My First Thornley Post '98

I CAN'T believe it's been 12 years!

I Just found this post that I wrote for a Zeppelin message board, a week or so after the show (I don't believe that there was a big wreck message board yet, but I HAD to tell somebody!). I purchased ILMO directly from Ian's hand at the show. He signed the CD (I didn't even ask - didn't know it was a thing to do) and collected my money. There was no merch counter, no nothing. Just Patrick Benti and the guys. Nice to remember it again.

Rec Room... Wallington, NJ... Thurs., Jan. 11, 1998
Thursday Jan 11th, I went to see Big Wreck at a cinder block walled, warehouse-of-a-place in Wallinton, NJ called, oddly enough, the Rec Room. Like most people at the time, I knew this band only through their Led Zep meets BaBa O'rielly meets hillbilly stomp song, "The Oaf", that is being played to death on both the "alti" station and the classic stations in the NY area. Great riff, great bass drum kick, swirling vocals, a truely joyous, ballsy tune that has one hit wonder written all over it. Like most people, if they played one or two decent songs along with a rousing version of their hit I would be happy.

I was truely not prepared for these guys. Now I'm 43, and have been a music fan for a long time. I own my own graphics firm and can listen to music all day long (mostly WDHA/K-rock/WSOU so for my age I'm fairly current). I'm a die hard Zep fan having seen them live in 74', 77 and on all their solo tours. My favorites range from Elvis Costello to Soundgarden to Alanis to XTC, so you can see that I consider myself a fairly open minded and milti-dimensional listener.

I found that I am affected by music with a sizeable chunk of wit and visceral emotion. Sorry for the long qualification, but I feel the need to preface this posting in order to not sound like an Alantic Records shill or a rambling old nutcase.

Big Wreck are absolutely amazing! Ian Thornley is one of the most gifted guitar composers I've heard in years. They played the entire album, and 13 guitar changes and 13 melody-hook-riff laden, dense, powerful emotional tracks later they left me convinced. These guys are no joke!

How many times have you seen a band and known nothing of their music and been hooked once or twice during a performance if your lucky. Every song had wonderful twists and turns in unexpected directions. A song would have me hooked on the opening riff, only to introduce a soaring bridge into an extended breakdown. And all the while your concentrating on the melody and the driving rhythm Ian is banging, twisting, bending the sonic envelope. He plays with his body as part of the guitar, interacting with the amps. He's got big meat hooks for hands and he uses the "whole" guitar to get a tremendous range of styles appropriate to each song.

To top it all off, this guy can sing better than he can play!!! Their sound is powerful and very dense in the bass range yet their sense of melody is never back seated. I have never had my head so sweetly banged into the floor. David Henning really adds crunch where needed, swing where appropriate and most importantly "space". This is a band that understands what not to play.

Brian Doherty is the perfect support player. He compliments and anchors the tracks in order to allow Ian to paint. Last but not least, Forest Williams, one of the most bonzo-esque drummers in the best sense, really understands space, great time, tasty fills, can stop/start on a dime, and can be bone crushingly Jurrasic. Needless to say, I was impressed. I bought the CD and have played it non-stop start to finish, at least 25 times since Thursday. I cannot stop telling my friends how good these guys are.

This is a band that has taken vast musical styles, both contemporary and past and blended them purposefully and tastefully without losing the emotion and the joy of the music. Few bands can pique my interest for two tracks nevermind a whole album. And certainly no whiny Seattle drivel delivered here, they act like they truly enjoy these compositions.

My current fave is "That Song", but it changes every day. I can't recommend this CD enough. If this band doesn't become legendary I'll eat my shoes. Me and this other guy in the Rec Room were embarassed for the lack of people in the crowd and their lack of recognition for what they were seeing. People are sheep, they need to be told what is good. Well goddamit this band is good. I almost feel sad that I've been this blown away only weeks before the new Page/Plant release. Now all you zeppaholics don't get mad when you read this post, Jimmy would love these guys. They carry the essence of the music, taking it to that joyous level that few bands can do. See you when I hear the new Zep release.

Tanx for lettin me share.
-- buk