Big Big Train is an English progressive rock band founded in 1990 by Gregory Spawton and Andy Poole. The bands first line-up included Spawton (guitar, keyboards) and Poole (bass), alongside vocalist Martin Read, keyboardist Ian Cooper and drummer Steve Hughes. The bands current line-up includes Spawton (bassist since 2009), drummer, guitarist and keyboardist Nick D'Virgilio (since 2009), guitarist and keyboardist Rikard Sjöblom (since 2014), violinist Clare Lindley (since 2021), vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist Alberto Bravin (since 2022) and keyboardist and vocalist Oskar Holldorff (since 2023).
History
The roots of Big Big Train go back to 1981 in Birmingham, England, when Gregory's brother Nigel Spawton (drums) joined with Steve Lugg (guitar), Ed Serafinas (vocals of sorts) Pete McDonald (bass) and Tim McCarty (guitar) in a new wave outfit called Big Big Train, who were raw but brilliant. Later in the 80s Andy Poole formed a songwriting partnership in Bournemouth, England, with his childhood friend, Ian Cooper. At around the same time, Gregory Spawton had also formed his first band, Equus. Equus played a few local gigs around the Birmingham area before splitting up when Spawton went to university in 1984. Meanwhile, Poole and Cooper's band, Archshine, recorded a few demos and occasionally emerged from their home studio to play some gigs.
In 1987, Spawton moved down to Bournemouth. Shortly afterwards, he met Poole and they discovered that they shared a mutual appreciation of Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and other progressive bands. In particular, they were both fans of a then relatively obscure band called IQ. Indeed, Poole had spent some time as a roadie for The Lens and IQ.
Andy Poole and Gregory Spawton founded the band in 1990.
In the late 1980s, they decided to record some demos together. After a few months, the very first Big Big Train songs emerged and in 1990, Archshine ceased to exist, and Big Big Train was founded, initially consisting of the duo of Spawton (guitar) and Poole (bass). The following year saw the recruitment of Cooper (keyboards), Steve Hughes (drums), and Martin Read (vocals).[1]
The band's earliest songs were released on a demo tape in October 1991, and the band's first demo album, From the River to the Sea, was released in May 1992. During this time, the band continued to perform live dates, gradually playing to larger crowds in higher profile venues.
In January 1993 the band released their second demo album, The Infant Hercules, and then followed up six months later with their debut full-length album, Goodbye to the Age of Steam. The response to the album was very positive, culminating in a licensing deal in Japan where the CD was re-released in 1995, with a bonus track. In the meantime, Ian Cooper had left the band (for family reasons) and due to this the band ceased touring and started looking for his replacement. In the meantime, they started work on their next album, with Spawton filling the role of keyboard player. Eventually, Tony Müller was recruited as keyboard player in early 1995 during the recording of the new album.[2]
Some of the new songs were debuted live at The Astoria, London, the only live show the band performed during this period. English Boy Wonders was finally released in autumn 1997. Steve Hughes left the band in September 1998 and went on to join The Enid. He was replaced, briefly, by Pete Hibbit. After a few more live performances, the band's momentum was all but spent and Spawton and Poole retreated back to their studio to work on the next album. Events had turned full circle; Poole and Spawton, with no particular goal in mind and without a band line-up, slowly began work on some demos, more out of habit than anything else.
As the demos took shape, Gregory and Andy called in the other band members as and when they were required. In February 2002, after three years of irregular writing and recording, Bard was released. Bard received some excellent reviews. The line-up of the band during the recording of Bard consisted of Spawton, Poole, Read, Müller, the returning Cooper, and drummer Phil Hogg. Around the time of the album's release, The Enid became inactive, and Steve Hughes returned to Big Big Train to replace the departing Hogg.
In 2003, Müller and Read departed the band, and Sean Filkins was recruited to replace Read.[3] This line-up recorded the band's next album, Gathering Speed, which was released in March 2004. This was the last album to feature Ian Cooper on keyboards; Poole and Spawton took the keyboards to play in future albums.
On BBT's blog, it was announced that they would be re-releasing English Boy Wonders. They partially re-recorded the album, as well as re-mixing it.[4]English Boy Wonders was re-released on 1 December 2008. Both Hughes and Filkins left the band in February 2009, and were replaced by then-Spock's Beard drummer Nick D'Virgilio and vocalist and flute player David Longdon respectively.[5]
BBT released their sixth studio album, The Underfall Yard, on 15 December 2009. Guitarist Dave Gregory (XTC), keyboardist Jem Godfrey (Frost*) and guitarist Francis Dunnery (It Bites) make guest appearances on The Underfall Yard.[6] "Last Train" from The Underfall Yard was released on the iTunes essential compilation album Modern Prog on 10 February 2010.[7]
In October 2010, the band released the 41-minute EP entitled Far Skies Deep Time. The EP again features guitarist Dave Gregory (formerly of XTC and now an established part of the band's line-up) as well as featuring performances from guest musicians keyboardist Martin Orford and bassist Danny Manners (frequent collaborator with Louis Philippe).
On 3 September 2012, the band released their seventh studio album, the first part of a double album, entitled English Electric Part One. The second part, English Electric Part Two, was released in March 2013, and featured Danny Manners (keyboards, double bass), who was now an official member of the band.[8]
In 2015 the band returned to touring for the first time in 17 years, it featuring Gregory Spawton (left) on bass and Dave Gregory on guitars.
At the start of 2014 Beardfish frontman Rikard Sjöblom was confirmed as a touring keyboardist and guitarist.[9] In August, the band convened at Real World Studios for a week to try out a live line-up that also included violinist Rachel Hall and a five-piece brass band under the directorship of trombonist Dave Desmond, who had featured on recent Big Big Train albums. The positive outcome led to the band announcing that its first live performances in seventeen years would take place in August 2015 at Kings Place in London,[10] and that Sjöblom and Hall were now full band members for both live and studio work.[11]
An EP containing new and live tracks, Wassail, was released on 1 June 2015,[12] and Stone & Steel, a Blu-ray featuring rehearsals at Real World Studios as well as four of the songs performed at the Kings Place concerts, was released on 21 March 2016. The digital-only album From Stone and Steel, containing the Real World studio performances from August 2014, was released[13] on 1 April 2016. Folklore was released on 27 May 2016[14] whilst its 'companion' album Grimspound was released on 28 April 2017.
Band co-founder Andy Poole departed the band early in January 2018,[15] with guitarist and keyboardist Robin Armstrong joining the live line-up of the band the following month.[16] Armstrong left the line-up at the end of 2019.[17] Dave Gregory would announce his departure in March 2020 due to his desire to not tour internationally with Big Big Train. Randy McStine was subsequently named as his live replacement for scheduled shows in 2020, which were all subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] Later in 2020, it was announced that Carly Bryant and Dave Foster would join the BBT live band.[19]
Their thirteenth album, Common Ground, was released on 30 July 2021. On 21 October 2021, the band announced that their fourteenth studio album, Welcome to the Planet,[20] would be released on 28 January 2022. Lead vocalist David Longdon died on 20 November 2021, aged 56.[21] On 27 April 2022, Big Big Train announced former Premiata Forneria Marconi singer and keyboard player, Alberto Bravin, as their new lead vocalist.[22] On 15 January 2023, it was announced that Carly Bryant was departing Big Big Train, to be replaced by Dim Gray's Oskar Holldorff.[23]
Dave Foster left the band in June 2024 due to scheduling issues.[24]
Member information
Gregory Spawton
Gregory "Greg" Spawton (born (1965-05-17) 17 May 1965 (age 59))[25] is the co-founder, along with Andy Poole, of BBT, he plays bass (primary instrument since 2012) guitars, keyboards, bass pedals and backing vocals. He was brought up in Sutton Coldfield, and first got into progressive rock through his brother playing Genesis' Selling England by the Pound.[26] He has been the bands main songwriter and leader for their career.[27]
Andy Poole
Andy Poole was BBT's co-founder, he played bass with the band until 2012 when he moved onto additional keyboards and guitar. Though not as prolific a songwriter as Spawton, he still wrote some songs for the band. Poole departed the band in early 2018, saying "it has been a long old trip aboard this train and now the time is right for me to disembark: I am ready for new and exciting adventures."[28]
Nick D'Virgilio (born (1968-11-12) 12 November 1968 (age 56)) has been BBT's drummer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist since 2009, he originally recorded with the band as a guest musician in 2007. He left his former band Spock's Beard in 2011 and has also toured and recorded with other bands, including Genesis, Tears for Fears, Mystery and Mr. Big.[29]
Steve Hughes was BBT's original drummer, he had two tenures from 1991–1998 and from 2002–2009, during his gap in tenures, he was a member of The Enid.[32] He has also released several solo albums,[33] and been a member of John Mitchell's Kino.[34]
Ian Cooper
Ian Cooper was the original keyboardist for BBT, he had two tenures from 1991–1995, and from 1999–2004 and was a childhood friend of Andy Poole. He played on albums Goodbye to the Age of Steam (1994), Bard (2002) and Gathering Speed (2004). Following his first departure, he was replaced by Tony Müller, when he rejoined in 1999 he played alongside Muller who moved to co-lead vocalist.
Tony Müller
Tony Müller replaced Cooper as BBT keyboardist, after Spawton filled in. Following Cooper rejoining Müller sang co lead vocals on Bard (2002).
Pete Hibbit
Pete Hibbit replaced Steve Hughes as drummer for BBT in 1998 though he was no longer in the band in 1999. He played some live shows with the band but did not record with them.[35]
Phil Hogg
Phil Hogg was BBT's first long time drummer since the first departure of Steve Hughes, he replaced Hibbit in 1999. He recorded with the band on Bard (2002), before being replaced by the returning Hughes.[32]
Sean Filkins
Sean Filkins replaced Read as BBT's lead vocalist before being replaced by David Longdon, he has also been associated with neo-prog band Lorien as well as UK space rock ensemble, Soma.[36]
Dave Gregory ( (1952-09-21) 21 September 1952 (age 72)) joined BBT in 2009, having contributed to The Underfall Yard as a session guest, playing guitars, electric sitar, guitar solos, E-bow, Mellotron and sitar, Gregory had previously been a member of XTC. He departed from BBT in 2020 due to not wanting to tour internationally with the band.[18]
Danny Manners
Danny Manners joined BBT in 2012 on keyboards and double bass, being the band first keyboardist since Ian Cooper's second departure in 2004. He had previously played double bass on Far Skies Deep Time (2010). He departed BBT in 2020, alongside violinist Rachel Hall.[37]
Rikard Sjöblom (born (1982-02-23) 23 February 1982 (age 42)) has been BBT's guitarist and keyboardist since 2014, having previously been frontman of Swedish prog band Beardfish.
Dave Foster January 1971 (age 53) joined the band as a replacement for Dave Gregory,[40] after Randy McStine was originally announced as replacement.[18] He has also been a member of Mr. So & So, Panic Room and the Steve Rothery Band.[41][42]
Clare Lindley
Clare Lindley has been the bands violinist since 2021, replacing Rachel Hall, whom she also replaced in Stackridge,[43] she also sings vocals. She also part of a celtic duo with Brian Mullan, in which she plays violin and guitar.[44]
Carly Bryant
Carly Bryant was BBT's keyboardist after the departure of Danny Manners in 2020, she played keyboards and sang co-lead vocals on Common Ground (2021) and Welcome to the Planet (2022). She stepped away from touring in September 2022 due to "family commitments" and official left in January 2023.[23]
Alberto Bravin
Alberto Bravin has been BBT's lead singer since 2022 following the death of David Longdon in 2021. He also plays guitars and keyboards, as Longdon previously had.[22] Prior to joining the band he was a vocalist and keyboardist with Premiata Forneria Marconi, with whom he had played with for seven years.[45]
Oskar Holldorff
Oskar Holldorff replaced Carly Bryant as the band's keyboardist in 2022, firstly on a touring basis and later full time following Bryant's departure. He is also a member of Dim Gray who have acted as support for BBT.[23]
Touring in place of the departed Andy Poole,[16] appeared on live albums Empire (2020) and Summer Shall Not Fade (2022) and backing vocals on Make Some Noise (2013)
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