Comprising Crispin Hunt (b. London, England; vocals, guitar), Richard Hawley (b. Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England; guitar), Simon Stafford (bass) and Dee Boyle (drums), Longpigs formed in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, in 1993. Their extended gravitation towards the mainstream since that time was hindered by a series of corrupt band managers and soured recording contracts, but by 1996 the Longpigs were standing on the threshold of a national breakthrough. Chief songwriter and lyricist Hunt moved to Bradford from his native London at the age of 10. After a dalliance with the Catholic church and dropping out of his university philosophy studies, he moved to Amsterdam as the first stage in his plan to busk around Europe. He soon returned, and by that time had written enough material to furnish the Longpigs' debut album. It was his explicit intention to return to the rock 'n' roll grandeur of artists such as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the Beatles. He recruited former Cabaret Voltaire drummer Boyle, Stafford and Hawley, the band making its performance debut at local venue The Owl. An album was recorded with Gil Norton but it was then that the band had its first setback. The label in question closed its UK offices and demanded a £500,000 "release-fee'. Eventually Longpigs were free to sign a new contract with U2"s Mother Records and re-recorded their debut album. Tours with Echobelly, Supergrass and Radiohead followed, while the extracted single, "Far", reached the UK Top 40 in February 1996. "On And On" became another success, this time reaching the UK Top 20, before The Sun Is Often Out was finally released. Songs such as "She Said" (an unlikely meeting point between the Beatles and Nirvana, and another chart hit), "Lost Myself" and "Sally Dances' confirmed the promise of the earlier singles, while the Longpigs" breakthrough was celebrated by a partisan media keen to present Hunt as a major new songwriting talent. Boyle left before the recording of the follow-up Mobile Home, which mixed trip-hop beats into the band's indie rock formula. The closure of Mother the day after the album was released resulted in the band's demise. Hawley went on to work with Pulp and release acclaimed solo material.

Listen to Longpigs at Finetune.

• (2007)  The Sun Is Often Out

• She Said
• Lost Myself
• On & On
• Far
• Dozen Wicked Words

• Supergrass
• Radiohead
• Blur
• Coldplay
• Oasis
• Travis
• The London Suede
• Nirvana
• Stereophonics
• The Charlatans U.K.
• Placebo
• Beck
• Ash
• The Stone Roses
• Muse
• The Verve
• Kings Of Leon
• Arctic Monkeys
• Manic Street Preachers
• Pulp

• erichang
• iamrazorwing
• Ladysnore
• sagnelson
• jameshartleyhome
• uk0820