| Name |
Big Country |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
Scottish |
| Date of Birth |
|
| Place of Birth |
|
| Famous for |
Singing |
Big Country are an internationally-renowned Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the 1980s; although it retained a cult following for many years after, including the release of several further titles. The band's music was most recognisable for the sounds it infused with Scottish folk and martial music styles, as well as for playing and engineering their guitar driven sound to evoke the inspirational spirit of bagpipes, fiddles and other traditional folk instruments.
Big Country comprised Stuart Adamson (formerly of The Skids, vocals/guitar/keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar/mandolin/sitar/vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums/percussion/vocals). Before the recruitment of Butler and Brzezicki an early incarnation of Big Country was a five-piece band, featuring Peter Wishart (later of Runrig and now an SNP MP) on keyboards, his brother Alan on bass, and Clive Parker, drummer from Spizz Energi / Athletico Spizz '80 (Rough Trade & A&M Records). Parker had approached Adamson to join his new band after the demise of The Skids. Adamson auditioned Parker (1980) at The Members rehearsal room in Ladbroke Grove, London, and the next day was called on to play drums on demos for CBS Records at their Whitfield Street studios. The demos were produced by Adam Sieff and just featured Adamson, Parker, with scarcely a contribution from Watson. Adamson had asked bassist Dave Allen from the Gang of Four to join the band but he declined. Adamson asked Parker to join the band, which led to 8 months of rehearsal in Dunfermline in a disused furniture warehouse. The culmination was a successful concert at the Glen Pavilion at Dunfermline, (playing to a home crowd, mainly Skids fans), and an interview with BBC Radio Scotland where the CBS Studio demos were utilised.
What followed were live dates with Alice Cooper's Special Forces tour in 1982. The band appeared out of their depth with their rambling Echo & The Bunnymen-keyboard oriented-sound which went down badly with the metal crowds. Thus the band was dumped from the tour after only two gigs at The Brighton Centre and Birmingham Odeon. In 2007, to celebrate 25 years of Big Country, founding members Bruce Watson, Tony Butler (now lead vocalist for the first time), and Mark Brzezicki reunited to embark on a tour of the UK with dates in Scotland and England and a gig in Cologne (Germany). They also released a new album; twenty five live, on the trackrecords label. As of September 2008 the band returned to an indefinite hiatus. In 2012 the band have played many festivals around Europe including Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, The Isle of Wight Festival and Fairport's Cropredy Convention as special guests of Fairport Convention on the Saturday.
On 20 September 2012 guitarist Bruce Watson announced in the forum on the bands website that bassist Tony Butler had announced his retirement from the band during the last tour and that the remaining members of the band would not be continuing their involvement with long time manager Ian Grant. Butler's replacement in Big Country will be Derek Forbes, formerly of Simple Minds. In January 2013, the band announced on their website that they had completed recording a new 12-track studio album title The Journey.
