Great Big Sea (often shortened to GBS) is a Canadian folk-rock band from
Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock
interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties,
which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage. The
band also performs original material.
Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock
interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties,
which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage. The
band also performs original material.
History
The band played its first official gig on March 11, 1993, opening for the Irish
Descendants at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland.[1] The founding
band members included Alan Doyle (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Séan
McCann (vocals, bodhrán, guitar, tin whistle), Darrell Power (vocals, bass, guitar,
bones), and Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, concertina,
bouzouki, whistles, bagpipes). Power, McCann and Hallett had already been
playing together with a woman named Jackie St. Croix in a band called "Rankin
Street." According to Doyle, Rankin Street owned a PA, and he owned a van,
which made Great Big Sea "a match made in heaven." They toured nearly
constantly for the band's first several years, sometimes travelling as many as
300 days a year.
Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and
friends.
Descendants at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland.[1] The founding
band members included Alan Doyle (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Séan
McCann (vocals, bodhrán, guitar, tin whistle), Darrell Power (vocals, bass, guitar,
bones), and Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, concertina,
bouzouki, whistles, bagpipes). Power, McCann and Hallett had already been
playing together with a woman named Jackie St. Croix in a band called "Rankin
Street." According to Doyle, Rankin Street owned a PA, and he owned a van,
which made Great Big Sea "a match made in heaven." They toured nearly
constantly for the band's first several years, sometimes travelling as many as
300 days a year.
Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and
friends.
Supporting members of the band include Canadian freelance drummer
Kris MacFarlane (2002) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray
Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).
The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards
for every year between 1996 and 2000. (In 2001, they decided not to submit
their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete.) They have
also been nominated for several Juno Awards,[5] including Group of the Year in
1998 and 2005.
Kris MacFarlane (2002) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray
Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).
The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards
for every year between 1996 and 2000. (In 2001, they decided not to submit
their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete.) They have
also been nominated for several Juno Awards,[5] including Group of the Year in
1998 and 2005.
In the 2000 Canadian Federal Election, controversy occurred when Stockwell
Day and the Canadian Alliance used the band's hit single, "Ordinary Day," at a
rally without their permission. The band noted that this was a copyright violation
and ordered that Day cease using the song for campaigning purposes.[6]
Great Big Sea's first concert DVD and videos collection, the Great Big DVD, saw
release in Canada and the United States in 2003 and Europe in 2004.
In late 2005, the band released its long-awaited "traditional" album, The Hard and
the Easy, on which they recorded their favourite Newfoundland party songs. The
title of the album comes from a line of the song "Tickle Cove Pond," one of two
songs on the album about a horse falling through ice.
Also in late 2005, Great Big Sea released its first podcast, with clips of the band
bantering back and forth in the studio mixed with various songs by them and other
artists. They have since released several podcasts.
On February 9, 2006, the band's tour bus tipped on its side into a ditch on the
Trans-Canada Highway about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver near Abbotsford.
Their driver suffered minor head injuries, but everyone in the band was unhurt.
The band went on to continue their tour including their performance that evening
at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts just hours after the accident.
On November 21, 2006, the band released their second concert DVD, Courage &
Patience & Grit, recorded in Belleville, Ontario. It is also the second release by
the band to be titled by a line from their 2005 song, "Tickle Cove Pond".
On June 13, 2007, the band stated that they are going to be going back into the
studio during the late summer to early fall to record new material for a new album.
It will be produced by Hawksley Workman, and should be released in June 2008.
On March 14, 2008, the band announced that the title of the new album
(tentatively scheduled for a June 24 release) will be Fortune's Favour. A few new
songs that have been played at recent shows are "Tonight", "Walk on the Moon"
"The Rocks of Merasheen", "Straight To Hell", and "Oh Yeah". On April 17, 2008,
the band's website announced that the first single from Fortune's Favour would be
"Walk on the Moon".
Discography
1993: Great Big Sea
1995: Up
1997: Play
1998: Rant and Roar
1999: Turn
2000: Road Rage (live)
2002: Sea of No Cares
2004: Something Beautiful*
2005: The Hard and the Easy
2006: Courage & Patience & Grit (live)
2008: Fortune's Favour
DVD
Great Big DVD (2003)
Courage & Patience & Grit (2006)
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