PigDog

PIGDOG – PINOY SUPER BAND
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a pigdog is a type of dog bred to hunt wild pigs and boars, typically based on breeds such as Staffordshire Terrier and English Bull Terrier. Also pigdog is a stance used for surfing tubes on one's backhand. A third  and compelling meaning of Pigdog may be a Superband.
 Kowboy Santos was recently  asked how did the group came about. “Conceived from the fires of Mordor! Haha..just joking…. we are all friends and we were also in different bands together before, it was just the right time”, declares Kowboy on the band’s conception.
DogPig consists of Beatrice Gomez on vocals, Kowboy Santos on guitars, Miguel Ortigas on drums, Johnny Besa on bass and Tirso Ripoll on guitars.
The founding member of Razorback and one of only three remaining original members of the band, Tirso’s powerful and stoic guitar-playing earned him a pedestal in the Philippine rock scene. Since the departure of Kevin Roy in 2018 and the untimely demise of Brian Velasco last January 2019, and their last album last 2015, Razorback sort of riding the breeze of their labor and of late, the band has been collaborating with artists like Dong Abay, Raimund Marasigan, Nicole Asencio, Basti Artadi. With a solid 9-album discography tucked under his name, Tirso has nothing more to prove to the music scene.
Miguel Ortigas, the original drummer of Razorback, decided to leave the band last 1996, prompting the band to take on Brian Velasco. Ortigas first handled guitars then later moved on to drums. Ortigas also studied in Yamaha School of Music, under Benjie Zialcita, who also taught Tirso Ripoll, Louie Talan and David Aguirre. He also put up a band called Thunder Love and Sydney Side sometime ago. Many would attest to the powerful and flamboyance of Miguel behind the skin which makes him a sought after talent. A semi-permanent resident of Sydney, Australia, Miguel visits the Philippines now and then.
Johnny Besa is one of the founding members of The Breed. Together with Charlie Ysmael, their hypnotic Rock Groove BLACK MERCEDES BENZ is a standard staple of the 90’s. The band unofficially disbanded after a number of hits in music scene. Although they had a pseudo reunion last year via one-song and a three-original member ensemble during a thanksgiving gig for Wally Gonzalez, Johnny is open for the reunion of the surviving members of The Breed. Manny Amador, The Breed’s lead guitarist died last 2011. Johnny contributed songs to their only album FREE last 1995.
The offspring of  Nilo Santos and Tessy Alfonso (Yes, it’s Sampaguita), Kowboy is a self-taught left-handed guitar guru. A veteran of many bands including ‘Generations’ where he teamed up with Jose Mari Chan’s 2 sons and Celeste Legaspi’s son as well. Prior to this, he also banded with the Maegan Aguilar and Rocky Perez (son of Gary Perez) as LUZVIMINDA. His mastery in the guitar earned him the moniker The Southpaw Axe Slinger. His affiliation to countless project bands further exposed him to different genres in the music scene nowadays.
Beatrice Gomez is a former vocalist of the Australian-based Rock band Thunder Love. A snipet of their performance in Sydney shows her voice’s versatility in Rock, Reggae, Latin and Blues.
Still in their weaning years, Pigdog’s lineup may well be the perfect coalition for a band in the Philippines as of now. On the strength of their erstwhile bands, any music enthusiast can be sure of the solidity of its sound and future contributions to the Philippine music scene. One thing good in watching a supergroup is that, you get to hear a little bit of everything from their parent band plus the spectrum of talent kind of rolled into, thus, you are watching five sets of band in just one act. Isn’t that a bargain? All hail PigDog!