Hello folks,
Good news for punk fans! Our next release is a reissue of The Pork Dukes debut, the Pink Pork album. It's due out on May 4th on limited edition pink vinyl LP (1000 copies) with new artwork and a few extra tracks, comes with free digital version if purchased via our online shop. Click on the pic below to pre-order.
We're also getting closer to releasing the eagerly anticipated Johnny Moped single which is called 'Ain't No Rock N Roll Rookie'. Tracks are recorded and they sound great!. No release date is set yet but it should be released soon and well before their appearance summer shows with the Damned at the Roundhouse In London and on Friday, 7th August at this year's Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. They are still in the working hard in the studio in Brighton (where the photo above was taken, yesterday) recording more tracks for the album which we're still hoping to get out in August but you can't rush a good thing (they told me!) and it's been 35 years so another month or two won't be the end of the world.
The Pork Dukes - Pink Pork (LP/digi) **RELEASE DATE 4th MAY**
Limited edition repress of the first Pork Dukes LP with a brand new cover and it's on lovely PINK vinyl. 1000 copies only.
The band was originally composed of twin brothers and former Gnidrolog members Colin Goldring (vox/git) and Stewart Goldring (git/vox) using the pseudonyms Vilos and Horrendus Styles, respectively – alongside Scabs (aka Nigel Pegrum of Steeleye Span) (bass git), Germun LePig (drums) (later replaced by Bonk aka. Rocky Rhythm) and Mack E. Valley (keyboards). He was later replaced by Guardian Angel prior partway through the recording sessions for the second album.
Combining a Buzzcocks-style pop punk sound with bawdy subject matter, gross-out toilet humour and profanity in their songs, the band released their debut single “Bend and Flush” b/w “Throbbing Gristle” in 1977 on Wood Records, a subsidiary of Caroline Records UK created specifically for the band. Due to the lyrical content of their recordings, the band struggled for airplay, though it was known that BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was a fan.
The true identities of the Pork Dukes were originally a closely guarded secret, the band playing in pig masks during live performances. Various rumours circulated amongst fans and in the music press that the band was actually Led Zeppelin, Steeleye Span, The Rezillos, Fairport Convention or Tenpole Tudor in disguise. It was also suggested that either Keith Moon or Dudley Moore may have been lead singer.
The controversy surrounding the band and backlash from feminist groups led to them being unable to find a management company to represent them or perform at large venues (gigs were frequently played unannounced at small community centres to avoid protesters). Towards the end the band were reduced to playing gigs at mental institutions (Vilos Styles was training to become a psychiatric nurse at this point) to entertain the patients.
Following the release of the Pink Pork album and three singles on Wood Records, the band broke up in 1979, with the album Pig Out of Hell being released posthumously by Wood in 1981. Bonk (aka. Rocky Rhythm) later played for The Revillos, Tenpole Tudor and The Damned frontman Dave Vanian’s Phantom Chords.