CHART ATTACK - October 5, 2001 Symphony In Wreck Effect by Amanda Factor Give four former music school geeks the chance to do whatever they want on a stage and things could get interesting. In Big Wreck's case, the onetime students of Boston's Berklee College of Music signed on Robby Baker and Paul Langlois of The Tragically Hip, not to mention members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Le Cirque Eloize and Japan's Uzume Taiko drummers for a high concept performance. The whole shebang rolls into Roy Thompson Hall on Saturday, the second in a series of special dates in support of their latest modern rock offering, The Pleasure And The Greed. Also on the bill is Eric Johnson. Who? "He's known in the music industry as the guitar guy," enthuses drummer Forrest Williams. "Ian [Thornley, the lead singer] and I geeked out for years watching his instructional videos." The members of Big Wreck may have learned a lot of fancy schmancy music-type stuff at Berklee, but they say it rarely enters into the process of putting together hard-driving songs like "Inhale" or "Ladylike." "When we talk to each other in rehearsals it's not like 'You go back to that five-four section with the crescendo at the end and the sixty-fourth note slur in there,'" laughs guitarist Brian Doherty. "It's more like 'You know the part you play at the end of that thing? Do that.'" While Big Wreck don't geek out too much these days, their devoted fans certainly do, particularly Boston fans. "More music geeks come to see us in Boston," says Doherty. He imitates a nerdy, nasal voice. "'Hey man, what's that gauge string he's using?' There are the guys who show up as soon as the door opens. 'I notice this bass setting is on 2.76 as opposed to 3.48.'" Williams continues the parody. "'He goes to the delay before the chorus and then he goes to the tremolo. That's fascinating because usually people go from the tremolo to the chorus to the delay.' And then they go home and do it." They fall over each other laughing. The band's four year "break" between the '97 release of In Loving Memory Of.... to the present wasn't really a break at all. They toured their debut for two years solid and spend a lot of time in the studio. During that time, Doherty says, they became educated in things they never learned in music school. "We've been educated on the music business, how it works, how things go. Compromises you have to make. Things about money, tour buses, crew." So now, straight from the mouths of music school nerds and professional musicians: What would you tell someone who has the chance to play in a rock band? "Don't do it!" snorts Williams. "Get a real job!" click here for the original article