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All Music Guide:
Big Wreck are a late-'90s neo-prog hard rock outfit comprised of Ian Thornley (vocals, guitar), Brian Doherty (guitar), Dave Henning (bass), and Forrest Williams (drums). The quartet met in the early '90s when they were studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Eventually, the four spent more time jamming together than attending class, and they soon decided to leave school to form Big Wreck. The group became fixtures around Boston and Cambridge, as they regularly played local stages. After spending several years rehearsing and playing concerts, Big Wreck landed a contract with Atlantic Records in 1997. Their debut album, In Loving Memory Of..., was released in the fall of that year. Their sophomore effort, The Pleasure & the Greed, arrived in 2001. It would be some 11 years before the group's next album, Albatross, appeared in 2012.
Wikipedia:
Big Wreck is a rock band formed by Canadian Ian Thornley in 1994. They disbanded in 2002 and Ian Thornley went onto a successful solo career with his own band Thornley. In 2010, Ian Thornley and Brian Doherty reunited for a cross-Canada tour, playing both Big Wreck and Thornley songs. In 2012, under the name Big Wreck, the band released their third studio album, Albatross.
History [edit]
Formation and In Loving Memory Of... [edit]
The band was formed in Boston,Massachusetts by Canadian vocalist Ian Thornley, guitarist Brian Doherty, bassist Dave Henning and drummer Forrest Williams, who met as students at the Berklee College of Music. After several years of gigging in Boston and Cambridge, the band signed to a major label and released its debut album In Loving Memory Of... in 1997. The single "The Oaf" was a major Top Ten hit for the band that year.
Perhaps because Ian Thornley is Canadian, the band's biggest commercial success was in Canada rather than the United States (see MAPL system). The album's subsequent singles, "That Song" and "Blown Wide Open", were not as successful on the American charts as "The Oaf", but both charted well in Canada.
In October 2001, Big Wreck played a special show at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Uzume Taiko Ensemble of drummers, with The Tragically Hip's Paul Langlois and Robby Baker and guitarist - as they shared the same manager, Bernie Breen from Bernie Breen Music Management, as well as Eric Johnson also making appearances.
The Pleasure and the Greed, breakup, and other projects [edit]
The band's second album The Pleasure and the Greed (released in 2001) was marred by poor marketing and was not as big a hit as their debut album, especially in the United States. The band broke up a year later.
Thornley moved back to Toronto, launching the band Thornley. Doherty is now living in Camlachie, a small community near Sarnia, Ontario, where he teaches guitar and prepares students for University or Conservatory entrance requirements. Doherty also went on to form the indie band Death of 8, but the other band members have not yet emerged with new projects.
Hard rock band Submersed and American Idol winner David Cook have both cited the band as an influence.
Reunion and Albatross [edit]
In 2010 Ian and Brian rekindled their friendship which led to Brian filling in for a Thornley show, and then joining the band as they naturally reconnected as musicians. This led the band to tour with Thornley's band as "An Evening with Thornley and Big Wreck".
In November 2011, Big Wreck released their song Albatross as the lead single of the band's 2012 album of the same name.
On February 5th, Big Wreck performed at the Sound Academy in Toronto for Canada's Official Super Bowl XLVI party. Big Wreck completed two tours in 2012 across Canada from BC to Ontario in the Spring/Summer (April to July), and later they joined Theory of a Deadman for the Jingle Bell Rock tour in the Fall/Winter of 2012 (November to December 2012).
