THE LAST OF PIGGY'S VOIVOD

OK that may be the most confusing headline ever but the point is Voivod's latest album, 2006's Katorz, was completed without late Voivod guitarist Denis 'Piggy' D'Amour (above), whose parts were pieced together from tracks he'd recorded prior to his me-devastating death in 2005. (Remember that stretch? Dime, Hunter Thompson, Mitch Hedberg, Piggy. Fuuuck.) Apparently, the rest of the band will wring out a final album from existing Piggy tracks:

We are putting finishing touches on the as-yet untitled new record, due this spring. Jason Newsted ended up playing on all the bass tracks. This album will mark the end of the Voivod songs Piggy wrote and performed. There are other songs from Piggy yet to be released, he wrote for himself and other projects.

Speaking of Piggy solo stuff, he and a friend of mine struck up an acquaintance at Milwaukee Metalfest. Both oddball guitarists, the two were chummy to the extent of regular correspondence (pre-MySpace) and exchanging demos. It was this way that I heard a cassette of Piggy's solo instrumental stuff around what ... 1994? Parts of that landed on Voivod albums, but we'd always kept our fingers crossed for a full-fledged Piggy solo album. And we told him so regularly. Sigh.