PIGFACE TOUR 95 EXPERIENCE (LONG!)(Finally!)

[Bones]

OK, at long last, here it is:

This Little Piggy Went to Mosh Pit, This Little Piggy Went on Tour.

By Bones

Think last year's Pigface Team '94 tour was enough? The crowd didn't
think so, the fans didn't think so, and what's more, the band didn't think
so either. So there was only one solution: take the fun on the road
again.

One might argue that Pigface's lastest "Feels Like Heaven, Sounds Like
Shit" is only a remix album of the best songs from last year's "Notes
From thee Underground," so what's the point of a tour? There are many
answers to this question, but there are only a few that rank high enough
to be deemed most important.

Among the most important reasons is the fans. There's no doubt about
that and there never will be. Every single smile, every single laugh,
every single overwhelming feeling of happiness, fulfilment, and emotion
that can be elicited by Pigface from just one fan has more value than
anything in this world than one can know. That's just for one fan. Now
imagine the total amount that this value jumps when you add up all the
fans that support the band and come out to see the shows.

Support like that is not ever forgotten, and why should the fun end?
When we hear stories of people that drive hours on end from Texas to
Atlanta just to see us play, that is a perfect example of the kinds of effort
and support the fans have given and there is no reason whatsoever why
anything less should be delivered to them in return. Call it the need to
bring that fun out to the fans, call it the desire to want to go out and
move people's souls again, call it what you will. If anything, call it a
thank you to every single one of you who gave that support freely, that
made the experience worth it, that made the manifestations of Pigface
want to do more for you, the fans. If the music and performances can
make the differences for you, give meaning to your lives, move you in
ways you never knew you needed, or just give you a celebratory break
in life since most of us are, as Martin once said, "Just trying to keep our
heads above water in this shitty, shitty soup that we all live in," then,
hey, why not celebrate? And what better way to do it than with a forging
of music, laughter, and fun. After all, we're all in this together.

As was the case last year and always, word hit the streets and people
came to see the band that has been referred to by many words including
"industrial supergroup." As if it's not enough that the music draws the
fans to come out, there's that everlasting desire to know what's in store
for the coming show, for as everyone has found in the past, there's
always a surprise or two, whether it be a special unannounced guest or
a funny act. Spontaneity is a virtue.

This time, the core unit consisted of an impressive gathering of musical
rogues, quite possibly the best collection of musicians that Pigface has
ever manifested into since 1991. There's veteran Pigface legend Ogre
who was arguably the main attraction seeing how he's been absent from
the scene in what seems like eons. Then from the original Evil Mothers
troupe we've got Curse Mackey on keyboards and BobDog on guitars,
while Ms. Christina Petro joins the core to provide a little exotica. Of
course there are old friends from last year's romp as well, including the
powerful Meg Lee Chin, fun-loving Dirk Flanigan, the zany Mary Mary
Byker, the lovable behemoth known as Charles Levi, and of course, our
fearless leader Martin Atkins, all coming together to form the main team
for the entire tour.

December 1, 1995: Feels Like Chicago, Sounds Like...

...the roadcrew was getting revved up into doing their thing as various
members of this essential unit of the tour ran around hooking up wires,
checking drums, tuning instruments, and so on. Amidst all this work, the
majority of us are prepping ourselves in the dressing room backstage in
the annals of Cabaret Metro. Not everyone has arrived yet, but those
who are there who played last year's tour are welcoming back those of
us who played with them and are joining the Pigface core at this point,
such as Lick guitarist Jason McNinch, Andrew Weiss of Rollins
Band/Ween fame, and myself.

"Hey! How's it going?" smiles Dirk Flanigan, vocalist for Pigface and
former member of 77 Luscious Babes. He's been on this tour with
Pigface ever since it started in Memphis a couple of days before, and
now that it's stopped in his hometown of Chicago, he's being visited by
his wife and son, a cute little boy who is eyeing the collection of toys we
have stockpiled backstage as if it was already Christmas. Gnat, who
runs the Pigface homepage on the World Wide Web and whom I've
taken with me on tour, giggles on and is overjoyed to see that there is a
miniature plastic slinky and parachute toy soldiers in the pile while I sit
there tuning up my 12-string. Meanwhile, Ms. Christina Petro is sitting
cross-legged on the floor already reminiscing about the events of the
past couple of days and wincing in revulsion as Andrew the Impaled of
fellow touring act Circus Apocalypse is explaining the experience of
eating a lightbulb. Mary strolls in to peruse the food table set out for us.
His eye catches the bottle of Irish Whiskey. Later on, Gnat and I run
into Curse Mackey, who greets Gnat and I hello and comments on my
glow-in-the-dark skeleton tie. We also find Dave Baker, one of the most
helpful, efficient, and friendly people at Invisible Records that we've ever
had the pleasure of knowing.

It's all a very relaxed atmosphere at this point, most of the members
already logging in 3 dates and hundreds of miles under their belts. Then
there's people who have a ton more dates to their name like Charles
who, as the bassist of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, just finished a
national tour with his band a mere three days before leaving Chicago
once again for this Pigface tour. The man just never slows down! Dave
Apocalypse is making balloon animals for us to pass some time, and he
makes Charles a balloon hat. "Let's see them try to steal THAT hat off
your head like last year," I say to Charles who cracks up laughing at the
memory. "Yeah, right!" he says.

Soundcheck time. Various members jump on and off the stage and
occasionally we give it all a go with a song or two under the watchful eye
of Jolly Roger, who can be best described as our touring father figure.
Jolly is extraordinary and keeps everyone all organized, comfortable,
and in line. I doubt anyone can fill his boots when it comes to managing
tours, and it's not just because he's a giant of a guy either.

The soundcheck is admittedly not as much of a hustle and bustle as last
year, but is still just as important. Meg sings her rendition of "Mary had
a Little Lamb" before we bust into an impromptu version of "Chickasaw"
and "Think." From the stage, I can see that Chris Connelly has arrived,
and I look on with a smile as he and Martin embrace like old pals who
haven't seen each other in years. Yup, that Pigface comraderie is still
there, and it's just as sweet as it was from the start.

Showtime! The all ages show is just starting to let in and meanwhile
during Lick's performance some of us are getting way too psyched up for
our own good, especially those of us who have just hopped on tour at
this point and can't wait for our turn to play. The rest of us are either
relaxing a bit, or pacing up and down getting more and more excited with
the idea as a whole.

Charles is trying to help keep things organized backstage as the rest of
Pigface begins to come together and prepare to attack. Meg is putting
the finishing touches on her outfit...a perfect combination of schoolgirl
dress, flower garlands, a Virgin Records label, and duct tape. Topped
off with her racing goggles, Meg looked the perfect cyber-anime
character.

Circus Apocalyse is doing an excellent job of raising peoples' eyebrows
with their unusual freakshow acts. The projected shadows of various
Pigface members are portrayed onto the screen backdrops as
"Hagseed" is played as background music. The audience is starting to
get more and more excited, especially fans who have only now come to
the realization that the singing voice is indeed that of Ogre's. It's a
prelude to the accumulating mayhem to come: the audience is getting
more excited and starting to move. The music is becoming more
rhythmic. The shadows are beginning to stop flying around and leave
behind their amorphous forms, solidifying into something resembling
human shapes...

BAM! Suddenly without warning, the screens are removed, the blinding
lights seem to fade away revealing Pigface jumping into the din with a
heavy version of "Think." The ball has begun to roll, and it wasn't
showing any signs of stopping. As if to take over where the lights left
off, the audience's faces lit up just as bright when they finally saw who it
was behind the screens. They had begun to move as well, and many
were awestruck. It was truly gratifying to see this scene again, masses
of people moving together in time with the music, the smiles forming, the
fans singing along. Again, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to put
out more came upon us and the music intensity went on as well.

Meanwhile, backstage, things were churning as well. Roadcrew were
scurrying back and forth trying to get screens moved out of the way,
tuning instruments, and those of us who were not on a particular song
hung around at the stage entrance either watching on or getting our
instruments ready as well.

Mary, Ogre, and Christina were at the entrance still laughing on about
the other tour dates and Mary was passing around his bottle of Irish
Whiskey to all present. Not long after, Chris Connelly saunters in to
watch the act and takes a seat next to Ogre on the stairs where they
begin to laugh, talk, and have a good time.

Jason McNinch and I are again, like last year, deciding on who gets
what songs to play for guitar. It's kind of a hurried decision as he has to
rush off to play on "Divebomber," a song that he naturally flies into,
frolicking around on stage flailing his guitar and getting very dramatic
with it. He's no exception as everyone on stage is really getting into
their work, and is having an enjoyable time. For instance, there's
Andrew who always had that innocent little smile going for him, and
always played every show barefoot while singing into an empty
microphone stand. At one point he even threw his bass up into the air at
the end of a song and nearly clocked BobDog upside the head. "He
barely missed me!" Bobdog would blurt out after the first show, then
continue on saying how he wasn't interested in suffering the same
demise as the bass player of Nirvana.

There's a little improv at the first show to accomodate the special guests.
Connelly was onhand, and so a few classic songs were done to include
him. Mary suddenly runs in from the stage behind Chris, who seemed
very worn out sitting on the stairs, and taps hurriedly taps him on the
back, asking "Weightless?" As if some spark had suddenly ignited in
him, Chris' eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet to take the lead vocals
for that song. It didn't end there either, because Chris' energy was
continuing on into doing "Point Blank" as well as "Murder, Inc." to which
was he not only crawling on the stage overshadowing the fans with his
charisma, he also kinda futzed up the lyrics as a result of this
overflowing of power. As he walked off the stage, he ran into Ogre, and
the two long-time colleagues hugged each other for the longest time like
long lost brothers found. It was one of the most heartfelt moments of the
night.

Although the show seemed to be cut short a bit in order to make room
for the late show, no one put out any less than what they wanted for
everyone. Martin was drumming as hard as ever and you can tell in his
motions and eyes that he was completely happy in doing what he does
best. Dirk and Mary would romp up and down the stage, with Mary
suddenly dancing a jig on occasion. Meg's voice would always explode
forth with all this energy and power out of that petite frame of hers, and
Christina wowed everyone with her exotic belly-dancing. It would seem
that the only real drawback was the fact that there was a "no fire" rule in
Chicago, so some of the best acts that Circus Apocalypse had to offer
were lost in the legalities.

One of the best things about live Pigface is that the music sounds
different from its recorded versions. They even sound different from
previous versions of the songs that were performed live on different
tours. Playing "Chickasaw", for example, was a bit different for me this
year than last because some of the stops were different, and some of
the effects on the guitars were now replaced with more droning smears
of guitars, giving the song a different dimension. I even had to change
the 12-string rhythm to accomodate the new mood of the song, which
was still alot more jazzy than the recorded version. BobDog added alot
of axe prowress to give other songs newer, more different facets, such
as on "Satellite" and the solos on "Ten Down and Ground." Probably his
biggest contribution to putting up new feels for the songs was on
"Suckacoustic" where BobDog shined the most with his sitar work.
Granted, he performed on this one last year, but as a permanent fixture
on this tour, he really revamped the whole feel of the song with the
newer sitar work and along with Ogre on vocals and Petro's dance,
reconstructed it so well that even listeners who had seen the version last
year were held captivated by the Middle Eastern flavor of the song and
fell under its spell.

Inbetween shows, BobDog and I sat on the stairs talking about the tour
in general and where we've been and I sat wide-eyed listening to stories
as to how he got his sitar. If you think BobDog was a guitaring genius
just for his playing, get this: He rebuilt the sitar himself. He got the
original from a hippy that sold it to the guitar shop that he worked in..
Always fascinated by sitar since he heard it in the classic "Sgt. Pepper"
Beatles album, BobDog found that it needed work on intonation and in
the neck. So, what else was there to do but rework it? And so he did,
bringing it up to speed with the rest of his guitar collection. We then
start talking about the state of the music scene and trying to decide who
was the more invisible member of Pigface between he and I. But
nevertheless, BobDog was definitely excited about this tour, especially
with the prospect of going to England, and both of us were quite flattered
that we was again invited to play the tour this year.

Although things ran smooth in general tonight, this was not to say that
there weren't some setbacks. For one, Dessau was temporarily missing
in action before the first show. No one seemed to know where they were
but eventually the openers appeared. And after the main set, in a flurry
of starnge occurances, a monitor fell over near Curse and knocked the
sampler wires out of place, killing the samples. At least we think. We're
not sure up to now. But fortunately, the sampler was hooked up and
back in business by the time the encores rolled around, which surprised
some of us when we heard the sampler sputter back to life for "Asphole."
And nothing could prepare Ogre for the punchline of Inner Sanctum Jell-
O Surprise. Or me for that matter. Then Connelly disappeared just
before the late show.

But setbacks or no setbacks, the vibe was way too powerful for anything
to get in the way. There was the encores to explode into, with the ever
infamous Pigface life raft tossed out among the crowd to carry some
band members into the sea of fans, Ogre's onstage theatrics which
became so typical and characteristic for his character that even Mary
Byker was imitating him for fun, and even Meg turning the "Row Your
Boat" nursery song into a Pigface cover during "Fuck it Up." The
enthusiasm was building and it carried over into the following show,
which turned out to be a much more exciting experience than before.
Both the music and the audience carried alot more potential, and the
night even found fans chanting out a request for "T.F.W.O." over and
over to which Martin had to chide, "Excuse me, that song was four tours
ago!" Well, at least Ogre did "Insemination" instead. The crowd got a
go at participation as well when Meg and Mary offered their mikes to
lucky persons in the din, including Gnat who took some vocals before
holding another mike up and behind her head so that others can have a
go at it. By the time the show came to an end with all of us pounding out
a fiery version of "Suck" that would even make the most battle hardened
of mosh pit veterans run for cover, it was a shame to see it come to a
close.

The after-show festivities were as joyous as last year's end-of-tour
celebration with the exception that it was shorter since most of us had to
be on the road the next day. But many friends and family were there to
share in the fun, including some old school friend of Charles who was
there through both shows giving major amounts of support to both
Charles and the rest of us, enthusiastically patting each one of us on the
back as we took turns on stage yelling, "Go get 'em man! Yeah! That's
what it's all about! Pigface, WOOO!" It was really kind of neat. Duane
Buford, keyboardist for Ministry and the Revolting Cocks came out to
say hi to me since we haven't hung in awhile and to see us play and he
was later joined by James Teitelbaum who played keys last year and
who was now excitedly talking about his and Charles' new band ICE IX
and how it came about.

Laura Gomel, who also toured with Pigface last year as one of the
vocalists stopped by to say hi again. She too, as singer and keyboardist
for My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult was back from that tour only days
before, and was now taking some time off from the touring circuit, kicking
back and having a drink with all her Pigface pals. Meanwhile, BobDog is
excitedly talking about the world's greatest Philly Cheese Steak
Sandwich that Andrew knows about in Philadelphia. Everyone is looking
forward to the coming tour dates, and as we each take our individual
leaves, fellow band members wish each other luck and expresses their
desire to see each other again in the forms of hugs, handshakes, and
attaboys before looking to the road ahead.

December 2, 1995: Feels like Detroit, Sounds Like...

...the crowd in Detroit was definitely going to be a different brand of
audience. Even before the show was started, you could hear and feel
that they were getting more and more excited about Pigface coming to
town. St. Andrew's was somewhat of a strange venue in comparison to
Cabaret Metro in the sense that it seemed more like a church social hall
than a club, and its smaller size and stage was reminiscent of last year's
Double Door show in Chicago. There was a distinctive difference here
in the Detroit crowd in comparison in that although the numbers were not
as high, the fans that were there definitely made up for the smaller
numbers with proportionate yet huge amounts of energy. Someone in
the audience told me that he can guarantee that the majority of the
people there were not from Detroit itself, but from outlying areas such as
Pontiac or Rochester. His point being that Detroit really isn't diverse
enough for a show like this, but when word hits the area where the
diversity lies, people go out and make the trip.

It was at the Detroit show as well that some of us started to first notice
the rigors of touring, especially with a band like Pigface where so many
people and pieces of equipment have to be moved over hundreds of
miles in less than a day, it's easy for this to become a logistical
nightmare. But whether the stress and strain was taking a toll on any
member at this point, no one could tell because any that remained was
blown away by the energy transferred to us by the fans.

Many of us in Pigface agreed even by the end of the tour that outside of
Chicago, Detroit was definitely one of the best cities we played. If
there's anything that any one of us would remember it was the feeling of
being welcome and having the fans pulling for you. Some of the most
friendliest people in the world were at that show, and they would always
make it a point to say hi or pat us on the back and say excitedly, "Good
job!"

The stage was a bit harder to maneuver around at St. Andrew's, but all
of us were in pretty high spirits. On this run, I not only played on
"Chickasaw" and "Suck," but also on "Divebomber" where Jason and I
were so taken in by the audience that we were practically crawling
around on the floor, guitars in hand, at the mercy of the energy the
enthusiastic faces we can see from the stage were giving to us. As we
went from song to song, the effect was cumulative and after the
traditional life raft excursion, Martin even had to take a moment to tell
the audience "I definitely will be telling the crowd in London about
Detroit!" Even Circus Apocalypse had a chance to employ their full
arsenal now that there was no laws against the use of fire in their act.

It was truly gratifying to see the audience in such high spirits and having
such a reat time, throwing their hands up in the air to help out with the
life raft, or just busting up laughing at the S-H-I-T lettering in the
background made out of Xmas lights when they first came on. The show
came to an all-time high by the end with the electrical version of "Suck."
At this point, we had all lost control, and Jason and I were hovering over
each other, angling for position, crawling on monitors, playing while
being possessed by the spirit of the fans to the point where I honestly
could feel my pick getting ready to snap from the thrashing I was giving
it. The Detroit show was, without a doubt, unforgettable.

Afterwards backstage, we would still be talking about the intensity and
calibre of Detroit for this concert. Everything was just so incredibly
excited for this time out that even though Martin had whacked his hand
something wicked on a cymbal, he was still laughing and smiling
throughout while holding his icepack close to his wound. Charles was in
a real good mood too, and not just because it was his birthday.

It was at this time that Pigface's nature and willingless to try anything
zany and fun onstage to add to the show came through. A sudden idea
leapt into my head and I ran it past Martin, who thought it was a pretty
funny idea. And with that, we set the next date for the experiment.

With the tour ball gathering more and more momentum, our thoughts
turned towards the southeast as we left in a misty rain to head towards
Cleveland.

December 3, 1995: Feels Like Cleveland, Sounds Like...

...Dessau was already starting to get the crowd at the Odeon warmed up
by the time Gnat and I arrived. Ater a brief visit to Canada for lunch and
a brisk 2-hour drive through Ohio, we found the Odeon in the division of
Cleveland known as the Flats. It's located near the lake, and is layed
out very well with an all-too-real nightclub atmosphere to it.

Even the dressing room was well-layed out, with easy access to the
stage and a convenient stairway that also allowed one to comfortably
watch the audience from it. Just before settling in for tuning and picking
up my guitars, Gnat and I first ran into Andrew the Impaled and Dave
Apocalypse, the Psycho-Circus Duo who happily greeted us and added
"Wow, three shows in a row! AWRIGHT!" They then asked if we were
touring the rest of the way and we assured them that yes we were, and
like them, we were stopping short at London.

The Cleveland show was a big one and boasted a huge crowd that
rivaled even that of Chicago's. By now, almost all of the members of
Pigface have settled in to the point that when it's not their turn to take
the stage, they're sitting around amusing themselves with various items
and being more at ease. Ogre, Mary, and Andrew are posing for tour
photos, and Curse and Christina are spending quality time together.
Dirk is sitting in a corner laughing along with Circus Apocalypse and
Jason is hunting down something to drink. Probably the only person
running around like mad is poor Jolly, but like his monicker, he
continues to be so. In fact, upon seeing me, his face changes into a
cheerful grin and I see the sudden glimmer in his eye. Too late to run...

"C'Mere! You haven't been beat up on the tour yet by me, like everyone
else has, so now it's your turn!" he laughs as he playfully starts to
roughhouse with me. It really was fun and it's a scene like this that
makes Jolly like a second father to all of us. The only thing being that
Jolly is a big guy, and I'm not called Bones for nothing. In other words,
man, was I being pummeled around like a rag doll, but it sure was fun
and made me feel even more at home on the tour.

After a brief absence, Ogre returned from the tour bus. He had to get
the lyrics that he wrote on the way to Cleveland for "Hagseed" which I
thought was really cool that again, the improv and want in doing different
things live with Pigface was again present. Another example of this was
Martin mentioning that he's decided to bring a particular fan onstage that
they ran into in Cleveland during Pigface Team '94 for a little, shall we
say, spoken word.

Showtime once again, and Ogre, wearing the coolest pair of black patent
zipper-and-buckle laden customized pants I've ever seen brought his
impromptu "Hagseed" lyrics to life like the mad scientist he was. As the
screens came down and the set started with "Think" we could tell that
this crowd was not going to be any ordinary crowd. They had a different
brand of energy that was not like many other's encountered before. I
myself felt this while accompanying Jason McNinch on guitar on
"Divebomber," a good feel that I just couldn't place. There was just this
general feel of smoothness, as if the teeth of gears were meshing rather
than gnashing.

Inbetween songs, the rest of us seemed to be more relaxed than usual.
Meg and I exchanged copies of Cleveland's Sunday Funnies, laughing
at the latest strips just under the blare of the music outside. Mary still
had no idea where the plastic slinky had disappeared to. And Charles
was going through his CD collection while "Consumed" by the Final Cut
was playing in the boom box, competing with our live show.

But everytime it was time for one of us to get busy, we stopped what we
were doing and went to out to do some good. Not to mention have fun.
"Chickasaw" was a blast for me as usual, especially seeing how different
audiences react to the different music. But even moreso, was "Auto
Hag," which closed the main set.

Remember the idea I ran past Martin? Well, in keeping with the
automobile theme of the song, I was able to use a Crash Test Dummy
mask that was given to me by Gnat for my birthday along with the rest of
the suit, and the next thing you know, I became a stage prop.

Yup, in the same vein as Jon Langford playing President Clinton in
Chicago 3 years before, I played a Crash Test Dummy that got abused
by the band. I frolicked around to the song, being careful to not get in
the way from the normally crowded stage. Andrew rolled me around the
stage for a bit, then Charles used me as a footstool, and finally Ogre
"whipped" me with the microphone wire, adding to his own act. The
romp finally ended with my taking a dive into the audience who passed
me around for a bit before setting me down somewhere where I could
get back to my guitars backstage and get ready for "Suck." Yeah, it was
crazy, maybe even suicidal, but dangit it was fun, and as Charles said
last year, "That's Pigface." Anything crazy goes, and anything for fun
goes further. When Martin ran into me backstage he eagerly asked if I
had the mask and suit. And when Jolly got wind of what I planned to do,
he laughed out loud and added, "You are a fool to wear that onstage!"

The remainder of the show went as smoothly as before. Everyone had
gotten it down to a science. Martin's little guest made it on stage, much
to the surprise of both the bouncers as well as Dirk and Mary, all of who
didn't know that he was supposed to make an appearance. It did get,
admittedly, abysmal at this point since the guy was already tanked. But
it was funny to watch and to watch the crowd's reaction, especially when
Ogre tried to light the poor soul's butt up with a lighter. After a stunning
encore set and everyone including Martin taking to the rough seas on
the raft, the show ended with "Suck" and Martin laughing as he
announced, "The final score: Pigface 1, Cleveland....ZERO!!!!"

Probably the thing that set the Cleveland audience apart from the past
couple of dates was that they definitely were more rowdy. And it
contrasted with the fact that the people that we met were incredibly
friendly. We found here as well that some fans even trekked all the way
from Pittsburgh just to see this show, and a lucky nethead was able to
get her camera into the show and took some incredibly good pictures of
the act. Wow.

But the festivites were to be cut short because the next show lay an 8-
hour drive away over the mountains of Pennsylvania. It would not be
easy.

December 4, 1995: Feels Like Philadelphia, Sounds Like...

...I was definitely coming down with an attack of bronchitis. I don't know
whether it was the colder, thinner air in the higher altitudes of the
Appalachian Mountains, or the rigors of touring setting in, but I definitely
was hacking some painful dry coughs literally every 30 seconds. On
every tour, there is a bad leg or date, and for me this one was it.
Imagine the initial idea of having to move everything hundreds of miles
into unfamiliar territory in less than a day, being constantly on the move,
and running on low hours of sleep. Now add to that an illness and an
eight-hour drive. Thankfully, Gnat was able to take the wheel (we
offered to drive ourselves on the tour since the bus was already
overloaded) and if anything, the passenger window was a giant Petri
dish of biological cultures from my coughing.

It was somewhat of a hellish experience having to confirm
accomodations then find the Trocadero in an unfamiliar city with no
directions to the venue. But eventually after many a drive through some
neighborhoods that would definitely rival Chicago's Cabrini Green, we
arrived at the Trocadero.

The Philadelphia show was special in that one of the Pigfacers who
helped bring new texture to the music and was seen as a "father of
industrial music" was playing with us. Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing
Gristle and Psychic TV fame was back to add more keyboards and
vocals to the act. Freshly shaved free of his dreadloks and donning an
obnoxious ensemble of neon-colored macrame and t-shirts, Genesis
was a blast as usual.

The stage here was pretty spacious, with lots of room to move about,
and although the venue was not packed beyond capacity, all were still
there to have fun. There was, however, a strange, eerie vibe in the air
that almost every member of the band picked up on but couldn't quite
place. One of the things I noticed off the bat was the crowd wasn't too
enthused about having fellow fans getting passed above their heads.
Everytime someone went up, they were hastily moved to the stage or
plopped down in the safest way possible. Nothing wrong with that, but
these days it seems to be pretty uncommon. But from that point on, the
weirdest things began to happen. Mary somewhere along the lines had
the idea to drop his pants and shine a maglite up his butt. Martin
laughed about it afterwards backstage wondering aloud what possessed
Mary to do THAT. "You should have attached a camera to the maglite,"
Martin jokes and then starts to act as if he's swimming while narrating
the voiceover: "Come, take a trip with us now as we explore into the
unknown!"

Midway through the set, some of the Trocadero staff accidently knocked
over the fuel supply for Circus Apocalypse's fire acts and somehow it
ignited just behind the screens that was behind Martin and his drumkit.
"Let me put it out!" yelled David Apocalypse who was an expert at these
emergencies and scrambled to get near it, but Dirk kept yelling "WAIT!
WAIT! DON'T PUT IT OUT!" as he was wating for the flash on his
camera to warm up so he could take a picture for the Pigface tour photo
album. Afterwards, we all laughed about this incident: as if he needed a
flash and 400 film for something THAT bright!

Then, after my usual spot on "Chickasaw" there was my "Auto Hag"
dummy act. It was the usual amounts of masochistic fun, which
suddenly ended up with my being taken by surprise as Ogre wrapped
the cord around my neck and "dragged" me about a foot. If that wasn't
enough, he picked me up by the boots and Mary picked me up by the
wrists and they began to swing me into the audience in a heave-ho
manner belly down. Thoughts of the crowd being afraid to have people
on top of them flashed through my mind way before my entire life as I felt
myself go airborne...

Thankfully some people had some compassion and passed me back to
the stage where I tried to get back on except for the fact that someone
had a pretty good hold on my right foot. When I finally wrestled free, I
found that my right tank boot had been unbuckled and the sudden
realization that someone was trying to take off my boot sank through all
3 inches of skull.

The raft went out into the crowd as before, and this time I hopped in,
bringing my camera with me. The euphoria was almost too much to
overcome being passed around on a sea of excited fans, and the
camera I brought with me will hopefully,with any luck, serve as the
raftcam for the proposed Virtual Raft Ride planned in the near future.
David Apocalypse took a jump into the raft along with Meg, Dirk, Mary
and Ogre. This night in particular was also the scene of the prelimanary
Trent bashing as Ogre sang during "Suckacoustic:"

"A thousand nights/A thousand dreams/A thousand Trent Reznors
copying me!"

Later on during the "Fuck it Up" medley, Pigface would break into
impromptu versions of "Head Like a Hole" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
before plunging into "Suck" without warning. Before leaving the stage, a
quick "Rest in Peace Dwayne Goettel!" was yelled out to the audience in
memory of Ogre's former Skinny Puppy bandmate.

We find Genesis P-Orridge engaged in deep conversation with David
Apocalypse as to what caused Genesis' exile from his native England,
and later find out that many of the body piercings that Genesis and
David have are apparently illegal in the UK. They point to each other's
piercings and blurt out, "Can you believe this is ILLEGAL?!?" as Andrew
Weiss' wife winces as a reaction to the scene. While Gnat and BobDog
are parleying left and right for a trade agreement of Pigface Tour
hooded sweatshirts, two fans of Skinny Puppy are making their life-long
dream of meeting Ogre come true. "I've been listening to your music for
15 years!" says the fan as Ogre sheepishly blushes and walks away
saying "Thank you" while making swami worship motions.

And so, with the Philly show finally behind us, we all look forward to the
Big Apple coming in the next day, not to mention the extra sleep.

December 6, 1995: Feels Like New York City, Sounds Like...

...the Limelight was more legendary than we thought. Everytime we hear
how cool the Limelight is as a club, we often wonder why. What is it that
sets this club apart from the others?

"Excuse me," I ask a New Yorker while waiting at a red light. "Can you
tell me where the Limelight is?"

"Oh, it's over there," she says as she points across the street at a...at
a...CHURCH?!?!?

"Nah, it couldn't be," I say to Gnat in disbelief. Her eyes widen as we
see the banner flying in front of the building which indeed says,
"Limelight."

"NO WAY!" we yell. "That's so cool!" Yup, to our surprise the Limelight
was a converted urban cathedral dating back to 1850. Which is to say
that it still retained its original stone structure, its stained-glass windows,
much of its lofts and some pews, lots of spacious room all
interconnected by many many maze-like passageways, and its
acoustics.

We find a place to park (I'd later get fined $55 for parking there) and
headed into the building, running into Martin and Genesis along the way.
"We just got here," says Martin looking a bit distressed. Ok, we don't
feel as bad getting in at 4pm anymore, although Circus Apocalypse
arrived at Limelight by 2pm.

It took alot of work to find our dressing room in the maze which spanned
up 2 or 3 floors, let alone to find the stage which was already being set
up for tonight's performance. Dessau was soundchecking under the
watchful eye of Jason McNinch as we made our way to the dressing
room and said hi to Jim, the lead roadie, who was probably one of the
most busiest and helpful people on tour.

As we settled in, we heard Jolly Roger's faxmodem dial in for the
guestlist and after suffering net withdrawal for almost a week now, me
and Gnat's ears irresistably perked up hungrily to the sound. It was
soon discovered that Pigface was missing an ADAT player, and Jolly
hurriedly started getting people on the mission of procuring a new one
right away. Busy and taking care of business as usual.

Security was tighter at the Limelight more than anywhere else, our
laminants meaning nothing without a special Limelight sticker attached.
But other than that, we were able to settle down and breathe a little for
this last US tour date, which was also playing host for old Pigfacers
William Tucker and En Esch of KMFDM as well as Jim Thirlwell,
otherwise known as Foetus.

As the show got underway, I lounged in back with Circus Apocalypse
who were preparing for their next act while William Tucker strummed
away at my guitar. Andrew was showing me the fake money that he
bought in Chinatown in Philly the night before, which they've taken to
burning or throwing to the audience. "They're Hell Bills," he explains.
"It's a Chinese tradition to buy these and use them as ransom money to
free your relatives' souls from hell." He goes on to show me the fake
checks and credit cards that you can get for the same purpose. "Aren't
they cool?"

En Esch is sauntering around with Isis and talking to Jared of ChemLab,
who came out to visit. "Party at the bar afterwards!" Jared smiles as he
shakes my hand and gives me directions. Sounds like fun.

The show goes on seemingly faster than usual, even though nothing has
been cut short. Must be that thing about time flying when you're having
fun. This was probably the only venue we played without barricades,
and the fans in the audience definitely took advantage of that. The pit
was amazingly violent, and score of fans got up onstage and dived off
back into the confusion. Some of them spent way too much time up on
stage, and at one point, Charles had to coax someone off the stage,and
then with a smile, grab him by the shoulders and the seat of the pants
and tossed him back into the crowd.

"Chickasaw" was the only song I played that night as this particular date
I wanted to take a break and relax a little, especially since I was still
hacking up lung frags and we had "too many players, not enough stage."
But even for that one song, that same energy that seemed to pervade
and follow us from audience to audience was still there, and this
particular performance turned out to be one of the best. And afterwards,
I got to settle into the crowd and experience the show from the audience
point of view after long last. Strange how nice that seems after being on
stage so much.

En Esch lost his playlist momentarily, but luckily I had an extra to give
him, and it was promptly delivered onstage. Then there was Foetus who
got a little bit obnoxious with his "Hail Foetus!" rants and screams that
Charles even had to calm him down a little bit. Every single person who
ended up onstage was promptly pushed off by Thirlwell, and challenged
to come onstage again.
To top it off, someone stole William Tucker's leather jacket right fro the
stage as he was playing. Sheesh, if it isn't Charles' hat last year, and
almost my tank boot this year, it's Tucker's coat.

Things shaped up more towards the end. Circus Apocalypse came out
and did some more freak tricks and helped fuel the Trent bashing fire by
announcing, "If I had a hammer, there'd be no more Trent Reznor!" to
which Ogre again added his choice lyric to the acoustic "Suck." Petro's
dancing was again phenomenal to the audience who were reveling in
the mood and the incense that was again handed out to them by Andrew
and Mary,and most had noticed that the interaction and drama were
getting more and more sensual onstage at this point as well.

"Fuck it Up" again featured the life raft, which, by the way, is inflated BY
MOUTH. And then people wonder why I respect Jim so much for doing
that every night and then deflating it minutes later. What a chore. The
crowd wanted to jump in along with other bandmembers, but somehow
were almost instantly capsized due to the rough seas. And midway
through the song, the show was stopped to sing Ogre "Happy Birthday."
It was a pretty scene as I watched from the upper stage loft and saw
Jared give Ogre a big ol' hug. Then the show went on to its end.

Things wound down pretty fast backstage. After a dancing fit with Gnat
to some Skinny Puppy and Front 242, we headed back to be social.
Everyone, as usual, was congratulating each other on a job well done
and exchanging addresses and phone numbers. Charles had some
pictures from last year's tour on which were featured Taime Downe who
played guitar in Pigface Team '94, and thoughts of old times ran through
Charles' mind as he showed the photos to people and smiled
uncontrollably. Jared was inviting more people over to the bar he had
reserved for a get-together, and Ogre was posing for pictures with some
lucky fans. Genesis, who seemed a tad bit upset that he wasn't going
on to London with the band (he's been exiled from the U.K.) added that
he was going to Bosnia instead as part of a musical benefit festival for
the war there which includes the likes of people such as Peter Gabriel. I
couldn't help but be even more impressed and have more respect for
him after hearing that.

But in any case, this was the anticlimax of the US tour before crossing
the ocean into the U.K. And while some members looked ahead to the
experience of London (especially BobDog who had never been there
before), alot of the rest of us who were not going looked forward to
coming home after the job was done.

Feels Like the Epilogue, Sounds Like...

...we were going to be able to get a real chance to relax and reflect upon
the tour. Gnat and I spent the next day or so visiting New York City and
heading back to Chicago. So what kinds of experiences were gained
from a US tour?

Well, for one, it's an unbelievable rush of euphoria to know that you've
got to get your stuff together and packed up to move hundreds of miles
from one city to another to play a show, and then end up playing an
even more euphoric concert to top it all off. The logisitics involved,
especially for Pigface where you have to move 15 some musicians,
crew, and equipment by surface over the miles in less than a day, are
just mind-boggling to the point that everytime you make it successfully, it
seems like a miracle. And it doesn't stop there. There's problems that
have to be dealt with just before, during, and after the show, but you get
the job done and have a good time rolling with it. Then you have to
repeat the process over again, a seemingly endless cycle that repeats in
every city far away. It can be tiring, maybe even bothersome, but it is
definitely exciting and an adventure.

You also get to meet tons of different, interesting people, that have
different ideas about music, performances, life, and so on in general
compared to yours and those of your geographic location which you
happen to call home. That's always interesting to see and compare with
your own views and actions.

It's also an opportunity to break free of the sheltered little world most of
us live in where we seem to believe that our own geographic location is
all there is when it comes to music. We seem to think that there are no
other venues in the world other than the ones we've been frequenting for
years on end, or that the attitudes towards music will always be
homogenized to our own community tastes. But in the experience of a
tour, you find that this is not true, that there is more out there, and the
effect is not unlike discovering a new planet or galaxy with new forms of
life to learn from. It truly was interesting to see how different venues and
cities were and how different audiences approached our performances
in different ways.

But one of the best things about touring was coming home, where it felt
strange to think that you could have been in so many cities in such a
short time then back home again. With all these miles, adventures,
experiences, and memories to have with you, it seems almost like a
dream, and completely unbelievable.

It's one of those dreams where you wish you never woke up or you just
want to have it again and again at will.

PIG OUT!
Bones

Special thanks to Martin Atkins and the rest of Pigface Team 95, Dave
Baker at Invisible, Jolly Roger, Gnat, and you...!

BTW, if anyone is interested, you can hear some samples from the NYC show at:

http://pages.ripco.com/~bones/bonesgnattour.htm

Let me know if they work or not. Available in .au and .wav format

Bones