NEW Post on 2024-10-30 by Big Rich:

Silver jubilee celebrations

Can you believe it, PIG IRON is turning 25 years old! On Saturday 6th November 1999 Me, Pete and Neil got together for a first jam session in my living room. We played a few songs that remained firm favourites in the set including Paranoid, Black Night and Breaking the Law. Here we are older, no wiser, the same line-up still playing those classic tunes (as well as some of our own).

We will be marking this anniversary with an appearance on The Fox`s Den on Vixen FM on Friday 8th November, with a look back over the years and playing some demos and live versions of our own songs. It has brought back memories of rehearsals in Richard`s barn, Pete`s shed and latterly, Dan`s Whiterooms (although we often go the black room, which felt much more metal).

Due to logistics it is unlikely we`ll be playing any celebratory gigs in the near future, but who knows, maybe next summer when we mark 25 years since our first proper gig. It`d be nice to dust off the amps and the kit and make some noise again.

Happy Halloween with a special shout out to Doreen and Stuart in Ripon. We miss those crazy Halloween gigs at The Magdalens. Keep turning it up to 11.

Post on 2024-03-23 by Big Rich:

Classic British metal at its best

A very belated happy new year from PIG IRON HQ! The year got off to a quiet start, but that changed on Wednesday 13th March when myself and Neil went to see Judas Priest in Leeds with special guests Saxon. Those of you who have seen us live will know that songs from both bands feature in our covers set.

Neither of us had seen Saxon live before, and were blown away. As one of the stalwarts of NWOBHM they have been making albums and playing live shows since the late 70s and they still have it. Great sound, great set list, including a few of our favourites. Biff is such a good front man, clearly enjoying playing Yorkshire. The new album sounds fantastic too.

It is nearly 12 years since I last saw the mighty Priest live (on the Epitaph tour) and I was a little worried that they might have toned it down a bit. Not a chance, screaming twin lead guitars (although sadly Glen is no longer able to play live), thunderous drums and bass, and of course awesome vocals from the metal god himself, Rob Halford.

While the sound mix was not great (drums drowning out vocals for the first few songs) the performance was tight and the stage show was spectacular. The new songs (although they didn`t play many) sounded great. Unfortunately, thanks to the train timetable, we had to leave early. Not very rock and roll, sorry to admit.

If you haven`t heard the new Priest album, Invincible Shield, then I strongly recommend giving it a listen. There is an official video for the title track and Crown of Horns, both available on YouTube, given them a play. It has inspired me to get writing new material for PIG IRON and perhaps even getting a live show together for our 25th anniversary later this year. If Rob can do it at 73 years young, we have no excuse.

Post on 2023-11-04 by Big Rich:

CD almost out of stock!

It`s almost 18 months since Roc na Seann Sgoile went on sale and we`re down to our last two copies! If you haven`t got one (and want one) you can order it via the PayPal button on our website http://www.withhindsight.co.uk/PISounds.htm .

The full album is also available to stream on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Band Camp and twenty other popular sites.

We plan to start recording some new tracks in 2024, which will probably be online only releases (you can probably imagine how much work it takes to put together a full CD album).

Thanks to everyone who has bought a CD and/or streamed our music, keep it turned up to eleven.

Post on 2023-10-07 by Big Rich:

Still marching on!

It`s been a while since our last blog post, and we`ve been busy writing new songs which we hope to start recording in the new year.

One of the new songs is largely from an online jam session we had back in June which produced two really nice chord sequences that we were able to add to an intro section that I had written the year before to produce a very dark sounding tune. The lyrics actually came from a dream, with James Hetfield of Metallica singing over the intro to this potential new song, just a single phrase - The Illuminati.

A few hours of research later, the first version of the lyrics was created. Very wordy and more like a history essay! This sat on my computer for about three months (while we moved house) and then the June jam session rekindled the idea for the song. Once I had the tune assembled I re-wrote the lyrics to fit. At one stage I even asked ChatGPT to suggest some lyrics and to be fair, they were pretty good.

We`ve played through it a few times over Jamulus and it`s starting to take shape. The title is taken from the phrase sung over the intro (not quite as gritty as Mr Hetfield would sing it of course), and we hope to be able to release The Illuminati, along with a few other new songs, in the spring. Watch this space.

Post on 2023-03-23 by Big Rich:

Moving forwards into 2023

Is it really three years since we started our lock-down project that became Roc na Seann Sgoile? Finally released in the summer of 2022 our first album of original material is gradually finding a new audience for PIG IRON, if not the band’s fortune – we got our first annual royalty payment this month, a grand total of £6.03 c/o the 20+ platforms hosting our music.

The next event will be another session for The Fox’s Den on Vixen FM with the legend that is Bill Horncastle. Big Rich and Neil are preparing three sets of covers and original tunes, perhaps with an acoustic outing for the first set. Please let us know if you have any requests.

There are a number of new songs at various stages of development which we hope to start work on in the spring. Including a tune about the discovery of the tomb of King Tut, called KV62 and a couple of great tunes written by Neil (which I’m particularly looking forward to working on).

With the band becoming even more geographically spread (as I leave York for pastures new) gigs will become more tricky, but I’m hoping we can get together to celebrate our quarter century next year. In the mean time, expect some more songs released on the various streaming and download platforms later this year and maybe even a new video.

Keep the faith fellow metal-heads, we’ll see you soon.

Post on 2023-02-19 by Big Rich:

The writing and recording of The PIG IRON Anthem

About ten years ago, one of our loyal supporters (hi Dave) handed us a set of lyrics titled "The March of Pig Iron" and asked if we could have a go at turning that into a song. Unfortunately the lyrics were quite heavily influenced (or more accurately borrowed) from a Motörhead song so we couldn’t really use them on an original track. However, it gave me the idea for this, the closing track of the album.

Ironically, having said we wouldn’t use borrowed lyrics, the main theme for the music is from the Planet Suite, Mars (by Gustav Holst) which is also used as the introduction to Diamond Head’s NWOBHM classic "Am I Evil", a song that PIG IRON has covered. It makes a great heavy metal tune and I do wonder if some of these classical composers would have ended up metal bands had they been around now.

The verse is a proper heavy riff, which I thought was original, but I now think has been influenced by the Swedish doom metal outfit, Candlemass. I’ve not found the specific track yet but I have an uneasy feeling that when I do the riff is going to sound very similar.

The recording process was surprisingly quick and funnily enough it was the last track we recorded. I wanted this to sound epic, so I got Neil to play the rhythm guitar part three times in unison (James Hetfield style) which is how we got that huge wall of guitar sound. Likewise Neil and I multi-tracked the vocals for the closing section at least seven times to get that Judas Priest style crowd chant.

The lyrics are definitely original and are a salute to all the people who have supported us over the years – family, friends, gig goers, promoters, pub owners, radio presenters etc. As the chorus says "we wrote this song to thank you". Not forgetting the reference to Spinal Tap and the quote used on our T-shirts "celebrating British heavy metal by turning it up to 11".

The first verse tells of how we met in 1999 and started to rehearse in a very cold barn (verse two), every Saturday morning throughout the winter of 2000 and beyond. It’s quite hard to play the bass when you can’t feel your finger tips.

Our first gig at a big name venue, the original Fibbers of York, was in July 2000 when we supported Hull band "Rat Salad", a brilliant Black Sabbath tribute band featuring the splendidly named "Ozzy Oz-bird" on vocals. From there we went on to play a number of pubs in and around York and North Yorkshire, as mentioned in the last verse. One of our favourite gigs was The Magdalen’s Halloween party, which we always did in fancy dress (there is photographic evidence on our website). So a special mention to Doreen and Stuart who were always brilliant hosts.

Here’s to the next twenty years as we go marching on! I look forward to playing this one live and hearing the crowd chant along with us, hint-hint. :-)

Post on 2023-02-01 by Big Rich:

The writing, recording and re-recording of Betrayer!

This is definitely the most angry song on the album, in fact it’s probably the most angry song I’ve ever written... so far. I gave Neil and Pete quite a hard time with my demands for making the music sound as angry as the lyrics. It’s still a bit too happy for my liking, but I guess it has to be listenable!

Written in 2012 after a former band "mate" from a side project stabbed me in the back; I felt the need to vent my anger and as I’m not into violence writing a loud and angry metal song was the perfect outlet.

The "Betrayer" character is an amalgam of said former band "mate" (mostly), a former boss (who ended up in prison for fraud) and a collection of minor offenders who have taken advantage of my good nature over the years.

The original demo version, which you can find as a bonus track on our SoundCloud page, came together very quickly, over two or three days. The drums and guitar part were programmed along with a guide bass-line. The vocals were done in just a couple of takes, which is why I think my original performance captures the emotion better than the album version. I guess I’ve had ten years to chill out a bit!

I replaced the synth bass with real bass, at which point I discovered what an unnecessarily fiddly riff I’d come up with, as Neil later found when we recorded the new version. I had always intended this to be a PIG IRON song, long before we thought of writing an album of original material; so I left space for a mighty guitar solo and invited Neil to record one for that demo. He nailed it in just three or four takes, the solo on the album track is similar and I have to say, even better.

The drum part was programmed with Pete in mind, he loves his double kick drum patterns so there are plenty of those in the song. We’ve still not played it live and it’ll be quite a challenge but I look forward to hearing the drums thundering out and Neil ripping into that solo.

Time, they say, is a great healer. Writing and recording an ear pummelling heavy metal song is an even greater one though. As Frank Zappa often said, "music is the best". So don’t worry, I’m not "gonna take him down". As Ringo says, “Peace and love”.

Post on 2023-01-22 by Madbad Macnab:

Sunshine Drive

This song had a long slow evolution. The initial kernal of an idea was an acoustic guitar instrumental written way back in October 2019 before lockdown. It was a catchy upbeat rhythm part which stuck, and I kept returning to and it eventually metamorphosed into the verse for this song.

I initially tabled the idea to Pete and Rich as and acoustic guitar instrumental called `Sunshine Drive` when we were playing around with ideas expecting it to be rejected... but strangely it wasn`t... !! By this point Calpe had already been accepted too as the acoustic instrumental on the album and I distinctly remember Rich saying we already had one of those so could I rearrange it and write some lyrics... ok, I thought, no problem, back to the drawing board!

I wrote some lyrics using opposites... sunshine melts the broken hearts... warm words blow the clouds away... flowers bloom in fields of dispair... (V1 and V2). At this point I had a different set of chords for the chorus which I wrote some lyrics to, but something didn`t feel right. As soon as the chorus was reached it just felt like it jarred. And there was no mention of a Sunshine Drive!! So back to the drawing board again!

So I sat down and rewrote the song coming up with a new chorus (Turn the music on and sing a new song (x3), make you feel alive on a Sunshine Drive) and the rhythm for the solo section (a turnaround which brings it back round to the start of v3). For simplicity, v3 lyrics repeated the lyrics of v1 and then a double chorus to finish.

We rehearsed this using Jamulus and as ever my strange organic arrangements took Pete and Rich awhile to get their heads around. Pete was duly sent off to come up with a drum part which he sent down to me and Rich, once completed, and into the studio we went... My original thoughts for this one was that it might turn out sounding a little like Depth Charge (A bit Foo Fighters-esque).

But this was not to be... Rich and I went into the studio and we recorded the acoustic rhythm guitar parts for the song and like the stripped back sound so much (it sounding a little like early Yes (I am thinking of the album Fragile)) that they stuck! We then recorded my vocals and me singing a harmony vocal which again made it sound even more like Ian Anderson and Yes! Rich took it away and recorded his bass part in his home studio, but something was missing... we thought flute... who do we know that plays flute ?

It was then that Rich remembered that he knew Lindsey Woods the flautist in Leather`o - a high energy Alternative Celtic – Gypsy Band, so dropped her a message and she agreed and did a sterling job at the next session - thanks Lindsey!! I recorded the solo guitar at the same studio session and Rich took it all away and did his magic mixing and mastering... So there it is! Sunshine Drive! The acoustic guitar instrumental that eventually organically turned into a proggy Folk Rock song! Hope you enjoy listening to it!

Post on 2022-12-13 by Big Rich:

The writing and recording of Never too Late, the last song to be added to the album.

Some songs just seem to write themselves. The composer Philip Glass once described his writing process as not actually creating something but just "finding" the music out there. I now know just what he means.

On New Year’s Eve 2021 I woke up with a song in my head. I couldn’t quite place it, but it was catchy and had a familiar chord sequence. I could hear Brian Johnson of AC/DC singing the chorus "You’re never too old to rock and roll..." and just assumed it was a recent tune from them that I’d heard on Planet Rock.

It soon occurred to me that this was not a song I’d heard before, but an idea for a new song. So I grabbed a guitar and quickly recorded the tune that was playing on repeat in my head. I also jotted down the lyrics that I heard Brian singing to me, "You’re never too old to rock and roll, it’s never too late, no, no, no, no".

Suddenly Alan Freeman sprang to mind, I could hear him introducing this track "Never too late" with his legendary delivery and a trademark "Not ‘arf". So he had to get a mention. I was then reminded of a conversation many years ago when I was asked (as a twenty-something) if I’d ever "grow out of heavy metal". My reply was "Fluff Freeman is in his eighties and still playing heavy metal on the radio, so no, probably not". If his Saturday rock show got a mention then I’d also have to include the Friday rock show and the equally legendary Tommy "TV on the radio" Vance.

Verse two starts with a name check for Angus Young, since I had imagined this as an AC/DC song. He is followed by the three longest serving members of Black Sabbath: Ozzy, Geezer and Tony, along with a burst of the bass-driven "NIB" riff. The line "Tony is our hero giving everyone the finger" is a nod to Mr Iommi’s unique style of playing, thanks to an industrial accident on his final day at the steel works when he lost the ends of two fingers. Despite that he went on to enjoy a very successful careerer as one of the world’s foremost heavy metal guitar heroes.

The last verse references two of the many great rock and roll bands of the sixties who have influenced so many rock bands. Sadly Charlie Watts had died earlier that year, so it was nice to give him a mention. The Who are the other band included because their live album "Who’s Last" kept me sane while doing a very boring Saturday cleaning job in my teenage years. A brilliant live album, just a shame the bass isn’t louder. John "The Ox" Entwhistle is actually quite a big influence on me, especially the bass sound I aimed for.

It was quite fitting that in 2022 the youngest member of PIG IRON turned 50 and with our first album of original material coming out at the same time we can definitely say, "it’s never too late".

Post on 2022-11-30 by Big Rich:

The writing and recording of Crash Course (In Song Burglary), an ode to plagiarism

Written in 2021 specifically for the album, this track is big nod to Budgie and is now dedicated to the memory of Burke Shelly. The title is, as Budgie fans will have already spotted, pinched from their track Crash Course (In Brain Surgery) – made famous a second time by Metallica on their $5-98 EP.

Our song grew from the chorus riff, which popped into my head during a lock-down practice session. After much racking of brain I finally realised it was influenced by a track from Megadeth’s Rust in Peace album (I’ll let you have the fun of working out which one). The verse riff is more obviously inspired by Metallica, although that wasn’t intentional either; unlike the middle eight, which was very consciously borrowed from Faith No More! In as much as you can borrow a single chord (and I’m not certain if it’s even the same chord).

Having realised that the song was a patchwork of bits that I stole or borrowed from some of our favourite bands it seemed clear that the lyrics should be about bands stealing musical ideas. Given the slightly quirky feel of a Budgie tune the title was a no-brainer.

The quotes at the start of each verse are genuine, although edited to make them scan. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness". Frank Zappa, a man of many great quotes, said "The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse", and I’m pleased that fitted perfectly.

The next quote is from Woody Allen, who reportedly said "If you’re going to steal, steal from the best"; and finally, Pablo Picasso with a quote I usually get wrong (so do many people it appears). It is said that Picasso said "Good artists borrow, great artists steal" but there are a number of variations, including a famous misquote by Steve Jobs of Apple!

The rest of the verse lyrics are self explanatory I hope (all available from our website if you’re interested). Likewise the chorus, which is a collection of old sayings, adjusted to fit: "You beg, steal or borrow", "Something old, something new, something borrowed" (but nothing blue) and "No pain, no gain".

The spoken "Middle eight" and "Face the music" are a happy accident. When I was recording the guide vocal track I left myself a reminder that the middle eight was coming up. After a few listens I realised I liked that, and also realised it was similar to Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ single "Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3)", where Ian quietly introduces each verse. So as Mr Allen says, I stole from the best! (Mr Dury being one of the best lyricists of all time IMHO.)

Finally we come to the musical interlude that appears twice in the song (the middle eight and the play-out section or coda, to use the technical term). This motif was just a placeholder until we came up with something better. My original idea was to improvise a call and response – I’d play something on the bass then Neil would respond on lead guitar. It turns out Neil liked what I’d come up with and simply doubled the bass part, which works really well, adding a little twist at the end with a hint of Lenny Kravitz! After all, imitation is the most sincere of flattery.

Post on 2022-11-12 by Madbad Macnab:

The Writing of Runaground

This song was one of those songs that pretty much wrote itself. It came very easily. It was one of those songs that you start and just flows out of you and was meant to be and was the first song I wrote that I thought, yes this song is a Pig Iron song!

Again it was fairly early in lockdown 2020, April in fact, and we were in the thick of trying to come to grips with it all - home schooling, home working, family members taken seriously ill.... and hence the lyrics flowed... "Storm is a coming!" But it was the music actually, this time, that came first. A rolling blues riff with a drop D tuning on the low E string of the guitar. It boiled out of the guitar like a twisting snake and rolled across the kitchen where I was playing as if storm clouds were gathering - reminiscent of the guitarist Ty Tabor from the Texan band Kings X.

The lyrics, as I said came quickly, writing themselves out of the situation I felt I was in and reflecting the simplicity and melancholy of the blues rock guitar riff... we are in a storm and we are gonna runnaground.... the blues feel meant that other American style lyrics came easily too... Train is a rolling, out of control, ain`t no stopping, rockin and a tolling... hmmmm gonna runnaground!

But as ever, there was a twist for the chorus and I reflected that there is always hope! "Love conquers all!! Gonna catch you when you fall!" The latter part taken from my own twist on Rock a Bye Baby that I sang to my daughter when she was little - "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and Daddy will catch you cradle and all"... my daughter thought for a long time that these were the actual lyrics!

Using Jamulus, this was one of the first songs that Pig Iron tried to play together across the internet and it seemed to come together easily. That rolling, boiling bluesy, deep south riff with the bass and drums driving it along.

In the recording studio, Rich had the idea of making the first verse of the song sound like a grainy 78 record with the hiss and the pops of the metal needle, like you were listening to an old Robert Johnson record, which worked really well. The drums were recorded first, then we recorded the guitars (both acoustic and electric over the top), the bass and the vocals. The bluesy guitar solo, reminiscent of Mark Knopfler and David Gilmour, was recorded the next time we were in the recording studio.

I took a long time to become used to the sound of my voice singing this song as it was one of the first songs to be recorded with the band - which I felt was too "tinny". As it turns out, it is just the way I sing with my nasal Northern Irish accent - quite distinctive as a friend recently put it. Now, it has turned in to a firm favourite of the bands and seems to always make it into the set list. It is one of those songs that seems to just stick in your head and feels like it has been around forever... Hmmm... Gonna Runnaground... Gonna Runnaground... But love conquers all!...

Post on 2022-10-15 by Madbad Macnab:

The Writing of the Guitar Instrumental Calpe

This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album in February 2020. It was written as an acoustic guitar instrumental, inspired by my love of acoustic guitar - and guitar instrumental artists such as Phil Keaggy.

The rhythm guitar, which has a Spanish feel, was the first thing to be written, organically flowing in three sections as the piece developed. The first three sections are then repeated, before an outro is played using the intro. The rhythm was all that was written for a couple of months. I sent it over to Rich who liked it and thought it should go on the album as an instrumental.

For me, it felt too bald as just pure rhythm guitar on its own, so I recorded the piece at home on my laptop and wrote a melody over the top. In the intro I used harmonics (aka Alex Lifeson style - e.g. Red Barchetta) and then a flowing melody over the two main rhythm sections (verse and chorus), again which had a Spanish Feel.

Because of this Spanish feel, I named the piece after a place in Spain where my wife and I first went on holiday together, where there is a massive rock that sticks out of the sea on the coast - `Calpe`. It is a beautiful spot.

In the studio, both the rhythm and the melody took a couple of takes to nail, played on beautiful sunburst Faith semi-acoustic guitar. Rich`s first rough mix did not bring out the melody enough, so he remixed it and nailed it, bringing out the atmosphere (a mix of melancholy for the past and hope for the future) that I was looking for.

The irony is, that it now has a surprise use! My daughter now uses Calpe as her alarm ring tone to awaken to in the morning... :)

Post on 2022-10-02 by Big Rich:

The writing of I.C.A.R.U.S. and how a poem was set to music

This was a bit of a departure for PIG IRON, from our usual style. It actually began life as a poem called "Relics" written by my wife back in 2016. It reflected the feelings of the three million Europeans who had chosen to build a new life in the UK suddenly coming to terms with the revelation that 52% of the electorate actually didn’t want them here. The poem’s dark undertones of abandonment are reflected in the music.

The music started (in 2017) as a chord sequence, again programmed using a very old laptop running an even older version of Cakewalk! It all sounded a bit too synth-pop and something was missing in terms of the structure, so it was put to one side and almost forgotten...

In 2021 I recorded a new demo with a rough guitar part and live bass which changed the whole atmosphere of the song. Then during a jam session in Neil’s kitchen (ah the glamorous rock and roll lifestyle), we played along to this demo track and Neil came up with the beautifully haunting guitar riff the runs through the whole track. I was able to sample a clip of that and add it to the demo recording, which also gave me that missing piece. I inserted four repeats of the new guitar part as a bridge between the end of the first chorus and the start of the second verse, and suddenly it all worked.

Pete worked a little differently on this track, taking a MIDI file (a data file of all the notes that made up the fully sequenced song, exported from Cakewalk) and used that as the basis of his drum part. He chose to use two different kits, a quirky percussion set for the introduction and new bridge section then a big-sounding rock kit for the verse and chorus. I really like the "Phil Collins – In the Air" intro on the toms, it shouldn’t work but it does.

The main guitar riff, played on an acoustic all the way through, was recorded on just the second take! The lead guitar part has quite a different sound too, I had in mind something like Pink Floyd / Porcupine Tree, which again Neil completely nailed. The vocals were a bit more challenging, we kept the original structure of the poem which didn’t have a simple rhythm (unlike most of my lyrics) so getting some of the phrases to fit the music was tricky; it can easily sound cluttered if you try to fit in a longer phrase.

During the introduction we wanted to set the scene: ICARUS is an intelligent robotic system that was left to clean up a planet (Earth maybe?) after the humans had destroyed and abandoned it. The song begins as its mission ends and ICARUS sends out a final report but gets no reply. You may have spotted that the date, 16th July 2245, is 300 years to the day that the first atomic weapon was used. We hear ICARUS repeat the transmission one year later and then two years after that. Still no reply.

For the voice of ICARUS I wanted to use an unfamiliar one, so who better than our very own drummer? I asked him to speak the lines in time with the drums, which he did even more robotically than I’d imagined. It gives a wonderful machine-like vibe to the delivery. You might have also spotted some Morse code in the background of the chorus, it spells out the letters I,C,A,R,U,S and is a nod to a track that inspired me called "Spirit of the Age" by Space Rock pioneers Hawkwind.

So there you have it, in the words of John Cleese, "something completely different". Neil and I played a stripped-down, acoustic version for a radio session (Fox’s Den, Vixen FM) in April 2022, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to reconstruct the full song live with just the three of us.

Post on 2022-09-18 by Big Rich:

The writing, updating and recording of Cut and Run (2020 version).

Written in the spring of 2017 the tune is inspired by a Cardiacs track, "Anything I Can’t Eat", from their "Heaven Born and Ever Bright" album. The punky feel definitely needed an angry protest lyric and the events of the previous year provided the inspiration for that.

Verse 1 is an ode to Farage who immediately started distancing himself from the wild claims of Brexiteers the minute the vote came in, then promptly disappeared to avoid any fall-out. Verse 3 is a comment on Cameron and his "mate from Eton" (Osborne) who left May and co. to try and clean up their mess.

Verse 2 was a slightly different angle, about a certain dodgy businessman who sold one of his failing companies for £1 which then collapsed leaving former employees without jobs or pensions while he and his wife bought a small collection of properties worth well over £30 million! He definitely "played the system" and apparently continues to do so.

This song remained a demo recording for three years until I added verse four in 2020 and it made its way onto PIG IRON`s album. That new last verse, about the man who "got the top job" but was "coming undone" even then, ends with the question "When will you cut and run?" It took another two years, but now we know. “Dad’s grinning puppet” has finally left the stage, to sell kettles perhaps?

My original demo version featured some guitar dive bombs that I sampled from an online guitar tuition video along with a sequenced tapping-style guitar riff that is incredibly difficult to play live. So I salute Neil for his amazing guitar work on this track. You might also hear the slightly more gritty bass sound in the mix, for that, I thank my trusty "Rickenbacker" copy for its great tone (and thanks to Dave Mason for thinking of me when he wanted to trade it in for the real thing).

We finally got to play this live in June 2022, the last piece of the puzzle falling into place with Pete’s full-on live drumming - making it the fast and furious four-minute pop-punk noise I was after. As ever, I dedicate this song to the late Tim Smith of Cardiacs, he is sorely missed.

As an aside, you can hear a version we edited and remixed as a jingle (listen to the sessions, available in the Live Recordings section of the website) for the Fox’s Den show on Vixen FM, one of our local community radio stations. We also mixed a special radio edit with the sweary bit of the chorus un-subtly covered up – you can find that version on our SoundCloud page.

Post on 2022-09-03 by Madbad Macnab:

Depth Charge - Writing in the Deep - Neil Macnab 03-09-2022

I was going through tough times early in lockdown, but not as tough as people close to me who had been diagnosed with serious illnesses. I keep a note book for lyrics and ideas and a number of lines that made it into this song came out of that turmoil - `Don`t be afraid, just believe` and `sing through it all`. The lyric scraps kept swirling around in my head and eventually condensed into the verses and the chorus - focussing in on wanting to hope for the future but commenting on the fact that often we remain powerless to influence the outcome and need to wait.

During the early part of lockdown (April / May 2020), Dave Grohl put together the `Live Lounge Alstars` to sing the Foo Fighters song `Times Like These` which was broadcast on YouTube. The experience inspired me so much that I picked up my guitar and tried to craft the lyric ideas into a song, playing to a simple Foo Fighters like chord structure, with a driven rhythm. The music for the verses and the chorus was therefore written fairly quickly following this inspiration.

Playing through the song a number of times led me naturally to want to lift the song into the chords that formed the bridge - this being inspired by the acoustic meandering that you sometimes find in the middle of Black Sabbath songs. Next I needed an opening riff and after a couple of attempts came up with the catchy opener with the rundowns (giving a nod to Alex Lifeson and the song `Freewill`). With that I felt I had a cracking intro to the song, which I could use as a link from the end of the chorus back into verse two, from the bridge back into verse 3 and then from the bridge to the outro.

The title for the song came out of musing on the songs content and thinking I needed a strong title, not based on the chorus lyrics, but something that pulled the whole thing together - something that could hit you deep down - `Depth Charge`!

After playing through the song a number of times with Pete and Rich over Jamulus, Pete managed to craft an epic drum track which we took into the White Rooms. Rich had already dropped in a guide bass, so it was up to me to put down rhythm guitars and the lead vocals, which seemed to get recorded fairly quickly. We layered the rhythm guitars, double-tracking both electric and acoustic rhythms to create the full guitar sound, but creating space in the bridge for some lead lines.

In the studio that evening, Rich then had the idea of speaking the lyrics, rather than singing them, to give them that edgy feel, which works really well, particularly in my gruff Norn Irish accent. We added this twist to all of the song words. Rich then recorded his backing vocals.

We parked the track for a couple of weeks, which gave me time to listen to the rough demo and dream up the melody for the harmonised guitar parts over the bridge, as well as a harmony backing vocal on the chorus which really lifts it, emphasizing how we hope out of the darkness in our lives. We laid down both the lead guitar parts and the harmony vocals when we were next in the studio. Rich polishing up his fantastic bass part in his home studio.

The song was written in dark times and is dedicated to my amazing Wife and my Dad. It`s for all those who struggle at difficult times in their lives and who are waiting for a miracle. Hopefully the song will provide a little strength so that you can hold on in those tough times and hope for a better future.

Post on 2022-08-19 by Big Rich:

The writing and recording of One Song and the genesis of Roc na Seann Sgoile.

This is the song that started the whole process culminating in “Roc na Seann Sgoile”. Our first and so far only songwriting collaboration. It grew from a guitar part that Neil recorded back in April 2020, alongside four or five other ideas. This one really jumped out at me as soon as I heard it.

I put together a guide track using my drum machine and then copied the guitar part over and over to build up an intro, a chorus and a coda (play-out). I added a bass line to this, played live. Finally, I added some simple power chords (using the bass through a guitar effects unit) to the verse sections. I then sent the rough mix to Neil so he could write a proper guitar part for the verses and start thinking about a solo.

In the meantime, I started writing some lyrics. The first part I wrote was the chorus, this was inspired by the title, which in turn was a happy accident. Being the first recording on a new memory card it was named Song_001 and so was nicknamed Song One which then became One Song. We were well into the first lock-down at this point in time and this idea that we’re all one on this journey of life seemed appropriate.

The chorus then inspired the first verse, again lots of imagery about the journey of life and a quote that I had wanted to use in a song many years ago "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes" from Marcel Proust. It was going to be part of the lyrics for a song called “Voyage of Discovery” by a band called Quark, back in the mid-nineties.

I sent the lyrics to Neil and asked if he could add a second verse. In fact, we ended up with two more verses as I couldn’t fit all his words into one verse. He also sent back two guitar parts, recorded in his kitchen – a full-on heavy metal rhythm part and a blistering solo, which he replicated perfectly for the final recording. I was able to add these to the multi-track demo, replacing the bass chords.

By this point it was October and lock-down was over, so I was able to make use of a practice room at the college (where I work) to record some rough vocals for three songs I had recorded demos for, including this one. Everyone seemed happy, so we started recording properly.

Pete sent me the finished drum track which he’d played along to our demo and I added the final bass line along with a guide vocal track. Next, we went into our usual rehearsal room to record Neil’s guitar parts – one acoustic, two electric rhythm and two electric lead parts. Finally, I recorded the lead vocal with some spoken backing vocals and Neil added some backing vocals to the chorus.

The song was edited and mixed down between May and June 2021, then finally released on Friday 2 July. My old mate Watty played a clip on his breakfast show for YO1 radio and then our new mate, Bill Horncastle, played the whole track on his Fox`s Den show (Vixen FM) that evening. It had taken us over a year but our first original song was finally out there and the album was starting to come together.

Post on 2022-07-24 by Madbad Macnab:

Angels of Iron Blog Post, Neil Macnab, 1st August 2022

The initial thought for this song came in early May 2020 from thinking about guardian angels and a tough time in my life when I felt protected – strange though that idea may seem. I was playing around with some rhythm ideas on my acoustic (drawing on influences such as Iron Maiden and Queen) and a play on the name ‘PIG IRON’ morphing this into ‘Angels of Iron’ for the chorus lyrics. Lyrically, the third verse of the song came first – hence ‘Storms rage around you feels like you have nowhere to hide’, ‘Just another survivor need somebody by your side’, ‘Hope is in the heart, hope is on its way’, ‘a new tomorrow is today… With Angels of Iron’. The idea seemed organically to focus on hope for the future, in the midst of lockdown, and that there were ‘Guardian Angels’ looking after you.

Following a bit of research on the internet, using the search term ‘Angels of Iron’ to see if there were any other songs out there of the same title – I did not want to be ripping off anybody else – I stumbled across images of the ‘Knife Angel’, a 27ft high sculpture by the British artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironworks. The sculpture is made of over 100,000 knives and blades surrendered to the UK police in a nationwide knife amnesty. The sculpture was conceived as a memorial to the many thousands of people whose lives have been affected by knife crime and it regularly tours the country (July 2022 it is in Birkenhead and in August 2022 it is in Redcar) as an empowering symbol of hope and victory over hatred and aggression.

A couple of days later, the thought for the day was about… yeah you guessed it – ‘the Knife Angel’ sculpture and its anti-violence message. Coincidence! I don’t think so! That sealed the fate for the song, and the first two verses were rapidly written around the anti-violence theme. Verse 1 starts with ‘Give up your blade give up your gun its not worth it in the end…’ and verse 2 ‘So many times you have wondered down that dark and dangerous road, a knife in the dark blood on your hands, is this the way to go ?’

Now the verses and the chorus were written I just needed a hook in the middle to make things a bit more musically interesting…. This took several attempts but eventually I settled on a Brian May / Queen style grandiose chord progression up the guitar neck for the first section, leading into a melodic triplet interlude (which Pete (the Yeti) Rutherford found difficult to wrap his head around as the rhythm continues in 12/8, giving the feel of a slow 4/4). At the end of the triplet section (which allowed for a slow melodic guitar solo over the top), we rock straight back into the chorus giving me the perfect opportunity to rip straight into a searing melodic guitar solo.

In the studio, once Pete (the Yeti) Rutherford had provided his amazing drum track (including nods to Neil Peart of Rush with his fills in the triplet section) the rhythm guitar tracks and bass part went down really smoothly. Big Rich Hind coming up with the solid idea of double tracking the rhythm guitars and adding a further rhythm guitar, playing a slightly different motif, to add depth and texture to the verse and chorus. Vocally, things worked pretty well, but I need to thank Joel Fergusson, who heard an early mix of the track, for the idea of doubling up the main vocals in order to strengthen them a little – which works really well. Guitar solo wise, these were initially demoed at home and then recorded in a couple of takes at the White Room Studios – Big Rich Hind ably handling all the recording engineer duties, as well as playing the phenomenal bass line and providing great backing vocals.

Looking back on it, I think this song has carried the band through lockdown and given us hope for the future and the drive to continue to make the whole album, hence it is the album opener and the first single to be released by the band. It comes high up in the list of one of the best songs I have ever written. In my musings I do wonder if in some other world or dimension whether the three members of Pig Iron are actually the ‘Angels of Iron’. Wow - now there’s an idea for a movie!!!

Check out the amazing video for Angels of Iron by Big Rich Hind here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaXvKrrRtA

You can order the band`s first album Roc na Seann Sgoile (Rock of the Old School) as a CD on the PIG IRON website here: http://www.withhindsight.co.uk/PISounds.htm You can listen and stream Angels of Iron, download it and add it to your playlist on all reputable streaming and download platformes platforms including iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Tidal. Deezer, Pandora, Napster, Qobuz and more.

Post on 2022-07-23 by Big Rich:

The new PIG IRON blog goes live!

Welcome and thank you for taking a look at this new addition to our website. We are going to aim to post news and updates here at least once if not twice a month.

Over the next six months we are going to share the stories of how we wrote and recorded the tracks for Roc na Seann Sgoile, just to give you a bit of a peep behind the scenes.

Thank you to everyone for their support and positive feedback, especially to Bill at The Fox`s Den (Vixen FM) for playing our tunes and inviting us in for a couple of live sessions. We look forward to the next one, in the autumn.

The next post will be from Neil, in August, with the story of Angels of Iron. Watch this space, as they say.