WHAT STARTED OUT AS PORK HUNTS...
The Porkers story starts in 1985, in the East coast Australian city of Newcastle, 2 rude boys, Pete and Sean decide in a drunken stupor, after the demise of some of their favourite Australian ska bands, that they would start a band. The fact that neither of them could play an instrument didn't seem like an obstacle, and they set out to find local musicians to back their all-singing, all-dancing show.
2 years later, Sean has lost interest and pursued a career as a lighting technician, and Pete has finally got a competent line-up together and The Pork Hunts were set to play their first show, which was also planned to be their last as most of the musos were on 'loan'. Some skinhead friends were set to have a house demolishing party at the same time (as their rental property was earmarked for development), so to coincide with the local international surfing event -'Surf fest', a party was set on a November Saturday of 1987, in the beach side suburb of Bar Beach, 'Ska Fest' was here!
The party went amazingly well, with much drinking and dancing taking place, very few injuries (except for the head-banger who let loose with a bottle of tomato sauce in the kitchen), and a great after party bonfire on the beach with various parts of the house.The line-up for the first gig was as follows-Pete - vocals Bigfil- sax Richard 'Pucko' Puxty - guitar Tomi Kefichek - bass Donny Anarchy - drums Everyone had such a good time at the party, the Pork Hunts were encouraged to do another gig, and then another, by the fourth gig, Rodney 'Rocket' Palmer had taken over the beating of the drums.Soon the 'Hunts were playing far and wide with word spreading of their energetic live show. In 1990, it was time for a name change, with the one club in Newcastle that they regularly played at closing its doors out of necessity they became The Porkers.
The road since then has been long and winding, with lots of great and other stupid things happening, and many line-up changes. To make this story short, here in point form is a few of the achievements and great opportunities that have come the Porkers way-
1989 - the only recording released under the Pork Hunts name, a demo of 'Woman' is released world-wide by Link records UK on the compilation 'Ska for ska's sake'.
1990 - the debut 7" EP -'Tired of being Pork Hunts' reaches #6 on the Australian indie charts.
1994 - release of debut album 'Grunt!' to rave reviews, Chris Masuak from Radio Birdman records and performs with the band. Later that year the album is licence to Moonska records in New York.
1995 - tour Germany and New Zealand.
1996 - tour Australia opening for No Doubt, and Fishbone. Play Homebake festival.
1997 - appear at the Big Day Out and Livid festivals. Porker’s brass section play on Rancid’s demos for 'Life wont wait' album. Close Falls festival playing after Pennywise on NYE.
1998 - play on the Australian leg of the Vans Warped tour, later that year open for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Rancid. Release second album 'Hot dog daiquiri', licensed to Moonska USA.
1999 - invited to play Vans Warped in Australia and accept the invitation to appear at Vans Warped USA, appearing alongside Eminem, Ice T, Blink 182, etc. Play to a full house at Bostons 'Middle East club' with the Slackers and Bim Skala Bim, next night play in NewYork with Laurel Aitken. Headline the second stage at Homebake festival, just before Silverchair.
2000 -release 'Time will tell' album, the single 'Too big for your boots' gets play-listed by Triple J radio network.
2001 - The Porkers bring Bad Manners to Australia for the first time for the Heavyweights tour. The tour breaks door and bar records! Next single off 'Time will tell' - 'Waiting for us' remixed by New Zealand's Salmonelladub is play-listed on Triple J. Play the Livid Festival.
2002 - The Porkers celebrate 15 years!
2004 - Tour Japan and record live album. 'Live at Nakanoshima'.
2005 - Release the 'Now Hear This' EP featuring the single 'Swinging Like Tiger Woods'.
2007 - Release 'This is The Porkers' album. Celebrate 20 years.
2009 - Release 'Persistence is Futile' DVD
2010 - Hiatus
2014 - Return to tour nationally as part of the Soundwave Festival.
2016 - 2017 - Tour the USA, playing in Boston at The Mighty Mighty Bosstones 'Hometown Throwdown', plus a full West Coast tour with Voodoo Glow Skulls and Buck O Nine. Dec-Jan. Celebrate 30 years !
2018 - Release a brand new single 'Make Hey!' on 7: vinyl, along with a video of the song. Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hot Dog Daiquiri with a bunch of shows and a release of the album on vinyl for the first time !
2019 - Working on new album !
2020 - Quarantine ! But get to play the Supernova International Ska Festival Quarantine edition .
