And in the Meantime and Between Time...

From the latest PLANET S MAGAZINE

MOVIES · MAY 06 2010

The Real Mr. Pig

PUNK ROCK ICON TELLS STORY ON OWN TERMS IN HARROWING, IMPRESSIVE DOC
by Chris Morin

OPEN UP YOUR MOUTH AND SAY MR. CHI PIG
Followed by SNFU
Saturday 8
Amigos

Open Your Mouth and Say Mr. Chi Pig is a harrowing documentary that examines the life — and quite likely the near-death — of one of punk rock’s most influential, charismatic and disturbed front men, Mr. Chi Pig of SNFU. For punk lovers, the film is clearly essential viewing, but even for non-fans the story of Mr. Pig (born Kendall Chinn) — which is told here largely by the man himself — is one worth watching.

Bursting out of the Edmonton hardcore scene of the early ‘80s, SNFU — formed by Chinn and brothers Marc and Brent Belke — quickly became one of the biggest names of North American punk rock. However, as SNFU faded from the limelight, Chinn quietly succumbed to mental disorder and a fierce drug addiction, and was essentially reduced to living the rough life of a homeless junkie in Vancouver.

First and foremost, the doc chronicles that rise and fall — but according to Open Your Mouth filmmaker Sean Shaul, the film may also have had a hand in saving Chinn’s life.

“Chi has said to me, and he may be embellishing, that we saved his life several times,” says Shaul. “He wasn’t clean when we started making the movie, and he began cleaning up over the course of the documentary. He said that doing the film and the response that we were getting [to the fact] that the film was even just coming out was really driving him.”

Shaul and his partner Craig Laviolette met the singer while frequenting various bars in Vancouver, such as Pub 340 and the now-defunct Cobalt — where Chinn was working as a busser for free beer. While befriending Chinn, the duo began hearing snippets of his tumultuous life story.

“I grew up in Edmonton, where the band originally started, so they were one of the first punk bands that I saw, back in 1995 when I was 13,” explains Shaul. “A mutual friend of Chi Pig’s and myself was telling me Chi’s back-story and I had realized that I sort of forgot about him and SNFU. This friend had told me what happened to him and it was such an interesting story — no magazines had been covering it and it was relatively unknown. I thought it would make a good documentary so I pitched the idea to Chi Pig, and he thought it was a good idea too.”

The documentary is currently making the rounds on the independent film festival circuit, but it’s also become a staple of a reformed SNFU’s live show. In fact, SNFU guitarist Ken Goonie says “[the] documentary is getting an amazing response. Our shows have been sold out across Canada — they’ve all been stellar shows with, 500 to 700 people showing up.”

Along with Chinn telling his story in his own words, Open Your Mouth showcases a an awesome guestlist of punk rock heroes from yesteryear — including Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and Chuck Dukowski from Black Flag. But perhaps even more impressive are appearances by several decidedly non-punk rockers, such as Matthew Good and Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene, proving that the influence of Chinn and SNFU extended far beyond the realm of hardcore.

As anyone who has ever witnessed SNFU in action can attest, Chinn has always been the focal point of the band, half whirling-dervish and half animated punk rock puppeteer. Although Chinn admits he can’t pull off the antics he used to, veteran punk fans in this city will remember him diving headfirst into an audience and doing a headstand, legs stretched into the air, far above the crowd.

In light of that, when the documentary’s footage focuses on Chinn, clearly dishevelled and emaciated during the height of his drug use, it is both shocking and emotional.

But Shaul, who admits he lost both a job and a girlfriend during the making of Open Your Mouth, says that the end result of the documentary is ultimately a positive and uplifting one.

“From day one [Chi Pig] said that if this was going to happen he wanted to tell his story in his own words and he wanted it to be done right, which is exactly what you would want to hear if you were pitching this to him,” he says. “And he felt the same way in that he had a fan base that didn’t know what had happened to him. He was really receptive, and once the documentary making process started he was really honoured that someone would do this for him. And, of course, we were really honoured as well. It was definitely good for both of us.”

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THE FIRE STILL BURNS…

Getting a hold of Chi Pig for an interview — at least over the phone — isn’t exactly the easiest thing to accomplish. In the hunt for a few words with the man regarding the recent documentary made about his life, Planet S was given this response from SNFU’s publicity agent:

“Chi is tough to get a hold of but here is what you do: He hangs out at PUB 340 in Vancouver every day from like 2 to 6 pm, so call there and ask for him.”

After several calls yielding awkward and empty-handed results, Mr. Pig was finally persuaded to answer a few questions on the bar’s phone — for a few minutes. In the end, perhaps it’s best to take the attitude that it’s comforting to know age hasn’t tempered either Chi Pig’s punk attitude or his incendiary, larger-than-life persona — despite the rather unnerving conversation…

CHI PIG: “I hope you have your shit together because there was a fucking douchebag, and I am a douchebag too, there was some dude who called me up and he didn’t have any questions to ask me. And I hope this is not you.”

PLANET S: “Nope, that is not me.”

CP: I’m willing and able to talk.

PS: What do you think about your documentary?

CP: In my perspective it’s a little long-winded. If I was able to re-edit it, I would’ve shortened it a little. But I like the fact that I got to tell the story of my life in that 90-minute period. Because there is a bunch of innuendo and bullshit on this Google, Twitter, blogging shit rumours about me. So otherwise, you got me and I told the truth about how all this shit went down.

PS: So how has this affected SNFU?

CP: Dude, the movie wasn’t about SNFU it was about me. I just happen to be a douchebag who was in a band called SNFU. All the other fuckers fucked off or quit. Do you realize it wasn’t an SNFU? There is a reason it was called Open Your Mouth and Say Mr. Chi Pig. It’s me telling my fucking life story.

PS: When I spoke with Sean the other day…

CP: Well it doesn’t matter what Sean says about that, it matters what I think of the movie. Who is Sean? Sean isn’t my family. Sean is a person who makes films.

PS: What do you think about SNFU playing in Costa Rica in a few days?

CP: No, I’m totally disappointed that I have to go to Costa Rica. Are you fucking kidding me? What a bummer that is.

At this point in the call the phone line essentially contained plenty of background laughter and random bar noises for a few seconds, before being unceremoniously — although perhaps thankfully — disconnected at the other end. /Morin