Big Wreck

Big Wreck was a neo-progressive hard rock band of the late 1990s.

The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts by vocalist Ian Thornley, guitarist Brian Doherty, bassist Dave Henning and drummer Forrest Williams, who met as students at the Berklee College of Music. After several years of gigging in Boston and Cambridge, the band signed to a major label and released its debut album In Loving Memory Of... in 1997. The single "The Oaf" was a major Top Ten hit for the band that year.

Due to Thornley being Canadian, the band's biggest commercial success was actually in Canada rather than the United States. The album's subsequent singles, "Blown Wide Open" and "That Song," were not as successful on the American charts as "The Oaf" had been, but in Canada they were both Top Ten hits.

In October of 2001, Big Wreck played a special show at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Uzume Taiko Ensemble of drummers, with The Tragically Hip's Paul Langlois and Robby Baker also making appearances.

The band's second album The Pleasure and the Greed (released in 2001) was marred by poor marketing and was not as big a hit as their debut album, especially in the United States. The band subsequently broke up a year later.

Thornley moved back to Toronto, launching the band Thornley. Doherty is now living in Camlachie, a small community near Sarnia, Ontario, and is now teaching guitar to kids in that area. Doherty has also gone on to be in the indie band Death of 8, but the other band members have not yet emerged with new projects.

Discography

• In Loving Memory Of... (1997, Atlantic/Warner)
• The Pleasure and the Greed (2001, Atlantic/Warner)

Singles

• "The Oaf" (1997)
• "That Song" (1998)
• "Blown Wide Open" (1998)
• "Under The Lighthouse" (1998, Canada Only)
• "Inhale" (2001)
• "Ladylike" (2001, Canada Only)
• "Knee Deep" (2001, Canada Only)

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