PIG

Pig is the main project of British musician <a href="spotify:artist:6ufQ4LemkzJHuYmQLaQ174">Raymond Watts</a>, a founding member of German industrial stalwarts <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a>. Grittier and more experimental than many of the more well-known industrial acts, Pig's early albums, such as 1988's A Poke in the Eye... with a Sharp Stick, incorporated jazz and orchestral influences, not unlike sometime collaborator <a href="spotify:artist:3ubX2xfDGeKJNSX020gY19">Foetus</a>, along with metal guitars and complex dance beats. Subsequent albums were harder and more guitar-driven, yet featured surprising elements like the Latin rhythms on 1999's Genuine American Monster. After 2005's Pigmata, the project went on hiatus for a decade, returning with fellow <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a> founder <a href="spotify:artist:72ljvzF8jSLdJ1H0VsLdka">En Esch</a> in the fold on 2016's The Gospel. This kicked off a prolific run of albums that included 2019's Candy, an eclectic collection of covers, and the back-to-basics industrial rock of 2020's Pain Is God and 2024's Red Room.

<a href="spotify:artist:6ufQ4LemkzJHuYmQLaQ174">Raymond Watts</a> was born in London in 1961. Active as an engineer, producer, and musician since the early '80s, he worked with industrial acts such as <a href="spotify:artist:3oi0s3WIuxBU5oh87n7za2">Psychic TV</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:37KB5e6cGsN1AQAB9Omm1U">Coil</a>-related project <a href="spotify:artist:6yPhBJflyCWhiDFJR1Q65o">Zos Kia</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3ubX2xfDGeKJNSX020gY19">Foetus</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7KomCxZv6D5qCVvefwMnwB">Einstürzende Neubauten</a>, as well as indie pop group <a href="spotify:artist:0eW2MAqK9MLTdD4nZKiw4W">the Hit Parade</a>. He was also one of the founding members of the performance art ensemble originally known as <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">Kein Mehrheit für die Mitleid</a>, which would only later develop a more musical focus and become known as <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a>. He left that band in its early stages and, as Pig, released a number of albums. The <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Wax+Trax%21%22">Wax Trax!</a> label issued his debut LP, 1988's A Poke in the Eye... with a Sharp Stick, and his first two singles. He followed with Praise the Lard (on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Concrete+Productions%22">Concrete Productions</a>) in 1991.

<a href="spotify:artist:2savq7Id5eDV0DVsoug0wH">Watts</a> would soon form a relationship with an A&R man at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alfa+Entertainment%22">Alfa Entertainment</a>, which released his albums The Swining and Red Raw & Sore, initially in Japan only. He also produced Je M'Aime, the 1994 debut by <a href="spotify:artist:7rTMQpZWFZ80Lr1W36kDLX">Sow</a> (Anna Wildsmith), which was later reissued and credited to Pig & <a href="spotify:artist:7rTMQpZWFZ80Lr1W36kDLX">Sow</a>. When his A&R contact moved to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Victor%22">Victor</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2savq7Id5eDV0DVsoug0wH">Watts</a> followed and issued several albums through them, including the 1995 full-length Sinsation (issued in America the following year by <a href="spotify:artist:0hRijdwO8UsJMudc3476ma">Trent Reznor</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nothing+Records%22">Nothing Records</a>). That year, he also returned to <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a> to help them record their seventh album, Nihil. Wrecked arrived in 1996, with an American release following in 1997 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Wax+Trax%21%22">Wax Trax!</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22TVT%22">TVT</a>.

The music featured on <a href="spotify:artist:2savq7Id5eDV0DVsoug0wH">Watts</a>' albums evolved over the years to become increasingly complex, incorporating German, British, and Japanese pop music elements and a variety of electronic idioms. The No One Gets Out of Her Alive EP appeared in 1998. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cleopatra+Records%22">Cleopatra Records</a> re-released the two <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alfa%22">Alfa</a> albums as a single volume in 1999, resurrecting one of the strongest periods in his career. Genuine American Monster was issued in Japan the same year (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metropolis%22">Metropolis</a> re-released it three years later). He performed with <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a> for a few more years, and was co-credited on their live release Sturm & Drang Tour 2002.

Two years later, <a href="spotify:artist:2savq7Id5eDV0DVsoug0wH">Watts</a> released the hard-rocking Pigmartyr under his own surname, producing a remastered version titled Pigmata that arrived in 2005, as the seventh Pig studio album. <a href="spotify:artist:2savq7Id5eDV0DVsoug0wH">Watts</a> would sideline the Pig project for a decade, though he released a few projects under his own name, including the 2010 EP Mellan Rummen (with <a href="spotify:artist:0xGEEE3g8gB9GJkefjcEqe">Dr. Shinto</a>), composed as the soundtrack to a book by Daniel Watson. As Pig, he guested on "Bin Therre," the 2013 single by <a href="spotify:artist:4B9dGfGFvmCa3TZ5MIxs9X">Mekon</a> (frequent collaborator John Gosling). Pig returned in 2015 with a pair of collaborative EPs (Compound Eye Sessions with <a href="spotify:artist:1f2UERlvzYy5p353A4Gh44">Cubanate</a>'s Marc Heal, aka MC Lord of the Flies, and Long in the Tooth with industrial rock supergroup <a href="spotify:artist:666H5zv2TyTb7HxxX4lTI1">Primitive Race</a>).

<a href="spotify:artist:72ljvzF8jSLdJ1H0VsLdka">En Esch</a>, one of <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a>'s other founding members, officially joined Pig in 2016, and their eighth LP, The Gospel, was released that year, with a remix album, Swine & Punishment, landing in 2017. The studio effort Risen appeared in June 2018, and a few months later, the group released a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:3mQBpAOMWYqAZyxtyeo4Lo">KC & the Sunshine Band</a>'s "That's the Way (I Like It)" with musician and adult film star Sasha Grey. Following the 2019 remix collection Stripped & Whipped, the Grey collaboration appeared on Candy, an entire album of covers, issued by U.K. label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Armalyte+Industries%22">Armalyte Industries</a>. After another remix album for the label, 2020's Stripped & Ripped, as well as a trio of independently released EPs, Pig returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metropolis%22">Metropolis</a> with Pain Is God, which included versions of material from the EPs as well as the <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a> song "Kickin Ass."

Pig released two remix efforts, the full-length Pain Killer and EP Drugged Dangerous & Damned, in 2021. Following the 2022 EP Baptise Bless & Bleed, the band released The Merciless Light, featuring former <a href="spotify:artist:10aXVE8RSUCeMzaFvBnZ2i">Pitchshifter</a> member <a href="spotify:artist:6QQs0zktBnWwXutLCwJPVE">Jim Davies</a>. Candy (Rewrapped), the group's previous covers album reworked by longtime collaborator <a href="spotify:artist:6aWcslDqZCu9hlKD0LqDC6">Martin Eden</a>, appeared in 2023. 2024 brought a deluxe edition of Sin Sex & Salvation, Pig's 1994 EP with <a href="spotify:artist:3V4IvzRQYP5mzuVtkcHgVa">KMFDM</a>, as well as a remastered reissue of Sinsation. Pig also released Red Room, a full-length including appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:4IZgjF9Cb5w0gQTUOYSCQK">Chris Connelly</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:7vCJSBATlld5vDKTH87tpG">Revolting Cocks</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1DXylZlWbVvlckNqwvjTEt">Ministry</a>), Alexis Mincolla (<a href="spotify:artist:4GHi4xklo0FT0l2CNuLFh2">3Teeth</a>), Christopher Hall (<a href="spotify:artist:5daXMUbrPh8oX9Nd4CnToG">Stabbing Westward</a>), and others. ~ Stacia Proefrock & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi