Matty Matheson, celebrity chef and scene-stealing star of The Bear, has been a hardcore head for a very long time. He's worn Power Trip and Harm's Way shirts on The Bear, and he had a very fun HardLore podcast episode a couple of years ago. In 2019, Matheson released A Cookbook, which is not a cookbook but which is instead a double LP and zine of recipes and stories that came out on Roadrunner. Now, he's singing for a hardcore band, and he knows what he's doing up there.
Last month, Matty Matheson announced that he recently got together with some old friends, including Alexisonfire's Wade MacNeil, to record 10 songs in two days. The band is called Pig Pen, and they played their first show on Friday night, headlining at the Toronto venue Sneaky Dee's with Best Wishes and Pluto's Kiss. Hardcore bands usually put out demos before they play their first shows so that people can sing along, but that's not what Pig Pen did. Instead, that show represents the first time that the world heard these songs, which are perfectly credible midtempo chuggers. Matheson's got a great presence for this kind of thing, and his high-pitched scream really cuts through everything.
In videos from Friday night, you can see Matheson really commanding a stage and showing off occasional skank moves. The crowd seems more interested in taking pictures than bringing the mosh, but that's not his fault. This feels less like a celebrity's musical toe-dip, more like someone who really loves this music and wanted to try making it himself. Watch some videos of the set below.
