Hi guys, please introduce the band members to us and tell us a bit about the band, its timeline, and who does what.
HUGH: Johnny sings lead vocals and plays the blues harp, then there's Dave on guitar (and occasionally on vocals), Joe is the drummer and Ben also plays guitar. I play bass, design the artwork and run Sounds Of Caligula, our record label.
JOHNNY: We’ve been going for a few years now… 2001 I think? We got together via an advert that I answered in a record shop in Soho. I met Hugh in that band – it didn’t work out, but Hugh said he knew a guitarist and drummer (Dave and Joe), so off we went to The Peel in Kingston. We started jamming a few familiar tunes, and some I had never heard before. Ben did our first gig filling in for Dave, as he was away, so when we decided to add a second guitar player at the end of last year, he was an obvious choice. Dave is away a lot, so when he is away we are a four piece – when he’s here, we are a five piece. Our first EP was released in 2005, and the album was released at the end of last year. I think we’ve done about 2-3000 copies of the album so far! Not bad, with no manager and no major label behind us!

I’ve known venues such as The Carlisle in Hastings put the first Classic Rock CD we were on, on their jukebox because of us, which is really cool as we didn’t have anything commercially released at that time.
JOHNNY: Yes, we’re very lucky in that the press like us. You can't buy publicity like that, and we need it! My favourite songs are probably Battle Malady, as it’s a real epic, Guns N Ammo, as it’s an absolute stormer, and Lord Kill The Pain – when we hit that just right, it sends a shiver down my spine.

How is the work progressing on the next album, and how do you go about writing your songs?
HUGH: Ben (the new blood in the band) seems to be very prolific at the moment. We have two newly recorded songs in the can, the germ of which came about from myself and Ben jamming at my house, and then working those up between the four - or five - of us in a rehearsal situation. Usually the music is worked out, ideally with all of us contributing to the music, then Johnny will take that away to write the lyrics.
JOHNNY: The two new tracks were recorded almost as an experiment, in Toerag Studios in London, which is where the White Stripes recorded ‘Elephant’. Electric Wizard had also just recorded there, and since we had already been thinking about it for ages, we thought ‘why not?’ As we were only in for a weekend, we concentrated on two songs, which both came out amazingly well, in our opinion. Classic Rock contacted us and asked us if we had any new material and we were like: ‘yes!’ That song ‘Golden’ appeared on one of their covermount CDs earlier this year. We are basically writing and demoing stuff for the album now. We work best when we all sit down in a room and jam ideas.

Pig Irön have already appeared on the same bill as classic names such as Pat Travers, Budgie and Iron Maiden (more about that later!), and in December you have a slot at the prestigious Hard Rock Hell festival. How does it feel to see familiar faces from previous gigs and know that you're building up a regular loyal following ?
HUGH: Pat Travers, Budgie etc. have an older crowd that I knew would like us. On the whole, Maiden’s crowd is much, much younger, but when we do get younger kids in to our gigs, they seem to really enjoy it.
JOHNNY: To see familiar faces is a really weird experience for me, to be honest. To think that there are people who come to our gigs is amazing – and surreal. Hats off to these people – they keep live music going. I cant wait for HRH – it’s going to be awesome. To be on the same bill as the people playing at that festival is a real privilege – and we wont waste an opportunity like that. Also, we are playing on the Clive Aid stage, which is also a privilege.

gigs on that tour, but The Yardbirds in Grimsby, which was the clubhouse for the local biker chapter, was probably the best. The whole band were great, and Fin always had a tale to tell.
JOHNNY: Yes, the guys at The Yardbirds seemed to like us and invited us to the ‘after party’ in their private area, downstairs. The place was sacred – they called it their ‘church’. It was a free bar and there was a stack of pizzas the size of the room. We ate and drank because we didn’t want to say no, so we came away from that experience never wanting to eat pizza again. Pete Way is awesome – he came in with a mini bottle of champagne one day and started talking to us about trains. He’s ace. It was typical, in that we only really got into the swing of the tour by the time it was finishing, really – we could have carried on much longer!!

Apart from Hard Rock Hell, where else can we see Pig Irön this year?
HUGH: Check out www.myspace.com/soundsofcaligula for all your up to the minute Pig Irön news!
JOHNNY: We try and do as many gigs as we can – we are meant to be playing in Hastings (another biker town) on Halloween night - scary! - and we are doing a warm-up gig at The Peel, Kingston before Hard Rock Hell. Apart from that, we are mainly trying to concentrate on writing new songs. Once we get the new album out, we will do many more gigs.

JOHNNY: That gig was unbelievable. I still watch the video and think ‘did that happen??’ We have the footage to prove it! It was absolutely awesome. Unheard of, for a band in our situation. I think many were envious – and we are still in disbelief, ourselves! The build up to the gig was tense – and I wanted to tell every person I met - ‘Hello, I’m supporting Iron Maiden’ etc… I was convinced that I had lost my voice immediately prior to going on. Nerves will do strange things to you! The soundcheck was interesting – I was getting my harmonica ready and one of the crew said to me ‘there’s no harmonicas in metal!’ I obviously disagree. Strangely, when we came to play the actual gig, my harmonica microphone was not working… And I was too wrapped up to even ask them to sort it out! We went down quite well, considering everyone was there to see Maiden – a very polite crowd. And we got an amazing review in Kerrang, which was even better! When we left the gig to go to the after-party, a kid who was at the show saw me and was amazed that I was getting the tube!

Pinnacle), but the girl I knew at Pinnacle didn’t reply as she was on holiday, so Cargo said they’d be interested in distributing it. I did consider doing it all myself, but getting it in to the high street would have been a pain. So I don’t think anyone’s given us any advice particularly. I’m quite cynical as a person, but the reality is we’ve sold a few thousand CDs with no budget and little in the way of marketing. In addition to that, we own outright our own masters and publishing and we’re not unrecouped to anyone. We also book our own gigs, which again, can be a lot of hard work.

MySpace, Facebook, Bebo etc.... which is best? And why do so many different/similar networking sites exist?
HUGH: I personally don’t have the time to start a Facebook page, but myself and Johnny run the MySpace page.
JOHNNY: MySpace is better for bands, I reckon – it’s just simpler, cleaner and to the point. There’s too much messing around on Facebook for me. I had a personal page and I deleted it – I created a Pig Irön page instead. Its good to be across these things.

What would you like to say to rock fans out there who've yet to see Pig Irön play?
HUGH: I think the important thing is that we do it from the heart. We’ve never chased a bandwagon or trend and have never made or played any music we weren’t totally comfortable with. Having said that, we’ll probably sell out and make a Chrimbo record with a school choir on some awful cover version!
JOHNNY: Live is where we come across the best, so please come down and see us if you can. As Hugh says, we’re not false – we play in-your–face, good, bluesy rock and roll – and if that’s the way you like it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

© Get Ready To Roll - 8th October 2008