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’s Canadian nationality, 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 Thompson 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 has gone on to be in the indie band Death of 8, but the other band members have not yet emerged with new projects. |
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