Big Big Train is a British progressive rock band formed in Bournemouth in 1990. Until 2009, Big Big Train was active primarily as a studio project led by multi-instrumentalists Greg Spawton and Andy Poole.
In recent years, Big Big Train has built a substantial and passionate following for their music. Noted for their story-telling songs and progressive rock influences, their 2017 album, Grimspound, reached number one in the UK Official Rock Album Chart. After selling out a three gig residency at London’s Cadogan Hall in 2017, the band headlined the Night of the Prog festival at Loreley, Germany in 2018.
Big Big Train released the “Swan Hunter” single on July 13th, 2018. The single set includes a remix of the studio album version and a live performance of “Swan Hunter,” together with two previously unreleased tracks. Swan Hunter is an elegy for the shipbuilding communities of England’s north-east.
Vocalist David Longdon said: “Imagine being a child who grew up within this community, seeing these huge vessels grow daily until their launch. Imagine the relentless sound of machinery and construction workers. Your father most likely would have worked there and probably his father before him. It must have been almost impossible back then to imagine a time when this way of life would come to an end. This is what you knew and it defined you.”
Andy Poole left the band in 2018.
Inspired by the 17th and 18th century custom of the Grand Tour, where young men and women traveled to broaden the mind, Big Big Train made an album of songs set in distant lands and beyond.
Grand Tour features nine new tracks which take listeners on an epic journey over land and sea and through time and space.
The 2019 line-up included band founder Greg Spawton on bass, guitars and keyboards; Nick D’Virgilio on drums; Dave Gregory on guitars; Rachel Hall on violin and vocals; David Longdon on vocals, flute, keyboards and guitars; Danny Manners on keyboards and bass; and Rikard Sjöblom on keyboards and guitars. Robin Armstrong (guitars and keyboards) joined the band for live performances.
Empire, a live Blu-ray film/2 CD was released in 2020. Recorded on November 2nd, 2019 at the Hackney Empire in London, the 12 song set runs just under 2 hours and includes material from the English Electric, Folklore, Grimspound and Grand Tour studio albums. It was directed and edited by Tim Sidwell of Toward Infinity (who has previously worked with Marillion, Status Quo, Thunder, Magnum, Lisa Stansfield and Steps), with audio mixed by BBT’s sound engineer Rob Aubrey.
Regarding the song Hedgerow featured on Empire, bassist Greg Spawton said: “Hedgerows are an essential part of our landscape. For wildlife, they are like motorways and cities all rolled into one. So, we wanted to celebrate the not-so-humble hedgerow with a song. We hadn’t played this tune for a few years, and it was good fun to dust it off and perform it on our UK tour last year.”
“Hedgerow is a song that has constantly evolved with every live performance and will no doubt continue to do so,” added violinist Rachel Hall. “Being the first song I was invited to record on for Big Big Train, it was enjoyable to perform as an old favorite with amendments to the arrangement for these live shows, including some sneaky adaptations to the violin solo. Thankfully, having been previously performed as backing vocals in both Hedgerow and Uncle Jack, the nursery rhyme words were already planted in my mind when the band suggested in rehearsals that I sing it as a solo line for the shows. It was a privilege to step out with David to perform the uplifting ending of Hedgerow on the latest UK tour.”
In July 2021, Big Big Train released “Common Ground.” Big Big Train continued its tradition of dramatic narratives as well as topics like Covid pandemic lockdowns, the separation of loved ones, the passage of time, deaths of people close to the band and the hope that springs from a new love. The “Common Ground” touring band included Greg Spawton on bass; David Longdon on lead vocals, flute; Nick D’Virgilio on drums, vocals; Rikard Sjöblom on guitars, keyboards, vocals; Carly Bryant on keyboards, guitars, vocals; Dave Foster on guitars; Clare Lindley on violin, vocals and a five piece brass ensemble.
In October 2021, the band announced the release of a new album titled Welcome To The Planet, scheduled for release in early 2022. Big Big Train founder Gregory Spawton explained the short time between albums: “The experience of the pandemic has shown us that we need to make the best use of our time on Earth. With that in mind and with new band members on board giving us a fresh head of steam, we decided on a speedy return to the studio to write and record Welcome To The Planet.”
Lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist David Longdon died on November 20 November, 2021. He was 56.
Discography:
From The River To The Sea (Least Peculiar Music, 1991)
The Infant Hercules (Least Peculiar Music, 1993)
Goodbye To The Age Of Steam (Giant Electric Pea, 1994)
English Boy Wonders (Giant Electric Pea, 1997)
Bard (Treefrog, 2002)
Gathering Speed (Treefrog, 2004)
The Difference Machine (English Electric Recordings, 2007)
The Underfall Yard (English Electric Recordings, 2009)
Far Skies Deep Time, EP (English Electric Recordings, 2010)
English Electric Part One (English Electric Recordings/Giant Electric Pea, 2012)
English Electric Part Two (English Electric Recordings/Giant Electric Pea, 2013)
Make Some Noise, EP (English Electric Recordings, 2013)
Wassail, EP (English Electric Recordings, 2015)
Folklore (English Electric Recordings/Giant Electric Pea, 2016)
A Stone’s Throw From The Line, live (English Electric Recordings, 2016)
The Second Brightest Star (English Electric Recordings, 2017)
Grimspound (English Electric Recordings/Giant Electric Pea, 2017)
Merchants Of Light, live (English Electric Recordings, 2018)
Grand Tour (English Electric Recordings, 2019)
Empire – Live At The Hackney Empire (English Electric Recordings, 2020)
Common Ground (English Electric Recordings, 2021)
Updated biography, discography and videos.