The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra (or PHLO) were an eccentric band of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

musicians, who joined together in early 1968 to play a fusion of

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, in a unique style which has been compared with

The Temperance Seven The Temperance Seven is a British band originally active in the 1950s, specialising in 1920s-style jazz music. They were known for their surreal performances. Career The Temperance Seven was founded at Christmas 1955 by students at the C ...

and the

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as the Bonzo Dog Band or the Bonzos) was created by a group of British Art school, art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelic music, psychedelia with sur ...

. Much of their repertoire consisted of songs from the 1920s or 1930s. Other influences included

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

jug band A jug band is a musical band, band employing a jug (instrument), jug player and a mix of conventional and homemade instruments. These homemade instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making sound, like the washtub bass, washbo ...

music. Their eccentricity arose, not only from their characters and choice of music, but from an eclectic mix of instruments, some of them home-made, such as the 'egg-cupaphone' and the 'ballcockaphone' - a wind instrument in which the supply of air to the

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

was controlled by a toilet

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

chain connected to a

ballcock A ballcock (also balltap or float valve) is a mechanism or machine for filling water tanks, such as those found in flush toilets, while avoiding overflow and (in the event of low water pressure) backflow. The modern ballcock was invented by Jos� ...

History

The "Piggies" (as they were affectionally known), derived their unusual name from a location in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

; the section of Gloucester Road between the old Bristol North swimming baths and the Horfield Prison turning. They are now considered to be an example of the so-called

scrumpy and western 200px, Fred Wedlock Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from England's West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in ...

musical genre. Based in the Bristol area, the band originally comprised Barry Back (born 10 April 1944,

, died 2 April 1992), Dave 'The Crutch' Creech (born David Creech, 4 March 1938, Bristol), Andy Leggett (born Andrew Leggett, 31 March 1942,

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in Shropshire, England; it is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the north-east, is the Ironbridge Gorge and Telford. The civil parish incl ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

) and John Turner (born 2 January 1947, Bristol). They are reputed to have got together after meeting at a

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party organised by

Fred Wedlock Peter Frederick Wedlock (23 May 1942 – 4 March 2010) was an English folk singer best known for his UK hit single "The Oldest Swinger in Town", which was covered by German comedian Karl Dall as "Der älteste Popper der Stadt". He performed ...

at the Troubadour Club in

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The easter ...

. They later provided backing for Wedlock on his album, ''The Folker''. Turner was previously in a group called The Downsiders Folk Group, Back and Leggett in The Alligator Jug Thumpers, and Creech in The Elastic Band. They quickly built up a strong local following and were soon playing gigs around the country. Their first album, ''The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra Presents'' (abbreviated as ''PHLOP!'') was the first release on The Village Thing

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

in 1970. They were joined on this album by Julie Bridson and Ian Hunt. Turner left the band after this album, and Bill Cole took his place as the fourth member of the band for their second album, ''Piggery Jokery'', also on The Village Thing, in 1971. This album featured an early

Rodney Matthews Rodney Matthews (born 6 July 1945) is a British illustrator and conceptual designer of fantasy and science-fiction. Career Trained at the West of England College of Art, Matthews worked in advertising for Plastic Dog Graphics before turning ...

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

, and was recorded in front of an audience in

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, resulting in an authentic recreation of their stage act. Back then left, being replaced by Jon 'Wash' Hays; Leggett left soon afterwards, leaving Creech the only survivor of the original line-up. Various personnel came and went; Dave Paskett (born David Paskett Smith, 3 June 1944, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire), Richie Gould, Pat Small and Henry Davies, plus guitarists Chris Newman (born Christopher Newman, 3 October 1952, Stevenage, Hertfordshire) and Robert Greenfield (born 14 May 1949, Norfolk) came on board plus, occasionally, the guitarist

Diz Disley William Charles "Diz" Disley (27 May 1931 – 22 March 2010) was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and banjoist. He is best known for his acoustic jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, for his contributions to the UK trad ...

, all of whom appeared on the next album, ''The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra'', in 1976. The album received good reviews, including this one from the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'': ''"The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra must be one of the most popular acts on the folk scene. Their spontaneous humour and good time songs have held many an audience anchored to the floor in wonder."'' Despite continuing popularity, the band split up in May 1979 but, in 1988, reformed for the

Trowbridge Village Pump Festival The Village Pump Festival is a folk music festival that takes place near Trowbridge, England. It has its roots years ago in a barn at the Lamb Inn, Trowbridge, and later moved a few miles outside the town to Stowford Manor Farm at Farleigh Hun ...

, after which Pat Small and singer Hannah Wedlock (Fred's daughter) joined the line-up and they began touring again. In 1991, they produced another album, ''Back on the Road Again'' and, in the same year, Jim Reynolds and Dave Griffiths joined the band. The following year, ''Musical History'', a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

consisting of a selection of tracks taken from 1968 to 1992, was released. Back, who had been the driving force behind the "Piggies" reunion, died on 10 April 1992 and, shortly after, the band decided to pack up for good. Founder member Dave Creech died of cancer on 4 May 2011. Little more than a month earlier he was still performing regularly with various local bands.

Discography

*''The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra Presents (PHLOP!)'' (12" vinyl album) The Village Thing VTS 1 (1970) *# "Cushion Foot Stomp" *# "Funny Side of the Street" *# "Silk Pyjamas" *# "Company Policy" *# "On Sunday" *# "Second Fiddle" *# "T'aint No Sin" *# "Sleepy Time Blues" *# "My Pet" *# "Nothing Else Will Do Babe" *# "Sporting Life Blues" *# "Men of Harlech" *''Piggery Jokery'' (12" vinyl album) The Village Thing VTS 8 (1971) *# "Sadie Green" *# "Motorway Song" *# "High Society" *# "The Wiltshire Plumbers Saga" *# "Sweet Miss Emmaline" *# "Let Your Linen Hang Low" *# "Basin Street Blues" *# "Meet Me Where They Play the Blues" *# "Desperate Dan" *# "The Silly Organ Story" *# "Shim Sham Shimmy" *# "

Royal Garden Blues "Royal Garden Blues" is a blues song composed by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams in 1919. Popularized in jazz by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band,

" *''Us'' (12" vinyl album, various artists) The Village Thing VT-SAM 15 (1972) *# "Sweet Miss Emmaline" (from ''Piggery Jokery'') *Also included tracks by Dave Evans, Tight Like That, Wizz Jones,

, Steve Tilston, Ian A. Anderson, Tucker Zimmerman, Sun Also Rises and Hunt and Turner *''The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra'' (12" vinyl album) UK private pressing PHLO-001 (1976) *# "High Society" *# "Buddy Not A Sweetheart" *# "Coney Island" *# "Jazzbo Green" *# "Everybody's Making It Big" *# "Motorway" *# "You're Always Welcome" *# "Five Foot Two" *# "Short Of The Line" *# "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." *# "Taking My Oyster For Walkies" *# "Roland The Roadie" *''Back on the Road Again'' (12" vinyl album) (1991) *''Musical History'' (12" vinyl album) (1992)

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Changing Face of Bristol & its People - The Sounds of the SixtiesScrumpy & Western websiteThe Bristol Folk website, which includes two books related to the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra ('Bristol Folk' includes a history of the band and associated members and 'The Saydisc and Village Thing Discography' includes record release details)
British comedy folk musical groups British comedy jazz ensembles Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups established in 1979 English folk musical groups Scrumpy and Western Musical groups from Bristol