In the final month of operation for Brisbane venue New Globe Theatre, Aussie ska legends The Porkers will take to the stage as part of the Punkfest Birthday Bash celebrations.
The Porkers frontman and vocalist Pete Cooper says Punkfest audiences can look forward to what has become a standard modus operandi for the band when it comes to live shows. “Nothing is planned with The Porkers, it's just unorganised chaos,” Pete says.
“Playing Punkfest for the birthday bash is awesome; it's awesome we got asked and it's awesome the fact that we'll be on the bill with The Go Set, which are again one of our old touring buddies from years ago.”
The Porkers formed in 1987 as The Pork Hunts and soon changed their name for reasons painfully obvious and best left unmentioned in these passages.
Needless to say, their original name made it hard to book gigs.
They became mainstays of the ska and punk touring circuits both here and overseas throughout the '90s and 2000s before going on hiatus in 2009, which only ended in 2014 when they toured as part of Soundwave Festival.
Looking back, Pete is forced to realise the funny, little band he formed as a teenager is now approaching middle-age. “It's really good because at one stage there I didn't think we were ever going to do it again,” he says.
“So the fact that we got a second run out of it, the fact that we're doing gigs and recording new material and finally in February we released some new material for the first time, it's pretty crazy. It's also pretty crazy to think this band has been going for 31 years.”
In returning to The Porkers as a fully-fledged unit, Pete says the most important aspect for him was resisting the urge to rely on the nostalgia of their fans. “One thing that I've kept at the forefront of my mind is the fact that yes, we are an older band but I'm not going to be a complete, nostalgia act.
“We've got to be doing new things and we're not going to be one of those bands that are old and tired and just do it for the money. Because there's never been any money,” he laughs.
“When we got asked to do Soundwave in 2014 we decided we weren't going to come back and be a tired, old band; I said to myself that we're going to go as hard as any of those young bands on the bill and I think we did.”
At this point Pete and sax player Bigfil are the only two original members left in the band, though Pete says the band's open-door policy when it comes to (some) members has allowed The Porkers to keep fresh over the years. “There's a few that we don't ever want back, but that's another whole story,” he quips.
At Punkfest, crowds will get a face full of high-energy ska courtesy of The Porkers; for one member of the band, it will be a very special night indeed. “One thing is we'll be bringing our brand new bass player, it'll be his first gig,” Pete says.
“That's the other thing that's kept The Porkers alive, is that we've had a steady overturn of different players and whenever we've taken someone new on it's brought something new and fresh to the band, and that's kept us fresh as well rather than getting stale.
“Even though we might be playing songs that are 30-years-old, everyone brings their own vibe to each song, which freshens it up."
