THE UNB BRUNSWICKAN - January, 1998 Head on collision with Big Wreck by Jackie Baldwin Big Wreck is set to storm on the stage at the Sub Cafeteria on Thursday January 28th. They formed in Boston in 1992; Ian Thornley(vocals), Dave Henning(bass), Forrest Williams(drums), and Brian Doherty(guitar) all met while attending the prestigious Berkley School of Music. This past year has been extremely exciting for the band. Their album, In Loving Memory Of . . . has risen up the charts in Canada and is seeing moderate success in the US. In anticipation of the show I had the pleasure of speaking with guitarist Brian Doherty. JB: My first couple of questions are semi-serious - about the nationality of the band. Do you guys consider yourselves a Canadian band? BW: Well no, three of us are from the US, and Ian’s Canadian, he’s from Toronto. So I don’t know what we consider ourselves actually. . . North American, I guess. JB: I ask that question because you’re signed on a Canadian label . . . BW: Yeah, it’s Warner in Canada, and Atlantic in the States. JB: I don’t know if you’re aware, but in Canada there’s legislation about what music’s played on the radio, and we have to play a certain percentage of Canadian content, and your band is considered Canadian content. BW: I guess it’s because of our label and the internationality of it, I assume they would think we’re Canadian. JB: Do you find that,strange, in a way, because three quarters of the band is American, or are you comfortable being a Canadian band? BW: Yeah definitely, that’s just fine. JB: A lot of people around here think that you have a lot of international stardom, but really your fan base and a lot of your record sales - although you’re starting to pick up in the States - have been in Canada. Is that fine for you guys, are you satisfied with a Canadian success? BW: It’s great, of course we’re satisfied . . . we’ve gotten a lot of support here, with radio and Much Music, our label (Warner), our management company - they’ve pushed us pretty hard, we’ve gotten a lot of exposure, we’ve done a lot of touring, we’ve picked up a great fan base - it’s good. JB: I’ve been here a year and you’ve guys have really, really been pushed on campus- in papers and stuff like that. Why did that come about? I think that last year you were one of the most heavily pushed bands, why do you think they pushed you guys so hard, is it because they had a lot of confidence in you? BW: Yeah I think so. I think the people in promotions like the band and they know we’ve been working really hard. I guess all our efforts are paying off. JB: Do you think you would have eventually broke through without the heavy promotion, or it would have taken a lot longer? BW: It’s hard to say . . . I mean who knows what would have happened if it would have been that way. A lot of bands do do that, they tour and tour and tour and tour until they’re dead. I think eventually we would from the reaction we’ve gotten from people, I think we definitely would have— it’s nicer to have it the other way around, though. JB: This is a question about something you mentioned previously, about Much Music. A lot of people say they can make or break a band in this country. Do you think one organization should have that much power over the music industry? BW: There’s a lot of things like that that go on in the business - it’s politics, it’s business: there are certain things like that you have to accept and deal with. It is a big part of our success - our exposure through TV. I don’t know if I could really say if I want that or not want that. I don’t really know if I have an opinion about that. JB: I suppose if you were at the other end where you didn’t have a lot of videos out and you were struggling. BW: Well we do get that in the States. We get Much Music here, and we did really well with the three videos we made. And down in the States, a place like MTV just won’t spin it - they’re just not interested unless you’re a multi-million record selling band. They do corner a market, they play what they want- to sell products, you know. And it is a hard thing to deal with. I guess it’s up to the bands and the people they work with to try and change that. JB: Who’s your favorite Much Music VJ? BW: I would probably have to say Rebecca Rankin...yeah. JB: Ohh....really? I’d have to disagree . . . wow, that’s interesting. BW: (silence) JB: Okay. You say your influences are Big Sugar and other similar bands. BW: umm.... JB: I’m not saying that your music is like Big Sugar, but- BW: Oh I know...uh..I would say that ...it’s the kind of stuff that Big Sugar would have listened to, creating their sound - a lot of 70’s stuff, a lot of blues, we love bands like Big Sugar, we love what they do: it’s like souped-up blues. click here for the original article