Big Special have announced their highly-anticipated debut album Postindustrial Hometown Blues due for release on the 10th of May via SO Recordings. The Black Country duo are also sharing their first new music of 2024, with new single ‘Dust Off / Start Again’.
Lead singer Joe Hicklin had the following to say:
“‘Dust Off / Start Again’ is a bolt of cursed vomit, spewed into a stewpot of English class issues regarding housing, ownership, mental illness, appropriation and human rights. It’s about the disregard for the common man. And how it is expected of anyone, regardless of their situation, to carry on, struggle through and go to work. It’s about how the privileged and powerful attempt to define, debate and justify the social positions of all whilst the ideals of our governing systems are pressed upon the working-class youth, so that they quietly accept their role as a commodity and place blame on each other, as they wave the flag that keeps them down.”
Continuing about the album he says: “Postindustrial Hometown Blues is an album about depression. It’s about the different shapes it takes; personal, social, generational… and it’s about coming face to face with those ghosts and what we do or how we feel when that happens.
The album offers no answers, it is just an honest expression of a working-class experience in modern England through the eyes of ill mental health, a pursuit of art and political disenchantment; a story of rumination, realisation and reaction.
Postindustrial Hometown Blues is about learning that we are connected by our common struggles and though dark and rageful, the album holds a quiet sentiment of love and hope. It’s about laughing at the face of the void, recognising its oppressive weight, holding hands and moving forward.”
Hypnotic attitude filled truth spilling vocals over a cinematic backdrop of heavy percussion and industrial noises. It’s dark, grim and vital. These guys are leading the need for change and using their music to shout.
Check it out, here
Find out more via the bands Website or Facebook
Preorder the album here
BIG SPECIAL 2024 TOUR DATES
Tickets on sale now here.
03 Apr – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK (DIY Now & Next tour)
04 Apr – Bullingdon, Oxford, UK (DIY Now & Next tour)
05 Apr – Yellow Arch Studio, Sheffield, UK (DIY Now & Next tour)
06 Apr – Green Door Store, Brighton, UK (DIY Now & Next tour)
07 Apr – Joiners, Southampton, UK (DIY Now & Next tour)
12 Apr – New Century Hall, Manchester, UK (supp. Antony Szmierek)
13 Apr – Lafayette, London, UK (supp. Antony Szmierek)
07 May – District, Liverpool, UK
08 May – The Key Club, Leeds, UK
09 May – XOYO, Birmingham, UK
10 May – King Tuts, Glasgow, UK
12 May – Strange Brew, Bristol, UK
16 May – Jazz Café, London, UK
17 May – Horatio’s, Brighton, UK (The Great Escape 2024)
18 May – Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
20 May – Kasbah Club, Limerick, Ireland
21 May – Workman’s Cellar, Dublin, Ireland
22 May – Ulster Sports Bar, Belfast, Norther Ireland
24 May – Netherlands, Den Haag, Zwarte Ruiter (Sniester Festival)
26 May – Bearded Theory Festival, Derbyshire, UK
27 May – Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
28 May – Effenaar, Eindhoven, Netherlands
30 May – Block Party Festival, Paris, France
31 May – Vestrock, Hulst, Netherlands
01 Jun – Dauwpop Festival, Hellendoorn, Netherlands
26 Jul – Low Festival, Benidorm, Spain
28 Jul – Latitude Festival, Suffolk, UK
23 Aug – Reading Festival, Reading, UK
24 Aug – Leeds Festival, Leeds, UK
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