Josh Szczepanowski, singer and guitarist in the Pink Floyd tribute band PIGS, hopes to give audiences an experience they wouldn’t be able to otherwise see without a time machine.
“It’s different than people might expect to see because it’s focused really tightly on [Pink Floyd’s] mid to late ‘70s look and feel,” Szczepanowski said.
PIGS was formed in Victoria, B.C. in 2008, and has since toured Canada extensively. The third leg of their LEFT + RIGHT tour features 14 dates on the prairies and in British Columbia.
PIGS band members represent Pink Floyd members, along with a sax player and backup vocalist (Szczepanowski performs David Gilmour’s parts). In addition to playing a set of covers, PIGS play entire albums.
Previous set lists have included Wish You Were Here, Animals
and Dark Side of the Moon.
The band also brings substantial lighting, Szczepanowski said, to recreate the original band’s visuals.
“It’s a rock show, it’s not a quiet relaxed thing.”
Szczepanowski said he got into Pink Floyd’s music relatively late, at about age 24, although he said the band’s music was always around and was his dad’s favourite band.
Forming a Pink Floyd tribute band came unexpectedly.
With band mates, Szczepanowski said he was “fooling around one day and we played some Pink Floyd songs, and it just sort of happened. We started playing Money, and it turned out my David Gilmour voice was pretty much exact.”
The band was originally strict about playing songs from 1971 to 1979, but has branched out since and play some more modern songs and even some cuts from solo albums.
“But we really work hard to make them fit into the show properly,” Szczepanowski said.
Despite the band's ten years of existence, PIGS hasn’t yet exhausted the material, and there remains about 40 or 50 songs to play.
“I find with some of this stuff, even after all these years, it still has the power to move me,” Szczepanowski said. “It’s a pretty strong testament to how much effort they put in and how they got it right back then.”
PIGS plays live versions of the songs, which can be quite different than from how they sound on the album.
Audience ages, while they are often around 20s and 50s, range from small children to seniors.
After the North Battleford stop, Szczepanowski said the band is aiming for a U.S. and European tour.
“It is really a pleasure to be sharing this music with everybody every time. Even though Pink Floyd’s catalogue can be nihilistic, it’s a pretty uplifting experience.”
Tickets are $44.29 plus GST. They can be purchased at the Dekker Centre’s box office and online.
