| From the underbelly of Britain’s Black Country, where lost industry has left behind a polluted landscape, high unemployment, and a fractured society, emerges the punk duo Big Special. This is no soft-spoken ensemble: vocalist Joe Hicklin spits out his pitch-black lyrics like rotten teeth, yet his soul-storm of a voice could just as easily blow down a worker’s cottage. Drummer and hype-man Callum Molony attacks his kit with the energy of someone surviving on a daily diet of multiple Red Bulls. Together, Joe and Cal create music for a Britain in decline. It’s about despair and struggle – about finding pride in the darkest hour and how, in the class struggle, the kicks always land downward. The motto: embrace the malaise, but Big Special is not the kind of band to wallow in misery. In the end, it’s about hope – about the good triumphing over whatever the bad can throw at it. Big Special delivers that message wrapped in thunderous drums and gripping melodies, a unique fusion of rap, blues-punk, and soul. Imagine The Streets, Sleaford Mods, Idles, and Rag’n’Bone Man compressed into a broad-shouldered, foul-mouthed, and heavily tattooed duo. Undoubtedly the revelation of Cactusfestival 2025. Be there on time! |
BIG SPECIAL
— uk
- Sat, July 12th
