The artist’s debut album, i don’t care if anyone listens to this shit once you do, is out now on Vegyn’s PLZ Make It Ruins label
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied,” said the utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill – but clearly he’d never encountered the anonymous artist known as Pigbaby. Masking his true identity in a head-to-toe pig suit, there’s something strangely compelling about the artist, who makes sad music about heartbreak and suicide, and whose melancholic presence is offset by the fact that he’s dressed as a pig. “I want all my stories to just be really straight up and not like kind of this fake cool guy mystery thing,” he tells me. “Pigbaby is me. It’s an honest depiction of myself and my life. It’s not a fake character, it’s just me but in a costume.”
We’ve spent the past few weeks trying to do an interview over IG voice notes (“I don’t have an email or mobile number as pigbaby”), though this has become increasingly difficult so we eventually settle on a call. He tells me he’s currently living off the coast of China, but doesn’t disclose the exact location nor his reason for being there. “There’s so much oversharing with artists now, I think it’s cooler to stand back a bit and let the music speak for itself.”
The music in question? The release of his debut album i don’t care if anyone listens to this shit once you do, which came out last week on Vegyn’s PLZ Make It Ruins label. Over 11 simple tracks, pigbaby sings about life’s tragedies in the form of modern-day folksongs, diffused with moments of pathos such as crying in a Burger King (“I can’t even eat these curly fries/ Because baby I am dead inside), or falling in love on a porn set in LA (“I sat and watched her suck some guys gigantic dong”). Subject matter aside, it’s all relatable stuff – like, who hasn’t found themselves crying over an ex, or ended up in some weird location after an all-night bender? Mixing soul-baring honesty with lo-fi, DIY appeal, we caught up with pigbaby to find out more.
What are some of the inspirations behind the debut? Is there any meaning behind the name?
Pigbaby: Um, fuck, the name! I don’t know if I want to talk about the name. I just don’t want all my interviews to be about how I was depressed, writing songs about my exes and stuff. I feel like I’m flogging a bit of a dead horse with the concept.
But it all started with an EP back in 2022?
Pigbaby: I made the EP and that was the first music I ever made. I was really bad at it and didn’t know what I was doing. Then my best friend Max is quite good at guitar and all this other stuff, and my friend Cam. I just said I’m going to go down to a cottage in the countryside and get all this cool fun equipment, and they came with me and spent like a week and then I spent two weeks on my own. I was randomly living next to this singer Maria Somerville, who I met 10 years before, and she came down and got involved a bit too.
It was just in a cottage in the Irish winter, like, a one hour walk to the shop. It was just us jamming and I was cooking sausages for everyone. Just before I went, I was digging through my attic and found all these tapes of my granddad playing the mandolin and piano and stuff. So, I use a lot of those tapes, that was kind of the main thing.
How would you describe pigbaby to someone who’s not come across your music?
Pigbaby: I always tell people I dress like a pig and sing love songs, because it is a funny way to describe it.
“I don’t approve any of these other animal artists“ – Pigbaby
What are your earliest memories of music?
Pigbaby: I grew up doing graffiti and the graffiti shop was also a record shop, All City Records in Dublin. They also did a lot of really cool leftfield music stuff. I was hanging out in the shop every day and then I was DJing like five, six times a week from when I was aged 16 to 23. I would DJ in fried chicken shops and raves on the beach and play funny stuff like Deadmau5.
Could you share a recent note from your notes app?
Pigbaby: Joke ideas: A couple of cannibals were hanging out one said to the other, ‘who’s that woman I saw you with the other day?’ He replied ‘Her? That was my lunch.’
OK, that was actually quite good.
Pigbaby: I stole that from my friend Calvin, so it’s not an original idea.
What’s your favourite corner shop snack?
Pigbaby: Quail eggs. Not a joke. I eat them twice a day.
Twice. So, like one each or…?
Pigbaby: Oh no, like a bag of like 20 quail eggs. In England, I really like nice and spicy Nik Naks, pork scratchings, Red Fanta and onion hummus.
Wow, that’s a wild combination.
Pigbaby: Disturbing. Yeah, sorry.
What’s your ghost outfit?
Pigbaby: White silk pig costume, flowy.
What’s your star sign and are you typical of that sign?
Pigbaby: Gemini. Very Gemini.
What’s your weirdest internet obsession?
Pigbaby: I’m really into VR chat videos, like these videos of soldiers talking about having PTSD because they’ve seen dead people. But the people talking are like Winnie the Pooh, and one of them is Homer Simpson. It’s a super crazy contrast. It’s like kids talking about being bullied in school, but the kid is a Minion and the guy interviewing him is Peter Griffin. But they’re really serious. I don’t think they’re meant to be funny, but it’s just so funny that these childhood characters are having really deep conversations with each other.
Who would be your lineup in your nightmare blunt rotation?
Pigbaby: Ezra Miller, Eric Cartman.
What’s on your rider?
Pigbaby: It’s funny because I wrote it when I was sober and now I’m not sober. So it’s changed. This is going to be embarrassing. One large bottle of sparkling water. Black coffee cans, no sugar. One Club Mate or an equivalent ginger drink. Fruit and chopped vegetables. But now I’ve added one bottle of Laphroaig or Ardbeg 10. I’m drinking again.
You encounter a hostile alien race and sound is their only mechanism for communication. What song would you play to them to inspire them to spare you in the rest of the human race?
Pigbaby: Yeat – “Rich Minion”.
Have you ever met horsegiirL?
Pigbaby: No, I don’t approve any of these other animal artists.
You’re a pig purist?
Pigbaby: Yeah. I hope they all stop. I’ve just noticed this trend of DJs DJing with bad animal heads on. I don’t see anything interesting. Like I’d be down to see a weird cool freak artist, you know. I feel like there’s less freak shit compared to Pigbaby.
i don’t care if anyone listens to this shit once you do is out now
