| FIRE PIG HISTORY |
| In 1990, my buddy Mike "YMike" Yesenosky asked me if I would be interested in forming a band with his co-worker, Ken Barr. It was to be a punk-with-chops-comedy group called "Fire Pig". I signed on, and spent the next several months singing songs, mostly from Ken's "Sharp Chuckies" (his previous band) repertoire, about stealing apples, and watching cows fuck! It was a blast, but I craved to expess the romance and gloom which gnawed at my heart, and formed the Dark Young with an old guitarist friend of mine, and the bassist from Fire Pig. I sang in both bands for a spell, but then vacated the vocal position in Fire Pig to focus on the Dark Young, which was closer to my heart artistically. I was replaced by an old friend of YMike's (who, by this time, had already left the band himself, to be replaced by guitar wunderkind Greg McMullen) Al Natanagara. Al was much better suited to Fire Pig's aesthetics, and wrote some really scathingly humorous and poignant lyrics, which I wish to this day I had the political and cultural wherewith to have written myself. I, alas, must filter all of my thoughts through a Gothic tincture of purple sun-specs and mourning sables. The only lyrics I ever wrote for them were in the form of a spoken word piece called "The March of the Fire Pig", which was quickly dropped from the set as soon as I quit the band. I believe they only played it to humor me. I enjoyed doing it though, for it gave me a chance to declaim this bizarre little fantasy to an audience. Or so I had planned. Unfortunately, I never performed with them while I was in the group, although I later joined them on stage as a guest vocalist periodically at their numerous appearances around Boston. I did a few guest spots on demo recordings, but never got on their album. I think they were a better band without me, and I was infinitely happier in the Dark Young. "The March of the Fire Pig" can be read, in a slightly altered version, on this page, here. |
| ORIGINAL FIRE PIG LINE-UP: Manny Arenas: vocals YMike Yesenosky: guitar Ken Barr: guitar Mark White: bass Jeff Hudgins: alto sax Doug Murphy: drums |
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| April 1991; Mike and I playing a Fire Pig tune for our former roommate, Susan. In this shot, I am mouthing the words, "I wanna work at MacDonalds, just like the kid on the TV...". |