Big Big Train

Big Big Train
Big Big Train, LR: Andy Poole, Danny Manners, David Longdon, Rikard Sjöblom, Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall, Greg Spawton
General information
Genre (s)	Retro prog
founding	1990
Website	www.bigbigtrain.com
Founding members
guitar	Gregory Spawton
bass	Andy Poole (until 2017)
Keyboard, vocals	Ian Cooper (until 1995; 2002-2004)
Current occupation
Guitar, keyboard, bass, background vocals	Gregory Spawton
Lead vocals, flute, keyboard, guitar	David Longdon (since 2009)
Drums, backing vocals, percussion	Nick D'Virgilio (since 2009)
Guitar, sitar, mellotron	Dave Gregory (since 2009)
Keyboard, double bass	Danny Manners (since 2012)
Violin, vocals	Rachel Hall (since 2014)
Keyboard, guitar, backing vocals	Rikard Sjöblom (since 2014)
former members
singing	Martin Read (1991-1999)
Keyboard, vocals	Tony Müller (1995-2001)
Drums	Pete Hibbit (1998)
Drums	Phil Hogg (2002)
singing	Sean Filkins (2002-2009)
Drums	Steve Hughes (1991-1998; 2003-2009)
Bass, keyboard, guitar	Andy Poole (1990-2017)

Big Big Train is a British retro prog band that was founded in 1990 by members of the band Arcshine and has so far released eleven studio albums and four EPs in changing line-ups - with Gregory Spawton and Andy Poole as a solid core.

history

1987 to 1994

Andy Poole, who was playing with Ian Cooper in the band Arcshine at the time, met Gregory Spawton, who had left his band Equus three years earlier to study, in 1987, and they discovered that they had a penchant for progressive rock -Bands like Van der Graaf Generator and IQ shared. They soon began recording some demo songs and eventually formed Big Big Train with Ian Cooper after Arcshine broke up in 1990. Drummer Steve Hughes and singer Martin Read followed a little later. In October 1991, the quintet took a 8-track - demo tape on which under the name From the River to the Sea was re-recorded in 1992 and released on CD. In the following year the band released their second demo recording The Infant Hercules and in 1994 their debut album Goodbye to the Age Of Steam , which was recorded in two weeks in 1993 and which was soon followed by a record deal with the progressive rock-related record company GEP.

1995 to 2002

For family reasons, keyboardist and founding member Ian Cooper left a little later, while Tony Müller joined as successor during the recording of the second album, English Boy Wonders . English Boy Wonders was finally released in 1997. In September 1998, Steve Hughes left the band to play with The Enid and was replaced by Pete Hibbit. After a few concerts with this line-up, GEP ended the collaboration with the band. Together, Andy Poole and Gregory Spawton then worked on other pieces and finally decided, in order to be more independent, to set up their own recording studio and to record the pieces on their own together with changing fellow musicians. In February 2002, the resulting album Bard was released on the now self-founded Treefrog label. Around the same time, Steve Hughes rejoined Big Big Train, as The Enid was on hiatus, and Ian Cooper rejoined the band.

2003 to 2008

With the new singer Sean Filkins, who had since replaced Tony Müller, the fourth studio album Gathering Speed followed in March 2004 , which was structured as a concept album and on which post-rock influences were heard for the first time . Once again without Ian Cooper, work began on the following album, The Difference Machine . The own label Treefrog was renamed English Electric Recordings. Through Rob Aubrey, who mixed all BBT albums and also worked for Transatlantic , the band got in touch with Pete Trewavas ( Marillion ), Dave Meros ( Spock's Beard ) and Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard, Genesis , Tears for Fears ) who then appeared as guest musicians on the album The Difference Machine , which was released on August 30, 2007. A revised version of the album English Boy Wonders followed on December 1, 2008.

Since 2009

In February 2009, Gregory Spawton announced that Sean Filkins and Steve Hughes had been replaced by David Longdon and Nick D'Virgilio; both had already worked together on Genesis 'last album Calling All Stations (Longdon was in the competition to replace Phil Collins until the end, but ultimately Banks and Rutherford decided on Ray Wilson as the new singer, because Longdon's voice sounded too similar to Collins' new Genesis should sound different). Dave Gregory (formerly XTC ) has also been part of the band since August 2009 . In this line-up, the album The Underfall Yard was recorded and released on December 15, 2009, it received widely positive reviews; Here, too, the critics pointed to the often curious resemblance of Longdon's voice to that of Phil Collins in the 1970s, when he replaced Peter Gabriel at Genesis. In 2010 the EP Far Skies Deep Time was released. The next album, English Electric , was a "split" double album: the first part was released on September 3, 2012, the second followed on March 4, 2013. In January 2013, Big Big Train announced that Danny Manners (keyboard, double bass) would be a permanent member of the band is. Danny Manners had already helped out on Far Skies Deep Time, and while working on English Electric Part One he had already become a composer. In addition, Station Masters is being planned, a CD that will contain pieces from the older albums - but completely re-recorded by the current line-up. On July 13, 2018, Big Big Train will play for the first time in their 28-year history in mainland Europe. The occasion is an appearance at the 13th Night of the Prog Festival on the Loreley. On January 1, 2018, co-founder Andy Poole surprisingly announced his departure on the band's website. A replacement for the upcoming concerts has already been found in Robin Armstrong (Cosmographer); the band now officially continues as a septet.

style

Since the founding of Big Big Train, the genre of music has evolved from neo-prog with indie-pop elements, similar to bands like Jadis , to retro-prog with influences from Van der Graaf Generator, Genesis and Yes , but also King Crimson , Steve Hackett and Sigur Rós .

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Grimspound   UK 45 05/11/2017 (1 week) Merchants of Light   UK 92 08/09/2018 (1 week) Grand Tour   UK 35 05/30/2019 (1 week)

Studio albums

• 1994: Goodbye to the Age of Steam
• 1997: English Boy Wonders
• 2002: Bard
• 2004: Gathering Speed
• 2007: The Difference Machine
• 2009: The Underfall Yard
• 2012: English Electric Part One
• 2013: English Electric Part Two
• 2013: English Electric: Full Power (contains English Electric Part One + Two + 4 tracks from the EP Make Some Noise )
• 2016: folklore
• 2017: Grimspound
• 2017: The Second Brightest Star
• 2019: Grand Tour

EPs

• 2010: Far Skies Deep Time
• 2013: Make Some Noise
• 2015: Wassail
• 2018: Swan Hunter

Live recordings

• 2016: Stone and Steel
• 2016: A Stone's Throw from the Line
• 2018: Merchants of Light

Demo recordings

• 1991: From the River to the Sea (new recording and publication 1992)
• 1993: The Infant Hercules

Trivia

Gregory Spawton's grandfather and uncles all worked on the railroad. One of them bought Greg a toy train set called the Big Big Train. Greg's brother was a drummer in a new wave band named after the set. After his brother's band broke up, Greg kept the name in mind and eventually used it again for his band.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rob works with Spock's, Transatlantic , bigbigtrain.blogspot.de, accessed on May 10, 2012.
2. ↑ Dave Gregory with Big Big Train , bigbigtrain.blogspot.de, accessed on May 10, 2012.
3. ↑ My highest recommendation indeed. , ProGGnosis.com, accessed February 9, 2010.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Reviews of the album "The Underfall Yard" on the Babyblauen Seiten, accessed on February 9, 2010.
5. ↑ Volume 1 is released on September 3rd 2012, and volume 2 March 4th 2013 , bigbigtrain.blogspot.de, accessed on May 5, 2012.
6. ↑ We are pleased to announce that Danny Manners has joined Big Big Train ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , bigbigtrain.com, accessed February 19, 2013.  
7. ↑ which includes an hour's worth of some of our previous material completely re-recorded by the new line-up , dprp.net, accessed on September 17, 2012.
8. ↑ loudersound.com: Big Big Train recruit Cosmograf's Robin Armstrong for live shows
9. ↑ English Boy Wonders combined progressive rock (Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator) with indie-pop influences ( XTC , The Cure .) , Big-Big-Train-Biography ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at bigbigtrain.wordpress.com, accessed August 14, 2012. 
10. ↑ Reviews on the album "English Boy Wonders" on the Babyblauen Seiten , accessed on February 9, 2010.
11. ^ Genesis, Premiata Forneria Marconi , Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Mew , Sigur Ros, Oceansize ; Influences list on the band's MySpace profile , accessed February 9, 2010.
12. ↑ Big Big Train in the UK charts
13. ↑ ... bought me a train set which was called Big Big Train , imaginativeconservative.org, accessed July 8, 2012.

Web links

• Official website
• Big-Big-Train biography at bigbigtrain.wordpress.com
• Big Big Train at Allmusic (English)
• Big Big Train on the baby blue pages
• Big Big Train on Myspace