The Pig’n’aif band members

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Pete Bangert is a long serving musician from the Sheffield area. Pete has been involved with one version or another of Pig’n’aif possibly since the dawn of time and certainly since the Pretentious period. He plays guitar and sings backing in the live version of the band and has played most of the instruments in the studio for the band’s recorded output. He is the primary songwriter for the Pig’n’aif’s original material but has recently been collaborating with Mel and Mick on writing new material. Pete plays guitar in the blues/rock jam-band line-up.

Our project was rejoined for a time by the exceptional vocalist Mel Day. Mel originally from Southampton, has been a well known and respected musical resident in the Sheffield area for a good number of years and has been heavily involved in music since the mid-sixties. Mel was in Phoenix Rising with Pete from the late 80’s through to the mid 90’s. He brings a superb soulful blues/rock voice to the mix as can be heard on our ‘Pig’n’aif Blue’ album as well as the odd (well some might call it that) toot on his trusty harmonica.

The drums in the jam-band line-up were originally played by Graham Shaw who has since moved on to pastures new. Graham is a professional drummer from the South Yorkshire area and has worked with such bands as Pink Lint, Klix (featured on Radio Hallam), Vintage Rock, The Outfit and Zhain to name a few. He is sponsored by Mapex. This was the first time that Mel and Pete had worked with Graham, and he collaborated on the very successful Pig'n'aif Blue album with them. Graham is now currently working with a semi-pro cover outfit and teaching.

The drums in the recent live band were played by Gordon Henderson, a well know musician from the Yorkshire area. Gordon is a long-term friend of the Pig’n’aif family of musicians. He has played previously in both Phoenix Rising and ChinWig with Pete and this outing renews a partnership that worked excellently in the past.

Monster vocalist and well known proponent of the bass guitar Mick Shedd is also a member of the Pig’n’aif family. Mick is involved as a session singer and writing partner of Pete. Mick is a well known South Yorkshire musician from such bands as Equinox, The Dagger Band, Shedd's on Fire and Fixer . Pete and Mick had a short sojourn with the band ToshRollo back in the late '80's and then renewed their musical partnership in the formative and debut versions of ChinWig

Vocalist Jack (Alan) Bunker is currently working in the studio with Pete and their old Phoenix Rising colleague Chris Hamilton, updating some old unfinished material as well as developing new material. Jack was of course the original vocalist from Phoenix Rising and their relationship was renewed following the recent live gigs of the Pig’n’aif jam-band. It will be interesting for the guys to see where this sub-project takes them but the current outputs are very promising, harking back as they do, to their previous work together in Phoenix Rising.

Chris Hamilton is the truly talented and expressive bassist from the original line-up of the band Phoenix Rising. Chris is a highly articulate musician with the great technical capability as well as the native driving force necessary to make a truly superb rock bass player. Now working with Jack and Pete in the studio Chris is a great friend and welcome asset to the recording team.

John Riley took over the seat as a rehearsal drummer in the Pig’n’aif line-up for a period of time. Another well respected professional musician from the South Yorkshire area with a punchy, dynamic style, ideally suited to the material that the band are now performing. In keeping with the rest of the guys, he has been in the music business for several ice ages, performing locally, nationally and in Europe. He brought a wonderfully solid foundation to the band (as well as lofty backing vocals) and the the guys were happy to have him there for a time to lean on in their dotage.

There is of course one other person without whom a band would be incomplete and that is Alan Bangert He was our Sound Engineer and Road Manager and brought many, many, many years of experience to our projects, making our lives a lot easier - not to mention giving us something to point at and chuckle when things are looking bleak. We owe him a huge amount of thanks for all of his efforts in the bands over the years and of course, still value his input as part of our recording team.

Chris Price played bass briefly in a recent live version of the jam-band line-up. He is a respected bass player from the local area with impressive local and national credentials. Chris is an excellent ‘depping’ musician and a regular contributor to Sheffield’s regular jam session venues.

John Wilson (or ‘Willo’ as he is sometimes known) was a very brief member of the live line-up of the band. He has been a passing member of quite a number of local bands in the South Yorkshire area and is a vocalist with a wealth of experience in front of him no doubt.