contamination Fest alongside scene legends High on Fire
High on Fire
High on Fire is a stoner metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1998. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, previously played guitar for the influential stoner doom band Sleep.-History:...
and The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...
(documented on the Relapse Contamination Fest DVD).
2004's Terrifyer
Terrifyer
Terrifyer is an album by American deathgrind band, Pig Destroyer. It was released in 2004 by Relapse Records. The song "Gravedancer" appears on the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland soundtrack as a cut down 1:37 version ....
boasted a much clearer sound than Prowler in the Yard or 38 Counts of Battery, as well as lyrics and prose from Hayes. The record came with an accompanying DVD soundscape entitled "Natasha", which was intended to be listened to in surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
(although a more recent Japanese edition of the album has "Natasha" as an ordinary CD with four bonus tracks). Session guitarist Matthew Kevin Mills, Hull's former guitar teacher, recorded the lead guitar parts in the song "Towering Flesh".
A compilation of tracks from the split EPs with Gnob and Benümb
Benümb
Benümb was a grindcore band from Oakland, California.-Biography:Formed in 1994 in Oakland, California, Benümb became known within the local hardcore community as a respected grindcore band. The band went through various lineup changes during their early years. After playing together for almost a...
is also available, entitled Painter of Dead Girls
Painter of Dead Girls
Painter of Dead Girls is a compilation album by the deathgrind band Pig Destroyer. It features songs from their Gnob and Benumb splits as well as a cover of the Helmet song "In the Meantime". J. R. Hayes claims that he does not remember the lyrics to the first seven tracks, and that he cannot...
. The album features alternative versions of older songs from the 38 Counts era (such as "Dark Satellites"), a series of new songs (such as "Rejection Fetish" and "Forgotten Child"), and covers of bands who could be considered an influence (such as The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
and Helmet
Helmet (band)
Helmet is an alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member....
).
Pig Destroyer have stated that they would release a series of 9 split 7" EPs in 2006. Bands on the flipside include Orthrelm
Orthrelm
- Biography :Orthrelm is a duo with Mick Barr on guitar and Josh Blair on drums, experimenting in many forms of unconventional songwriting styles and musical concepts in general....
and Blood Duster
Blood Duster
Blood Duster is a extreme metal/stoner rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Their name comes from the song "Blood Duster" by John Zorn, from the 1989 album Naked City.-History:...
; however, nothing has yet been released. The 7" series has been put on hold for the release of Phantom Limb.
2007 saw the release of album Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb (album)
Phantom Limb is an album by the band Pig Destroyer. Released on June 12, 2007 in America and June 18 internationally. The release comes as a CD and vinyl LP format. Vocalist JR Hayes says the line up of 14 songs are, “the most deranged metal songs we could come up with” . The album cover art was...
via Relapse Records
Relapse Records
Relapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...
, complete with album artwork designed by John Baizley (Baroness, Torche
Torche
Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or sludge metal.-Biography:The group was formed in 2004 by Steve Brooks , Juan Montoya , Jonathan Nuñez and Rick Smith Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or...
).
At least three official promotional videos
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
have been made of Pig Destroyer songs: "Piss Angel", from Prowler in the Yard, "Gravedancer", from Terrifyer, and "Loathsome", from Phantom Limb. All three have aired on MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
's Headbangers Ball
Headbangers Ball
Headbangers Ball is a music television program consisting of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV2, MTV Australia, MTV Two , MTV Adria , MTV Brand New, MTV Portugal, MTV Finland, MTV Arabia, MTV Norway, MTV Sweden, MTV Denmark, MTV Greece, MTV Türkiye, MTV...
, with each video seeing more airplay than the one that was released before it. The video for "Piss Angel" debuted on the show on Aug. 14, 2004, and was directed by Kenneth Thibault and Nathaniel Baruch. The video for "Gravedancer" was directed by Vladimir Lik and released in 2007. The video for "Loathsome" was directed by David Brodsky and debuted in late 2007.
In 2011, Harvey was replaced by Misery Index
Misery Index (band)
Misery Index is an American deathgrind band formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, by Jason Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Mike Harrison on vocals and guitar, and Kevin Talley on drums. From 2006-2010, its line-up consisted of Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Sparky Voyles...
drummer Adam Jarvis.
Influences
Scott HullScott Hull
Scott Hull is an American heavy metal musician, and the current guitarist and producer for Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Japanese Torture Comedy Hour. He has been part of many other projects including the controversial band Anal Cunt . Aside from his music works, he currently works as a...
has mentioned artist Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works were sculptural installations combined with performance and video...
, author Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist.-Career:Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Arcadia, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, de Sade, and Baudelaire...
, and noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
ians Whitehouse
Whitehouse (band)
Whitehouse are a pioneering English power electronics band formed in 1980, largely credited for the founding of the power electronics subgenre.-History and personnel:...
as influencing his music. Pig Destroyer is inspired by thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
, such as Dark Angel
Dark Angel (band)
Dark Angel was an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Their over-the-top style earned them the nickname "the L.A...
and Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
, the sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
of The Melvins
The Melvins
The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...
, and American grindcore as practiced by Brutal Truth
Brutal Truth
Brutal Truth is an American grindcore band from New York City, formed by ex-Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers Of Death bass guitarist Dan Lilker in 1990. The group disbanded in 1999, but reformed in 2006 and continue to release new music.-History:...
.
Members
- J. R. Hayes (Enemy Soil) – vocals
- Scott HullScott HullScott Hull is an American heavy metal musician, and the current guitarist and producer for Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Japanese Torture Comedy Hour. He has been part of many other projects including the controversial band Anal Cunt . Aside from his music works, he currently works as a...
(Agoraphobic NosebleedAgoraphobic NosebleedAgoraphobic Nosebleed is a grindcore band formed in 1994 in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Its line-up has changed often during the years, leaving the only permanent member Scott Hull , also a guitarist in Pig Destroyer...
, ex-Anal CuntAnal CuntAnal Cunt, also known as AxCx and A.C., was an American grindcore band that formed in Newton, Massachusetts in 1988. Since its inception, the band underwent a number of line-up changes. Known for its grindcore musical style and controversial lyrics, Anal Cunt released eight full-length studio...
, ex-Japanese Torture Comedy Hour) – guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker... - Adam Jarvis (Misery IndexMisery Index (band)Misery Index is an American deathgrind band formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, by Jason Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Mike Harrison on vocals and guitar, and Kevin Talley on drums. From 2006-2010, its line-up consisted of Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Sparky Voyles...
) – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Blake Harrison (HatebeakHatebeakHatebeak is a death metal band, formed by Blake Harrison, Mark Sloan and Waldo, a 19 year old Congo African Grey Parrot. The band members do not use their last names on their releases "for the mystery." Hatebeak is unique in that they are the only band to feature a parrot on vocals...
) – electronics
Former
- John Evans – drums (1997–2001)
- Donna Parker – electronics (2006)
- Jessica Rylan – keyboard (2006)
- Brian Harvey – drums (2001–2011)
Full Length
- Explosions In Ward 6 (1998)
- Prowler in the YardProwler in the YardProwler in the Yard is an album by Virginian Grindcore band, Pig Destroyer. It was released in 2001 by Relapse Records. The album follows a dark and twisted story of love, obsession and gore. The booklet also features an extra page of prose about the protagonist and 'Jennifer'...
(2001) - TerrifyerTerrifyerTerrifyer is an album by American deathgrind band, Pig Destroyer. It was released in 2004 by Relapse Records. The song "Gravedancer" appears on the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland soundtrack as a cut down 1:37 version ....
(2004) - Phantom LimbPhantom Limb (album)Phantom Limb is an album by the band Pig Destroyer. Released on June 12, 2007 in America and June 18 internationally. The release comes as a CD and vinyl LP format. Vocalist JR Hayes says the line up of 14 songs are, “the most deranged metal songs we could come up with” . The album cover art was...
(2007)
Splits
- Split with Orchid (1997)
- Split with Gnob (1999)
- Split with Isis (2000)
- Split with Benumb (2002)
- Split with Coldworker and Antigama (2007)
Other
- Demo (1997)
- 7" picture disc (2000)
- 38 Counts of Battery38 Counts of Battery38 Counts of Battery is a compilation album by the deathgrind band Pig Destroyer. The album is made up of the entire "Explosions in Ward 6" album, parts of the split "Orchid / Pig Destroyer", and parts of the band's 1997 "Demo". 38 Counts also comes in edited version, but it is hard to come...
(2000) - Painter of Dead GirlsPainter of Dead GirlsPainter of Dead Girls is a compilation album by the deathgrind band Pig Destroyer. It features songs from their Gnob and Benumb splits as well as a cover of the Helmet song "In the Meantime". J. R. Hayes claims that he does not remember the lyrics to the first seven tracks, and that he cannot...
(2004) - NatashaNatasha (EP)Natasha is a EP by Pig Destroyer, released in 2008 by Relapse Records. The EP consists of one song, simply named Natasha, originally included on special editions of Terrifyer as a DVD. The song is 37:55 in length, and consists of multiple songs and audio samples...
(2008)
Compilation appearances
- Contaminated 3.0 (2000)
- Contaminated 5.0 (2003)
- Contaminated, Vol. 6 (2004)
- Relapse Contamination Festival 2003 DVD (2004)
- BMA vs Metal Blade vs Robotic Empire: Sampler 2004 (2004)
- Contaminated: Relapse Records Sampler, Vol. 7 (2005)
- Relapse Records Extreme Music Sampler (2005)
- We Reach: The Music of the MelvinsWe Reach: The Music of the MelvinsWe Reach: The Music of The Melvins is a 2005 tribute album to the Melvins.-Track listing:...
– "Claude" (2005) - Grind Your Mind – A History of Grindcore (2008)
External links
- Pig Destroyer at Relapse RecordsRelapse RecordsRelapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...
- Live Photos of Pig Destroyer at Blackened Music Series Event 2009