Love As Fiction Records have announced that iconic Sydney band Big Heavy Stuff‘s final 2004 album is available for pre-order today.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of the album will be released on Vinyl, CD and Cassette in limited editions. For the first time it also includes a previously unreleased version of the album, titled ‘Naked Friends and Enemies’ which is an earlier raw version of the album mixed by the legendary Wayne Connolly.
The album has been remastered by Chris Hanzsek and artwork refreshed and re-designed by Matt W Bayes. It has been curated directly with the band in collaboration with Nick Kennedy. There will be a Double Vinyl LP, Remastered with a limited edition release of 150 copies. this will feature updated and restored artwork by Matt W. Bayes, plus 2 unreleased mixes and digital download of the full album and alternative version ‘Naked Friends and Enemies’.
A magic treasure from a magic album. You can order the album here.
Big Heavy Stuff was an Australian indie rock band, established in 1990 in Sydney. The band released four studio albums before folding in the mid-2000s, later reuniting for some select shows between 2009 and 2010. The band toured regularly with fellow Australian bands such as Powderfinger, You Am I, and Something for Kate, and were the main support on Radiohead’s OK Computer tour of Australia. Big Heavy Stuff was also a support act for Dinosaur Jr., The Stone Roses, Neil Finn, and Babes in Toyland.
Big Heavy Stuff was initially formed by brothers Greg Atkinson (lead vocals/rhythm guitars) and Darren Atkinson (drums/backup vocals), along with Carolyn Polley (lead guitars/backup vocals) and Darren Jones (bass). Greg Atkinson had previously fronted the band Ups and Downs, which Darren Atkinson was also a member of. Ups and Downs was more pop in nature, and the two brothers formed Big Heavy Stuff to venture into the rock genre. Around the same time, Polley was the guitarist in Toys Went Berserk, and also played in Dutiful Daughters.
Big Heavy Stuff was initially signed to Volition Records, an Australian division of Sony Records. They released a string of EPs and singles from 1991 to 1993 before releasing the full-length album Truck in 1993. Afterwards, Darren Atkinson left the band and was replaced by Nick Kennedy. They then released the EP Trouble & Desire in 1994, and Jones departed from the band shortly after. He was replaced on bass by Eliot Fish. The lineup of Greg Atkinson, Polley, Kennedy, and Fish then remained constant throughout the band’s existence.
Fish has recorded as a solo artist and released a six-song EP Trick of Light on the Nonlinear label in mid-2012.[5] Fish also reunited with Kennedy to form The Electorate with Josh Morris (Atticus), releasing an album in October 2020 called You Don’t Have Time to Stay Lost on the Templebear label.[6]
Greg Atkinson eventually formed Worker Bees with his brother Darren Atkinson. They released their self-titled debut album in 2011.[7] From 2011 to 2017, the Atkinson brothers also reformed their earlier band Ups and Downs, and they released the full-length album The Sky’s in Love With You in 2017.
