Portland Guitarist & Producer Teddy Presberg Teams with Garett Brennan & LeClare Stevenson for pigWar's J Dilla, Rod Stewart & Led Zeppelin-influenced Full-length (Outright Music)
"We’re mashing up classic 60/70’s Soul grooves with the 80’s Synth-aesthetic of guys like Lucio Battisti and the heavy guitar riffs found in Modern Rock by guys like Jack White... There’s an incredible throwback thing happening in Soul music right now. We love that sound, and we’re hugely inspired by it, but we want to take people to the edge. The edge is where new meaning emerges, new perspective; the weird stuff," Portland-based pigWar guitarist and producer Teddy Presberg detailed within a recent Outright Music statement. Presberg, along with core pigWar members frontman Garett Brennan and keyboard-bassist LeClare Stevenson, craft a unique blend of Hard R&B and spaced-out Psychedelic Soul that's equally informed by traditional 1970's Soul-Funk, as well as J Dilla, Led Zeppelin, Teddy Pendergrass, Rod Stewart-helmed The Faces, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Prior to pigWar's January 2015 inception, Teddy Presberg spear-headed a wide array of genre-spanning collectives including (but not limited to) DoveDriver, FU*K MONSTER, The Resistance Organ Trio, Soul Rub, and Broken Hearts Club, as well as his critically-acclaimed Ropeadope Records-issued solo debut, Blueprint of Soul (2007). Teddy Presberg has released more than 12 albums since Blueprint of Soul and actively collaborates on several different musical side-projects scattered all across the country. "pigWar has also made a unique pact with their fans in that the lyrical content of their music can only pull from the tenants of Soul & Rock: sex, heartbreak, and justice!"
"After spending five years steeped in the St. Louis Jazz & Soul scene, collaborating, and touring heavily with organ player LeClare Stevenson, the two decided to move back to Portland to launch a new project. When they landed in Portland and fired up their Experimental organ trio project DoveDriver, they sought out an unlikely vocalist and song-writer to tighten that sound and launch pigWar: Garett Brennan," pigWar's Album Release One-Sheet continued. While it's largely unclear who else took part in DoveDriver's self-titled October 2015 released EP, it seemed to serve as a solid jumping-off point for pigWar's imminent formation—their 2-part debut release, Make Love Vol. I-II, was actually let loose prior to DoveDriver's 5-track EP. pigWar's just-released self-titled album was co-produced by Teddy Presberg & The Monophonics and was recorded in Nov. 2015 at Transistor Sound Studios following a set of particularly rambunctious gigs at their favorite San Francisco venue, The Boom Boom Room. pigWar's current studio line-up is rounded out by drummer Dave Coniglio, trumpet player Josh Thomas, Reid Neuman on sax, "vibes" from Kelly Finnigan, and backing vocals from Angie Fritz and Tony Ozier. Arietta "Mz. Etta" Ward sings lead vocals on pigWar-2 track "Sweet Thang," as does Nick Savage (in lieu of Garett Brennan) on "Wait a Bit More." pigWar's self-titled album is currently available to stream, download, or purchase on CD from teddypresberg's aptly-titled "music for dancers and lovers of life" Bandcamp.