Pigpen/Sweeter Than The Day

Doors: 6:30pm Show: 7:30pm

Tickets: $20 advance, $25 doors

Advance tickets can only be purchased online-we do not sell advance tickets at the venue. Refunds are not available within 48 hours of the event. Tickets do not guarantee seating during shows at the Royal Room. 

We are now accepting reservations for diners! After purchasing tickets, please visit the Reservations page to book a table. Table reservations require advance tickets, and are only for guests who plan to dine at the Royal Room.  We do not take reservations over the phone.

Seating for non-diners is first come, first served. Please arrive early to guarantee a seat!

The Royal Room is All Ages until 10pm. 

These two nights in December of 2025 celebrate the legacy of Wayne Horvitz’ first Seattle based band, and the release this fall of Live Forever: Pigpen Live in Berlin 1994. The band, with Mike Stone, Briggan Krauss and Keith Lowe will perform tracks from the release. 30 years later this music sounds fresher than ever, and no two performances area alike.

Each evening will feature more current projects. On Dec 27th the evening will open with The Royal We featuring Skerik and D’Vonne Lewis. Dec. 38th opens with Sweeter Than the Day, featuring guitarist Timothy Young.

Originally running 1992 – 1996, PIGPEN was the beginning of a long-term musical partnership be-tween Wayne Horvitz and alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss. Initially performing in rock clubs in the Northwest, Pigpen also did two European tours as well as performances in Canada and New York. 

In addition to their quartet sets, PIGPEN avidly welcomed other collaborations, creating numerous special projects over the years including projects with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, San-tana drummer Michael Shrieve, The Billy Tipton Saxophone Quartet, Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, and Seattle icon Skerik.

PIGPEN recorded 5 CDs: Halfrack (1993), Miss Ann (1994) and Daylight (1997) on the Tim Kerr Label, V as in Victim (Avant 1994) and Live In Poland (Cavity Search 1995) which was recorded at the Akwarium in Warsaw. Tim Kerr also released a 7" single - Kind Of Dead/Pattern 56/Interlude (1993).

Hovitz remembers, “Pigpen was my first Seattle-based band.  Hearing Mike Stone and Briggan Krauss really inspired me to connect with the Seattle community, and the new breed of musicians who not only wanted to break down the boundaries between rock, jazz, and improvised music, but frankly came of age not even thinking much about them. Pigpen was also the only project of mine that was in any way influenced by my years with Naked City. As much as I loved Naked City, I always felt that when we played rock we still acted like a jazz band, working off charts, not re-hearsing, not memorizing the music, how the music was mixed and so on. With PIGPEN I wanted to take what I'd learned from Naked City and move it into a band that acted like rock, even when we played jazz.

The time was perfect in Seattle, and venues like the Off Ramp, The Crocodile Cafe, the OK Hotel etc. were great venues to start what became one of my most important and beloved projects.”

YouTube  @WayneHorvitzOfficial. Instagram @waynehorvitz. Facebook @wbhorvitz

SHMP.  @southhudsonmusicproject for IG and FB

Andy Roth- @andytherock.   @keith_lowe_bass