Sunday, August 26, 2012

That's a wrap!


Well, that's a wrap on 2012. We couldn't have asked for a better day and a better overall experience.

THANK YOU to the 10 fantastic bands who came and played. It's not a rock and roll pig roast without rock and roll!

THANK YOU to our gracious hosts Standard Bar/Grill for roasting 2 huge pigs, cooking up delicious sides and keeping the beer cold.

THANK YOU to Rock For Kids for their support in promotion, we're honored to benefit such a great cause.

THANK YOU to Do312 for spreading the word, and thanks to Simple AV for keeping the event rolling and sounding great.

Most importantly, thanks to everyone who came out to eat, drink, listen to music and have fun. We appreciate your support and we'll see you next year! More photos to come!

Friday, August 24, 2012

2012 Music and Food Menu!

The Rock and Roll Pig Roast features all you can eat food and 10 of Chicago's local bands! Oh, and cash bars with great drink specials!! And you're supporting a charity! This is the best deal in town!



The MUSIC Menu!
Secret Colours – 9pm
Sybris – 8:00
Bully in the Hallway - 7:00
Michael Lux and the Bad Sons – 6:00
Velocicopter - 5:00
Absolutely Not  - 4:00 
The Fallen Rivers - 3:00 
Box Jellyfish -  2:00 
Treasurer - 1:15 
ZED –  12:30 

Learn more about the bands here! Or take a listen:


2012 Rock and Roll Pig Roast Mixtape by RockPigRoastChi  



The FOOD Menu, prepared by Head Chef Jim August and the Standard Bar and Grill
All you can eat:
Slow roasted, smoked Cajun rubbed pork!
Served with Jameson Chipotle BBQ Sauce or Carolina –style BBQ sauce.
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Grilled Vegetarian Medley of zucchini, eggplant, portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers with olive oil and balsamic glaze.
The Standard’s Famous homemade mac and cheese

Drink Specials!
$3 PBR Tallboy
$6 Three Olives Vodka Drink
Cash bars with much, much more!


Thursday, August 23, 2012

2012 Artist Preview: Bully in the Hallway

It's hard asking questions of your own band, and in person it can be bizarre (especially because as a band, we all spend on average 8-10 hours per week together...). However, thanks to the context and formality of written emails, we (and I...) get to learn some more about Bully in the Hallway's latest album, a recent trip and upcoming plans. We're excited to play the pig roast again!

Check out the interview with lead singer Simon as well as the track "Golden Bones" off of Bully in the Hallway's latest release, Crooks and their Castles.




Can you tell me about how "Crooks and their Castles" was made? Any thoughts behind what songs were picked, how they were recorded and how the artwork came about? 

CATC is a collection of songs written from 2007-2011... We recorded it at the Phantom Manor with our mentor Mike Lust in the Spring/Summer of 2011. As for the song selection, we wanted to espouse our love of harmonies, big rhythms, assailing guitars, and infectious hooks blanketed with invigorating verses. The songs cover a wide variety of topics from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010 (Blatant Persuasion), chasing sleep while building resumes (If I can't have my cake and eat it to...), the redundancy and hypocrisy of the American "Dream" (Crooks), friends growing apart (Golden Bones), Lincoln Park trixies (Stick-Up Chicks), institutions that claim to beset value through constructs (Life is Money), the walk of shame (Walk of Shame), wants vs. needs (Advice), work (9to5er), significant others (Magnanimous Corpses), women wearing tights (Tight Pantz), and being enamored with someone (You Got Me!).

The artwork came from a shoot with our long time photographer and good friend Justin Watson James. For me it speaks to the walls we imagine in front of us.

This was your first year really leaving the Tri State Area with a trip down to SXSW. What were your thoughts about the trip? Highlights? Lowlights?

We love Austin, hence the Pig Roast. We had so much fun and met so many wonderful bands/people. Also, it was a chance for us to bond with some of our home town brethren i.e. Mannequin Men, Heavy Times, Secret Colours, and so forth. SXSW is a must for young bands and a great opportunity to get road tested.

I think the highlights for me, personally, were our performances, seeing the Mannequin Men play a million shows and getting drunk with em, kicking it with our good friend Chris Ciesiel who came from KC to hang with us, all the abandon cars on the side of the highways, and tacos.

As for low lights... 19hr drives, hitting a bail of hay on the highway in Arkansas, but in all reality these were still highlights... hahaha!!

It's been 8 months since "Crooks and their Castles" was released. What's new with the band? Are you writing new music? What do you plan to do in Chicago's winter?

We have been preparing our new record... we have about 3 or 4 songs. One of which we will be playing on Saturday. It's called "Turncoats" and is about consumerism. We will continue writing in October after we play our buddy Ciesiel's wedding with the idea of recording in the Winter for a spring release. Maybe an EP release for SXSW with the LP coming out in April/May.

Bully in the Hallway - Golden Bones by RockPigRoastChi

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

2012 Artist Feature: ZED

I heard about ZED through some friends of mine who are in the Chicago Stone Lightning Band, which was one of the bands that played the 1st Annual Rock and Roll Pig Roast.We all had so much fun watching the CSLB rip it up last year that I knew this group was going to be good. Based on what we've heard so far, I don't think we'll be disappointed when they kick things off this year.

Check out the interview with drummer John Dugan to learn more about ZED's style, formation and future. You can also hear a live track from a recent gig at the Hideout!







Can you tell me about how ZED came about? I know some of your members are/have been in other Chicago bands. Why start ZED?

ZED emerged from the Chicago Stone Lightning Band (which is still kicking and has a debut album coming in September on Downtown Records and shows later in the year) and VEE DEE. Nick D'Vyne also played with our bassist Mark Lux in Plastic Crimewave Sound a few years back. John has been in CSLB, Perfect Panther, the Tax here and was in Edsel, Chisel, Colour, and other bands in DC area. Dan played in the Brides and various other bands.

The original idea was to give life to Nick's songs that didn't fit Vee Dee or CSLB. At first, the tunes seemed to be very rock with a soul infusion a la the MC5, but the songs have been pretty varied. They don't fit neatly in any genre and the band doesn't seem to be boxing itself in one category, so that's exciting.

You described ZED to me as "soulful punk rock" - can you elaborate on that? When ZED's on Pandora, what other artists' tracks would you be sandwich between?


It just seemed like an apt, if vague, shorthand description of the band. We've all played in punk bands, but this one definitely has a soul or R&B influence oozing through it.

[for Pandora] Ton Steine Scherben, The Stooges, MC5, Blue Cheer, Television, CAN, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Motorhead

Have you recorded anything or do you plan on recording anything in the future? If so, what exactly?

We're planning to record our current batch of tunes in our own studio—probably all analog and live. Also, we might not be called ZED for long.

ZED - Broken Beast (Live at Hideout) by RockPigRoastChi