NEW Post on 30 Aug 2025 by Big Rich:

Less than a week to go…

It is almost upon us – after a frantic few weeks of recording, mixing, mastering and preparing for release – our cover of Black Sabbath`s War Pigs will hit the streaming and download sites on Friday 5th September.

It has been a great experience to record this classic metal song, and we are very grateful to the publishers for giving us the go-head so quickly.

Ozzy and Sabbath were a very important influence on our band, and it has been fantastic to see how many people across the world were inspired by what they did. The love shown for Ozzy is incredible, long may it continue.

We will be making a return appearance on The Fox`s Den Show on Vixen 101 at the end of October, so no doubt we shall play War Pigs along with our own songs – perhaps one or two brand new ones.

Post on 25 Jul 2025 by Big Rich:

Goodbye Ozzy, the Crazy Train has reached the final stop.

Only two weeks after he took to the stage for the final time with Black Sabbath, Ozzy has departed this world . Only now are we realising the amazing effort and determination it took him to do that last show. Ozzy, we salute you and along with Tony, Geezer and Bill we thank you for changing the sound of rock and roll music forever.

I was reminded of local rock drummer and good friend of PIG IRON, Tivvy Stealer Gomersall. Despite being diagnosed with mesothelioma (as a result of the York carriage works failing to protect workers from asbestos in the 60s) he was behind his drum kit until a few weeks before he left us, over thirteen years ago. Like Ozzy, he left a big gap in the local music world and is still sorely missed.

We look forward to playing some of those great Sabbath songs again, and keeping the flame burning. There are plans being hatched for an Ozzy/Sabbath tribute gig in York next summer, and we have already put ourselves forward to play two or three tunes, watch this space for more on that.

In the mean time we hope, publishers permitting, to release our version of War Pigs as a small tribute to Ozzy and the rest of Black Sabbath. We shall continue to celebrate the best of British, old school rock and metal by keeping it at eleven.

So dig out your old Sabbath vinyls and turn it up, alright now!

Post on 26 May 2025 by Big Rich:

Return to the Fox's Den and and Eddy Arms

It has been a busy month for the band - Rich, Neil and the Pete Box returned to Vixen FM (Fox's Den) to play a live session on Friday 16th May and the following Thursday night the full band hosted the Edinburgh Arms Jam Night in York.

We marked our 25th anniversary back in November with a special on Vixen FM, Rich chatted with presenter Bill Horncastle about the history of the band, the recording of Roc na Seann Sgoile and future plans.

The Jam Night saw the full band take to the stage for the first time in over a year, as Pete was making a rare visit to York for a reunion of his other band, Lost effect.

There are lots of new songs in the pipeline and we hope to make a start on recording them this summer. While we probably won't put them together as an album, they will be available on all our usual streaming platforms, so look out for news here.

Post on 30 Oct 2024 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 23 Mar 2024 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 04 Nov 2023 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 07 Oct 2023 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 23 Mar 2023 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.