A Vancouver punk band has incited outrage by featuring accused serial killer Robert Pickton in their lyrics and on their album cover.
The band, , usually pens anti-establishment songs about social strife and political upheaval, but the song "Throw Me to the Pigs" features explicit references to Pickton and his crimes, for which he is currently on trial.
"Robert Pickton is my name. I look inbred and deranged. Put a bullet in my brain, I need to die," lead singer Will Downer growls on the track from their 2007 album Indifferent Omnivores.
The band's album cover art features Pickton dressed in a tuxedo, carving up an unspecified carcass for U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Relatives of some of women Pickton is accused of killing told CTV British Columbia they are furious over the band's choice of inspiration.
Joyce LaChance is the aunt of 24-year-old Marnie Frey. Frey disappeared in 1997 and her body was found on Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
"It's absolutely disgusting, it's very hurtful," LaChance told CTV British Columbia.
"Pull it off the shelf; think about what you're doing before you put stuff on the shelf for sale. How hurtful it could be for other families, put yourself in our shoes."
The band maintains their provocative punk lyrics were not meant to be malicious and that the songs were inspired by their shock over the grisly deaths.
"When we first saw the story of Pickton and all these poor women, we were disgusted and saddened for these poor women. It's our outlet," Downer said.
Guitarist Tiffany Cunha says the CD was not intended to hurt the families of the missing women.
"I'm really sorry if we've offended you at all, that's not our intention," Cunha said.
The band said it will not be pulling their CD from store shelves, maintaining that if people don't like it they can turn it off.
Pickton is on trial for killing six Vancouver women who disappeared from the Downtown Eastside beginning in the late 1990s.
The accused is facing six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson and Sereena Abotsway. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Pickton was arrested in February 2002 and the jury trial began Jan. 22. He is to stand trial on 20 other counts of murder at a later date.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Carrie Stefanson
