The Phantom Tollbooth
Big Wreck Concert Review
September 17, 1998
Karma Club, Boston, MA
URL: http://www.bigwreck.com
By Steven Stuart Baldwin
 
Big Wreck is anything but. Their music may sound big and full, but it is far too polished and precise to sound like a mess. Each of the band members studied music for a time, and it shows in their ability to create tunes which are both accessible and well crafted. They are also young men steeped in rock and roll history and fond of its various forms. As a result, they rock, and can whip their audiences into foot-stomping frenzies. The rhythm section, comprised of David Henning on bass and Forrest Williams on drums, lays down a great bottom end. Brian Doherty on rhythm guitar mostly, adds appropriate noise and texture, and front-man, Ian Thornley plays just plain great hard rocking riffs.
 
The band formed in Boston back in 1992 and, consequently, are often mistaken for a Boston-based band. That's not entirely true, since the members come from sundry places, including such distant foreign turf as, well, Canada. Given their formative years, however, playing a gig in Boston has to be a bit like coming home for them. A homecoming that reminds them of the good times when they jammed and partied together more than they studied at Berkelee College of Music. A small, but sturdy crowd were on hand to welcome them back when they played the Karma Club in the
shadow of Boston's Fenway park on September 17.
 
Well-played melodic hard rock is not a popular musical commodity these days. One has but to witness the frustrating careers of brilliant bands like King's X for proof of that statement. Despite the general public's lack of appetite for it, Big Wreck seem to be thriving. Their 1997 debut album, In Loving Memory of... has just gone platinum in Canada. (Maybe those crazy foreigners up north are onto something). The surge in Big Wreck's popularity has surely been helped by their extensive touring over the past year. They started some time in 1997 opening or co-headlining with bands like Dream Theater and Creed, and they haven't let up yet. Rumors have them in Australia in 1999, so it's not likely they're taking any vacations from touring anytime soon, either. All this hard work is
paying off. Their first three singles, "The Oaf," "That Song" and "Blown Wide Open," have had either/or both respectable air-play and MTV video rotation. They are carving their own niche with a sound that borrows liberally from myriad musical sources and melds them into an uncommonly good style of bluesy hard rock all their own. Neither paying precise homage to anyone nor ripping anyone off directly, they've found a way to sound like any accessible hard rock band and none of them at the same time. No mean feat.
 
Gratefully, the combination of calculated musicianship, precise playing and gutsy energy that is found on their album translates exceedingly well live. The band kicked things off with the bluesy "Look What I Found." Actually, they opened with it twice. When power to the stage was lost in their first attempt, the band, in an act of humility, didn't overreact to this shortage with short tempers. Their "so-what?" attitude was both refreshing  and humorous. Once the power was restored, this also give them the opportunity to build the song back to where they left off, resulting in an inspired jam session. Lead singer and lead guitarist, Ian Thornely remarked to the effect of not minding if that sort of thing happened every night, because it gave the band a great excuse to really cut loose.
 
Paying their respects to another Boston-based band, Big Wreck offered a slight cover of The Lemonhead's big hit, "Into Your Arms," before segueing seamlessly into their own most catchy and accessible single, "That Song." The combination of these two pleasurable songs back to back was an unexpected highlight. The mid-tempo "Prayer" followed, allowing Thornley the opportunity to show off some beautiful and impressive vocals. His voice has been compared with a host of lead singers from Soundgarden's Chris Cornell to U2's Bono to David Matthews to Bush's Gavin Rossdale. The one thing all these singers, including Thornley, have in common is a gifted ability to sing with such great emotional resonance that you are drawn in by it.
 
Although their own sound defies neat categorization, Big Wreck don't mind showing off some of their influences by playing covers, and there were a few throw in here and there. Their rocker "How Would You Know" included a  brief bit of Big Sugar's "If I Had My Way," and The Who's "Baba O'Riley" makes a slight appearance before Big Wreck's biggest single to date, "The Oaf (My Luck is Wasted)." Some of these homages come and go so fast, however, that you can easily overlook them. A cover of an old spiritual by Vera Hall was given a more full treatment. Sadly, that song, about God the Father's love for his children, was turned into a bit of blasphemy by a rude gesture and remark by Thornley at the song's conclusion. In his words, it's an old spiritual that they "fu*^ed with." Overlooking that rare low moment, the concert was otherwise fairly respectable with the exception of a mild beer-guzzling attitude on the band's behalf. They do appear to be more interested in creating music than partying. Their predilection for artistic demeanor over machismo is one of the band's biggest attractions, yet doesn't betray their manliness or fan appeal.
 
It should be noted here, that whereas In Loving Memory Of... contains mostly benign songs of love gone wrong, regret, longing and anxiety, the concert is a bit more brash and explicit. Lyrically, Thornley writes intelligent, poetic and meaningful lyrics that are neither embarrassing nor overly praiseworthy. They're good enough without being stellar, but they almost never resort to banality. The concert, however, could've afforded the same amount of tastefulness.
 
The set which also included respectable renditions of album highlights "Falling Through the Cracks" and "Blown Wide Open," ended with their powerful flurry of post-grunge rock and roll energy, "Between You and I." The encore started with "Under the Lighthouse," which is a song they had not been playing live up til now. Regrettably, the power went out again (what was up with that?), and they didn't return to it, opting instead for a blistering cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." Robert Plant doesn't sound this good anymore, so why not? The evening closed with an extended version of Lynyrd Skynard's "Simple Man." A better choice would have been their own song, "Overemphasizing" which closes their album; however, both Ian Thornley and Brain Doherty were able to trade impressive guitar solos. Part of the fun of the Big Wreck live show is watching one of their crew members on the sidelines playing air guitar and drums. He was also in fine form this evening, and his side-stage enthusiasm would be a useful addition to the band's on-stage act in the future.

Given the bands graceful ability to meld catchy melodies with powerfully played rock and roll music, it's not likely Big Wreck will be one of those one-hit wonders in the bargain bins next year. Expect to see them growing, changing, exploring and incorporating more music into their signature style over the years. The world of rock and roll will be the better for it.

Set list:

Encore:

For more information about Big Wreck, visit our album review.