Hardcore music ‘was everything’ to Matty Matheson in high school

Matty Matheson has two million followers on Instagram but many of them are learning something new about him.

He’s best known as a celebrity chef whose rise to fame started with a number of shows with VICE, eventually climbing into massive stardom with his two New York Times best-selling cookbooks, countless cooking videos, and his roles as Neil Fak and an executive producer with the multiple-Emmy-winning series ‘The Bear.’

But in recent weeks, he’s turned heads by launching the new hardcore band Pig Pen, which consists of Wade MacNeil from Alexisonfire, as well as Dan Romano, Ian Romano, and Tommy Major, who have played in several bands in their own longstanding musical careers, such as Dan Romano’s Outfit.

The Romanos hail from Welland and MacNeil is a St. Catharines native.

Matheson, who grew up in Fort Erie and still lives in town when he’s not travelling the world to pursue his many ventures, formed the idea with the other members during the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded an album about three years ago.

And now it’s all coming out, starting with Pig Pen’s first show at Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto last weekend.

It will be difficult to tour because everyone’s schedules are “crazy as s–t,” but there are a few more appearances planned in the near future, including a yet-to-be-announced appearance in Niagara this summer, as well as one in New York City, Matheson said.

Matheson’s roots in hardcore music began long before he was a celebrity, but from when he was in high school and regularly crossed the Peace Bridge to see bands in Buffalo, a city with an iconic scene in the genre that has produced big names like Snapcase, Every Time I Die, Kid Gorgeous, Buried Alive, and more.

In 1999, at 17 years old, Matheson was the vocalist for a band called Hanging Hearts, consisting of Fort Erie natives Nate Hindle and Matt Bourassa, as well as Fort Erie Radio’s own Kris Dubé on drums.

Along with some other friends, they organized a show at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, which was headlined by Every Time I Die, a band that called it quits in 2022 but was for many years one of the biggest acts in hardcore in North America and beyond.

“Going to shows at a young age was the best thing ever,” Matheson said in an interview with Fort Erie Radio on Wednesday, admitting that his taste in music and being part of a scene is something he has always considered important.

“In high school, that was everything to us,” said Matheson.

“Every weekend, we went to Buffalo for hardcore shows,” he said, noting venues such as the now-closed Showplace Theatre, as well as basements where bands played.

“Basement shows were massive in the late ’90s and early 2000s, and we used to go to them all the time,” he added.

Pig Pen is releasing a full-length album on Flatspot Records in late June called ‘Mental Mentality’ and has already dropped its first single ‘Mental Madness.’

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