Canadian Musician September / October 2019

BIG WRECK Take the Gloves Off for …but for the sun By Andrew King Photos by Nikki Ormerod (L-R) Dave McMillan, Ian Thornley & Chuck Keeping of Big Wreck …but for the sun, the latest and sixth studio album from Big Wreck, is heavy – even by Big Wreck standards. Leading up to its release in late August 2019, frontman and principal songwriter Ian Thornley was giving Sekou Lumumba, his friend and former bandmate, a taste of some in-the-works tracks. One of the first things out of his mouth has stayed with Thornley in the months since. “He told me, ‘It’s high time Big Wreck take the gloves off. I’m fucking proud of you,’” Thornley recalls for Canadian Musician a few weeks ahead of the album’s wide release. Lumumba’s opinion obviously carries a lot of weight with Thornley. Outside of their own collaborations together, the former has kept time behind the kit for artists like Serena Ryder, Kardinal Offishall, and Ivana Santilli, to name a few CanCon staples. And Thornley is obviously pretty proud of the collection himself – as he should be. Put simply, it’s a career-defining hard rock record from a band whose career is defined by big, soaring hard rock. 34 C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N And yet, even then, its significance to Thornley has only been amplified by some momentous experiences surround- ing its creation and path to release. In the first half of 2019, the artist welcomed an addition to his actual family before losing a close member of his musical one. He and his partner welcomed their son Beau to the world in mid-April. Not two months later, on the night of June 5 th , founding Big Wreck guitarist Brian Doherty suc- cumbed to his struggle with cancer and passed at the age of 51. Making …but for the sun and preparing for its pending release seems to have anchored the singer and guitar- ist – at least for the time being – amidst some emotional highs and lows, and perhaps more importantly, given him a means to do right by the individuals behind them. “I don’t write specifically ‘for’ a particular album,” Thornley tells Canadian Musician about the compositional timeline – or lack thereof – for …but for the sun. “I just have piles and piles of ideas, some more complete than others, but it’s just

Canadian Musician September / October 2019 | Page 34