BIG SPECIAL

LIMITED WHITE VINYL

Words cannot be taken for granted. Especially not when they are shouted out by a broad-shouldered poet with the fire of a preacher and the honesty and wisdom of a layman over earthy live beats and between anthemic melodies and rousing riffs.

Words are important. History is important. People are important. And Big Special are important.

For Big Special - Joe Hicklin (vocals) and Callum Moloney (drums) - their sound is a vibrant, frustrated voice from the young working class that isn't always heard as much as it should be. It's a frustration expressed through a voice that is sometimes rough and raspy, but sometimes sensitive, desperate and soulful. Hicklin's brimstone-fired voice marches from guttural punk yelps and jagged spoken word to soaring soul and back again, skimming from its forebears, crushed under the weight of history and refashioned for a new generation. The songs are hard, raw and angry at a world where there are no options, at the thinning of common understanding between England's social classes, at despair over repetitive cycles and at the feeling that you're on the outside looking in at your own life.

These are songs that echo the voice you hear when you look in the mirror and see the real you - fight songs for a world that's gone off the rails.

Reviews
"They're not the kind of band you forget quickly." (Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6 Music)

"Music that holds its own and looks you straight in the eye." (Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6 Music)

"The Black Country is rising again." (Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6 Music)

"These two men are making an amazing noise." (Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music)

"Fantastic poetry, powerful songwriting and a sonic texture you won't hear anywhere else." (Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music)

1. Black Country Gothic
2. I Mock Joggers
3. Desperate Breakfast
4. Shithouse
5. This Here Ain't Water
6. My Shape (Blocking The Light)
7. Black Dog / White Horse
8. Broadcast: Time Away
9. Ill.
10. Mongrel
11. Butcher's Bin
12. Dust Off / Start Again
13. Trees
14. For The Birds
15. Dig!