Recently Unearthed Video Of 80s Punk Band "The Pork Guys" With Moby On Drums

"Then we played in New York City with Earth Crisis and the only clothing I wore was a donut around my penis. We only ever played in our underwear or naked."

Moby, New York City's favorite techno-vegan, played in various punk bands while attending college in Connecticut. One of those bands was called The Pork Guys, which he continued to play with at least through the 90s with friends Tarquin Katis and Paul Yates. Yates and Moby famously had a falling out in the last decade (they have since reconciled), and Yates sold Moby's soul on Ebay for $41.

Last Thursday, Yates quietly uploaded a video of The Pork Guys to his Vimeo channel.


Is the video real, or a a new take on an old band just for laughs? Moby himself indirectly confirmed its authenticity in a recent tweet.

Yates wrote on Vimeo, "I say it is real, pete says it's a joke, tarquin is in 100%, who knows about Moby?" (In an email, he explained he was referencing the music, not the band or video).

Looking for clarification and confirmation, NYC The Blog exchanged a few emails with Yates, where he explained quite a bit. The Pork Guys recorded an album, IF YOU DON'T MASTURBATE YOU'RE AN IDIOT (cover art at top) produced by Peter Katis, but only ever released a five song single in 1999, hence the video. Yates wrote:

I shot the video in 1999 in an abandoned factory building in Stamford, CT where Moby and I had lived at separate times in our lives. It was the original Yale Lock building. Moby and I recorded another album there in 1987 under the name SHOPWELL.

The video is in no way a spoof--punk is often very serious even when it is joking. We formed in 1989 when I was living in the singer's basement: Tarquin Katis (of ZAMBONIS and PHILISTINES JR.) We were all musicians of varying degree, so we chose the instruments we were the worst at, starting with Moby who chose the drums, Tarquin singing and guitar, me on bass. Tihs gave us the obstructions we needed to make a sincere punk band.

We played in New York City with Earth Crisis and the only clothing I wore was a donut around my penis. We only ever played in our underwear or naked. 

What about the information you provided on Vimeo, 'you say it's real, Pete says it's a joke,' what did you mean?

Peter Katis always said we were making fun of punk. I disagreed as I took it 100% seriously. Tarquin wrote most of the lyrics, with our help and they mostly seemed to be a commentary on punk, but that was always a BIG part of punk since its inception. In 7" Sellout he's not just singing about a sellout, but someone who made a vinyl record instead of just giving it out on cassette.

According to Yates, Tarquin always joked that he wrote the song about Moby. He also disclosed if he received enough pre-orders, he would go ahead release a full length album. If you're interested, let him know in the comments here.

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