Biography
Anti-folk/rock troubadour, writing life that haunts neon-lit doorways and threadbare rooms. A musical disciple of Howlin' Wolf and Crazy Horse, honing a blend of post-punk folk in bars from Saskatoon to Shanghai, Montreal to Moscow, and Halifax to Helsinki. Fiercely independent and one of the hardest-working Canadian musicians around with over 20 years of Replacements-inspired scrappy club shows notched into his Telecaster.
Alun Piggins has entrenched himself in the business as a fearless self-starter, writing, producing, and engineering releases on his own label, Moldy Floor Records. His international focus has taken him across Canada and the US, China, Russia, Finland, and the UK. And his impassioned songwriting and guitar-shredding performances have won him audiences across all genres. He has shared the stage with artists ranging from Fugazi to Peter Case. Cleaning Women (Finnish avant-garde techno) to Be Good Tanyas. Cat Power to Fred Eaglesmith.
In keeping with this heel-worn pace, "At War with the Elephants," his third solo studio release, is 1 part international border crossing and 1 part homeward journey. Travelling comes as second nature and butts up to the seedier side of B bars and social disparity. Walking through the slums of Shanghai. Singing Red Army Blues at a house concert in a run-down Russian apartment. Passing a beer-soaked guitar back and forth with Cui Jian (China's godfather of rock) at 5 a.m. after a gig in Beijing. Channel-surfing live TV war from a basement bar. Snapshots of the underbelly of home and abroad that inform the songs with an incisive fly-on-the-wall perspective.
"At War with the Elephants" is the latest release in a solo discography that includes 3 albums and 2 EPs, in addition to 3 albums with '90s thrash/folk band The Morganfields. Alun has also engineered and produced albums for other artists such as The Rheostatics, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and Stephen Stanley (TLOTL), among others.
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