.jpg "WATCH YOUR TONGUE Pigboat's lyrics make our ears burn.")
I’ve become such a yuppie that where my records should go is now a major problem. As music rooms become playrooms, they’re simply not safe on the floor, they don’t fit well on shelves, and they take up too much space, in general. But how could I listen to Kiss’ Rock and Roll Over on any other medium? The warmth of vinyl is perfect for crunching guitars and throaty screams.
It would also be perfect for Pigboat, Portland’s dirty-rock all-stars. Except that they do so well with their debut EP, Nothing’s Ever Finished, on CD. Despite recording the thing in their practice space (to the point of scrapping a couple songs because other bands bled into their drum tracks), they make the most of the digital medium by filling their disc with extra photos, outtakes, lyrics, band info, even a couple short movies.
How many people are actually going to be interested in the blurry live band photos? Who cares? You certainly can’t say the band don’t give you your money’s worth, even if you’ve only got five proper songs to listen to. With vinyl, you get album art, and maybe a folded-up poster. With Pigboat, you get a multi-media bonanza.
You also get some grungy, old-school metal, which sounds a lot like frontman Mark Belanger looks (a little rough around the edges, let's say). Belanger, with bassist Ed Porter (brother Doug plays in Covered in Bees and Confusatron), played in Broken Clown back in the day (with Lost on Liftoff drummer Shane Kinney) and what you get here isn't all that different, though it's a bit more subdued and partial to stoner rock stylings. None of that is necessarily indicated by the presence of Chad Palardy, whose previous bands, Colepitz and the Gas, were heavier and punkier, respectively, and it sort of doesn't matter anyway, since Palardy will be leaving the band after their July 7 show to go rebuild a house down in New Orleans.
The five songs here all basically sound the same, actually. With vocals frequently low in the mix, songs generally awash in guitars, and only a three-piece construction, that’s not surprising. Four of the five songs even clock in within eight seconds in length of one another.
There are some moments that make you take notice, though. Hot Tart Lana Eddy’s appearance on “Happy Go Rocket Terrapinmon” is a pleasant surprise. The opening to “Johnny Cash Rides His Coal Car Through Purgatory” is a two-note bass repetition that might be exactly the same as the opening to Phantom Buffalo’s “Hey, That’s My Only Necktie,” though I suspect the two bands wouldn’t hang out much. And the lyrics are an interesting homage to the Man in Black: “You died of old age not VD/You’re not the type to overdose/Or stick a shotgun down your throat.” That last couplet the closest Pigboat are likely to come to rhyming.
