Records: Big Wreck's In Loving Memory of...

By Daniel McGarry

There's an advertisement on a local radio station that features a boy asking, "Santa, can I get a record deal? Come on, ya did it for the Spice Girls." His whine is dryly accentuated by a hateful inflection of "Spice." The Girls never played garages, or even clubs, yet were signed straight to a major label. That boy knows how rare it is for new bands to start in the Big Leagues straight off--they might as well ask Santa Claus.

Sometimes, however, the gods intervene and a big label gives a contract to someone who deserves it. Big Wreck deserves its start from a privileged position, nestled in Atlantic's bosom. As radio-friendly rock inches ever-closer to the Sugar Ray and Matchbox20-infested Pit of Despair, Big Wreck is a welcome addition to the distinguished lineage of gloriously noisy bands that brought real guitar-driven rock back to the mainstream earlier this decade.

But radio, and indeed the world, doesn't need yet another disheveled troupe of malcontents aping Nirvana with frightening fidelity. Big Wreck's debut, In Loving Memory Of... doesn't disappoint. Lead singer/guitarist Ian Thornley and company draw from their blues, folk, and '70s big rock forebears. The first single, "The Oaf," points to The Who, soon jumps into a nest of Black Crowes, and flirts with Talk Show and the Bogmen throughout.

For all their "sounds like..." qualities, however, Big Wreck neatly carves out a sound of its own, with tunes full of bluesy hooks and bowl-over guitars. Their originality owes more to Thornley's startlingly dynamic vocals than any other factor, while David Henning's bass provides a sturdy foundation throughout. The noise of unabashedly big guitar balances with intricate, crisp arrangement that defines boundaries to the "big" without limiting it.

In Loving Memory Of... is a promising debut, but has room for improvement. Sadly, the producers adhere to the Don Was school of track ordering, and the album noticeably sags towards the end. Big Wreck can be judged guilty of an over-reliance on repetition of power riffs, but while the guitars might settle in too comfortably at familiar frequencies from time to time, the rest of the band rarely sits still. Thornley's charged, tireless vocals, especially, remain intense enough to carry far lesser bands than this.

Big Wreck could be the best new artist of this year. And unlike our friends the Spice Girls, they actually have experience playing in front of people, and should not disappoint this Saturday at Irving Plaza in Manhattan.

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