From the Black Country to the world stage, BIG SPECIAL’s debut album ‘POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES’ is a raw and honest reflection of the band’s journey and the universality of working-class struggles.

Words: Ciaran Picker.
Photos: Derek Bremner.

Black Country punk poets BIG SPECIAL are a bit of an anomaly in today's music business. Separately and together, the lads have been making music for the last sixteen years, so they know better than anyone that it's not every day you feel like you're on to a winner. Since the release of their debut single 'SHITHOUSE' almost a year ago to the day, life's gone just a little bit weird for Joe Hicklin and Cal Moloney. Their debut album, 'POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES' isn't some flash in the pan; it's the peak of decades of dedication and tireless work that now sees them ready to not only take on the world but take it over completely.

"We keep catching each other's eye and going 'What are we doing?'" Joe grins. "I'll be sat on the sofa, look at my phone and go, 'Oh, I'm on the cover of Rolling Stone!'" Cal agrees. "It's the first time we feel that we've made a step on the right path for a long time."

Just home from tour, fans across the country turned out in their droves to watch the band. "We never thought we'd get out of the Birmingham scene, to be honest," Joe reveals. "Like, people in the South understanding what we're on about just never occurred to me."

"I never thought we'd reach Sheffield," Cal laughs.

Even more baffling for the boys was the reaction from fans during their support slot for emo-rock behemoths Placebo across South America. "We were in an airport in Mexico, and this guy came up to us and asked us to sign stuff," Cal remembers. "I was just thinking, 'What the absolute fuck is going on?!'" 

"We got recognised in a Brazilian mall too," Joe giggles, "but then you come back and walk around Brownhills Market, and nobody knows who you are."

It's impossible to separate BIG SPECIAL and their work from the wider national and global context in which it was built. For Joe, it was a shimmer of light in an otherwise pretty bleak period during the pandemic. "I sort of fell out of love with music; just as lockdown hit, I was ready to start releasing stuff, so it was like, 'Fucks' sake, now the world's shut down to stop me from making music!'"

At this moment, Cal came through with the idea that would ultimately morph into BIG SPECIAL, giving Joe the opportunity to get onstage and finally perform the words that he'd been harbouring since his teenage years. This time, though, he was afforded the opportunity to not only show off his full range of blues-rock vocals but to look deeper into the band's own local history, shining a light on an accent that is as distinct as it is hidden from the wider m