The Bear’s Matty Matheson and Alexisonfire’s Wade MacNeil’s new hardcore band Pig Pen kicked the doors down with a sweat-soaked debut at Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto on April 25.
Celebrity chef Matheson, also known as Neil Fak from The Bear, has officially stepped out from the kitchen and onto the mic as Pig Pen’s frontman. MacNeil is on guitars alongside Attack In Black’s Daniel Romano.
The rest of the lineup aren’t exactly lightweights either: Ian Romano on drums, and Tommy Major on bass, because apparently when these guys form a “casual” band, they still build a supergroup.
Despite Pig Pen having literally zero official tracks out, they cooked up 10 songs in two days a couple years back, and on Friday (April 25), the Toronto crowd at Sneaky Dee’s finally got a taste.
No fancy rollout, no streaming hype — just loud, sweaty chaos alongside local crushers Best Wishes and Pluto’s Kiss.
The room was packed, the energy was feral, and it already feels like Pig Pen might be your next favourite hardcore band before they even exist properly.
Check out some of the fan videos of the absolutely filthy vibes going down in Toronto last week below.
MacNeil casually revealed Pig Pen on social media last month, saying: “Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly join ANOTHER band. WE GO AND START PIG PEN.” Between Alexisonfire, Gallows, and Dooms Children, Wade’s already spread thinner than festival beer.
Matheson’s hardcore cred is the real deal too – playing grubby Ontario post-hardcore gigs back in the day, and even letting Turnstile crash at his place when they were still broke kids trying to tour. In his own post announcing the band’s debut, the celebrity chef said the crew “just wanted to hangout and see what’s up.”
As it turns out, what’s up is a solid hardcore outfit with a great stage presence and a lot of promise.
God bless spontaneous chaos. Anyway, when’s Pig Pen hitting Australian shores?
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