Musician Martin Atkins has recently announced that his rock supergroup Pigface will be embarking on a brand new tour later this year. This will be the first tour organized for the group in 14 years, during which time the group rarely performed. The tour will take the group across the United States throughout the month of November and include performances in major cities such as New York, Denver and Chicago. Most of the tour dates announced so far are on the East Coast, but Atkins has stated that West Coast dates are planned and will be announced later. While most of the lineup for the tour is being kept hidden for now, Atkins has announced that frequent collaborators Lesley “Ruby” Rankine and Gaelynn Lea will be a part of the tour.
Pigface is not a band in the typical sense, instead being dubbed a supergroup due to its extensive rotating lineup of famous collaborators over the years. Formed by Atkins and associate William Rieflin in the 1990s, Pigface was designed to be different from the usual establishment rock band. In order to accomplish this, Atkins and Rieflin decided to make the band’s roster work on a rotating basis. This meant that Pigface would collaborate with who was available at a given time without committing them to focus solely on the project.
Pigface gave musicians a different opportunity than their main musical projects did, allowing the artists to work without worrying about pleasing their usual labels or fans. This style of music creation attracted the attention of a lot musicians in the rock scene at the time, bringing with them an incredibly amount of ideas and experience to work with. One of the most famous collaborators with Pigface back in the day was Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Before Nine Inch Nails became one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, Reznor worked with Atkins and other collaborators on much of Pigface’s early work. This includes the group’s track “Suck,” which Reznor performs the vocals for. Other famous musicians who collaborated with Pigface over the years include Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danny Carey of Tool and Dean Ween of the band Ween. While these are a few of the more well known collaborators of Pigface, the list of all of Pigface’s associated acts includes dozens of musicians from over the years. Fans interested in catching one of Pigface’s upcoming performances can see the list of tour dates below and check out the VIP packages already offered for each date here on Atkins’ website.
Tour Dates:
11/15 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
11/16 Pontiac, MI – The Crofoot Ballroom *
11/17 Toronto, Canada – Lee’s Palace *
11/18 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts *
11/19 New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge *
11/20 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
11/21 Columbus, OH – Skullys Music Diner
11/22 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell) *
11/23 New Orleans, LA – Southport Hall *
11/24 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater *
11/26 Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre
11/27 Denver, CO – Marquis Theater *
11/28 Kansas City, MO – The Record Bar
11/29 Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze *
11/30 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall Chicago *
* with Ruby