Pig Destroyer Tour Journal - Disposable Underground

Originally published in ‘zine issue #31, 2005

by Blake Harrison

Blake acted as the merchandise and roadie person for Pig Destroyer’s tour as part of the Grind Over U.K. 4 package with Halo, Narcosis, and Total Fucking Destruction. Below is his account of his experiences on the road with Pig Destroyer, being Brian on drums, J.R. on vocals, and Scott on guitar. Their new album, Terrifyer, is out on Relapse Records.

November 12. Heathrow Airport, London, 6 am.

Got into Heathrow, was asked at where I was staying in London. I lied and they finally let me through. Went to a pub to drink my long, sleepless flight away only to find they don’t start serving until 10 am. Lame. Went to go play video games, until I realized that they were 1 quid each. That’s like $1.80.

Heathrow Airport, London, 10 am.

Met the Pig Destroyer (PD) guys, and our driver drove into London to pick up the rented equipment. Went to go pick up the Halo guys and off to the show in Nottingham.

Nottingham, 8pm.

Drove to the Old Angel. Cool place, pub like with an upstairs for the bands to play, also a house attached for the bands to crash. Friendly people. No sleep. Set up the mountains of merch that hadn’t been sorted, met the Narcosis guys, had to set up merch downstairs, so didn’t get to see the show. Drank 1000 Guinesses and crashed at about 5 am.

November 13, Leeds.

Hungover and tired as hell. Drove to Leeds, loaded into Joseph’s Well. Again, I can’t see the bands. It’s crowded as hell. So hungover, nursing beers until the show’s over where I finally feel fine. Went to the house we were staying and went to some dance club where they were playing metal and kept telling people that I was the bass player for Weezer. It got me some free drinks. Two kids recognized me from my old band Daybreak which was pretty weird. Took it a little easy and got some sleep. Actually I think the sleep got me.

November 14, Glasgow.

Made the long, cold, cramped trek to Glasgow. It started raining, but was looking forward to seeing my friend Ryan who goes to school in Edinbourough. Walked around Glasgow by myself for a little, found and internet café and tried to answer email. I was too tired to concentrate. Went to a KFC and they didn’t have Western fries. Go figure. I hate having to ask for a drink on the rocks, get strange looks, then have to explain that I want ice in it, then having to send it back because they never put enough in it. I finally get to see my first show of the tour. Packed as hell though. It was good to see Ryan, who I put on the guest list. Somehow didn’t make it on. No problem, he got in anyway. Narcosis was awesome, Halo was awesome, Total Fucking Destruction was fun, and PD ruled. I also had a hard time understanding the Scots. It was loud and I’m deaf too, so … Crashed at some girl’s house where some drunk Scotsman was yelling at us and we had no idea what he was saying. We went to sleep and then he peed on the girl’s bed that we were staying with and had to kick him out.

November 15, Manchester.

Starting to get sick, or it’s jet lag. Drove to Manchester to play the Jabez Clegg which had a nice downstairs pub. Went shopping for guitar stuff and drum stuff. Set up the merch and had the sound man run me a mic so I could talk between the PD songs. Great time but was feeling worn down. Went to the house we were staying at and crashed once we found it in the pouring-down rain. At this point, I am familiar with all of the people on the tour who were all great, especially our drivers, Dan and Greg.

November 16, Birmingham.

We pull into Birmingham, the home of Napalm Death. I was stoked. Loaded up three flights of stairs which sucked, but the club, Edward’s No. 8, ruled. Didn’t hang out that much and went to bed. Great show though and great crowd. We were across the street from Europe’s largest strip club and only Brian and I wanted to go, so we were boycotted … lame.

November 17, Wales.

Drove down to Wales to play Cardiff. The club (The Barfly) was across the street from a castle! Wales and Cardiff were both beautiful. Got to sit in a pub and eat a decent meal and chill with J.R. Got some postcards, addressed them, and wrote them. Went to the largest grocery store after the show. It was the size of an airplane hangar.

November 18, Milton Keynes.

I miss Wales already. No one can get me to eat blood pudding. We drove to Milton Keynes to play this huge auditorium. The show was good but the turnout was the first non-sold-out show. Drove to Dan’s parents’ house and crashed there. Nice of him to let us get a good night’s sleep, a shower, and a clean house. Swindon is a tiny town that’s like 20 years old. I was glad to leave. The crowd that was at the show was great though.

November 19. London.

Giddy London. Did too much driving around, loaded in, checked into our hotel room. Got back to the club and met up with PD (they had some press to do) and went to SoHo with Brian and J.R. Somehow lost J.R. Did a little shopping and went back to the club. Met a couple of people, and met Chris Thackaberry, who got me pissed on Guinness. Went and stage dove. J.R. also jumped into the crowd, didn’t get caught and had to go to the hospital. It was a weird night, but fun regardless of my concern for J.R.

November 20, Swindon.

Got to Swindon late. Our van finally had some problems, on the last day, go figure. J.R. said he couldn’t play, so me, Johnny Boy, and Pete (both from Narcosis) sang the Pig Destroyer set. Great time. Utter chaos, but great time.