Big Special are Joe Hicklin (vocals) and Callum Moloney (drums). Their sound is one that comes from vital, frustrated young working-class voices that don’t always get heard on the scale they should do. It’s a frustration that comes to the fore through a voice that is at times coarse and raw, but sensitive, desperate and soulful at others. Hicklin’s brimstone-fired voice marches from guttural punk barks and serrated spoken word to soaring soul and back again, arriving siphoned from their forebears, crushed under the weight of history, and retooled for a new generation. It’s wrought, raw and angry at a world lacking options, the thinning of the common understanding between the social classes of England, exasperation at repeating cycles, and the feeling that you’re watching your own life unfold from the outside.

Big Special’s debut album, Postindustrial Hometown Blues, has recently been re-released in a new edition from SO Recordings. This deluxe edition of the band’s breakthrough UK Top 40 album features remixes from the likes of Andy Bell, Public Service Broadcasting, Robbie Majors (Benefits), Sleaford Mods, and Simon Scott’s (Slowdive) Three Quarter Skies, alongside early demoes and live performances recorded from Glasgow to Brazil. It arrives ahead of their biggest ever UK headline show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in March. Big Special will also join Pixies as support on their huge spring UK tour.

BIG SPECIAL 2025 LIVE DATES include Leeds 02 Academy on 19th May, supporting The Pixies, and Thirsk’s Deer Shed Festival in July.

Tickets on sale now here.

27 Mar – Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, UK
29 Mar – O2 Forum, Kentish Town, London, UK
20 Apr – Esquires, Bedford, UK
9-10 May – Are You Listening? Festival, Reading, UK
13 May – P&J Arena, Aberdeen, UK **
14 May – O2 Academy, Edinburgh, UK **
16 May – O2 Academy, Brixton, London, UK **
17 May – O2 Academy, Brixton, London, UK **
19 May – O2 Academy, Leeds, UK **
20 May – O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK **
21 May – Utilita Arena, Cardiff, UK **
23 May – O2 City Hall, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK **
24 May – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK **
25 May – Dot To Dot Festival, Bristol, UK
30 May – Maifield Derby, Maimarkt Mannheim, Mannheim, DE
25-28 Jul – Deer Shed Festival, Thirsk, UK

** supporting The Pixies

Follow BIG SPECIAL: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify  | YouTube

Postindustrial Hometown Blues (Deluxe) Album Artwork.

TRACK LISTING

1. BLACK COUNTRY GOTHIC
2. I MOCK JOGGERS
3. DESPERATE BREAKFAST
4. SHITHOUSE
5. THIS HERE AIN’T WATER
6. MY SHAPE (BLOCKING THE LIGHT)
7. BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE
8. BROADCAST: TIME AWAY
9. iLL.
10. MONGREL
11. BUTCHER’S BIN
12. DUST OFF / START AGAIN
13. TREES
14. FOR THE BIRDS
15. DiG!
16. STAY DOWN, LAZARUS (BIG SPECIAL & John Grant)
17. BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE Acoustic Version
18. TREES Acoustic Demo 2022
19. THIS HERE AIN’T WATER Early Demo
20. FOR THE BIRDS Simon Scott Three Quarter Skies Remix
21. MY SHAPE (BLOCKING THE LIGHT) Andy Bell GLOK Remix
22. BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE Sleaford Mods Remix
23. DUST OFF / START AGAIN Robbie Major Benefits Remix
24. THIS HERE AIN’T WATER Public Service Broadcasting Remix
25. SHITHOUSE LIVE from King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Scotland 10/5/2024
26. DiG! LIVE from Espaco Unimed, Sao Paulo, Brazil 17/3/2024