Big+hogg

Hailing from Glasgow, Big Hogg are a six-piece whose eponymous debut displays a truly eclectic attitude. With no need for 15-minute epics, the band’s music combines folk, jazz, chamber music, psychedelic and Canterbury influences (the album’s closing song is dedicated to Robert Wyatt) in an exciting blend that never sounds derivative. A special mention is also deserved by Julia Jeffery’s striking, Gothic-themed artwork.

BIG HOGG is an progressive rock sextet led by main songwriter Justin LUMSDEN; he is joined by Sophie SEXON, Richard MERCHANT, Ross McCRAE, Alasdair C. MITCHELL and Nigh GAUGHAN as well as other guest musicians from Glasgow area. The group plays an innovative take on the music of the late 60s and early 70s, predominantly the combination of psychedelic folk rock, blues, brass instruments and British fusion of the time, like a combination of JETHRO TULL and SOFT MACHINE for example…

BIG HOGG is an progressive rock sextet led by main songwriter Justin LUMSDEN; he is joined by Sophie SEXON, Richard MERCHANT, Ross McCRAE, Alasdair C. MITCHELL and Nigh GAUGHAN as well as other guest musicians from Glasgow area. The group plays an innovative take on the music of the late 60s and early 70s, predominantly the combination of psychedelic folk rock, blues, brass instruments and British fusion of the time, like a combination of JETHRO TULL and SOFT MACHINE for example. The resulting albums can be recommended to fans of the Canterbury sound which is given an occasional homage not just in musical similarities but also an open dedication in one of the songs to Robert WYATT.

The Canterbury Sound may be more remembered as a short lived scene during the early 70’s. The collision of English folk, jazz and prog creating a style of music which would become the cornerstone of acts such as The Soft Machine, Caravan and Hatfield And The North. A whimsical Englishness, suffused with technical playing, it was a world away from rock and roll. It therefore seems strange to hear those sounds once again through Big Hogg’s music, more so for being from Glasgow which is a world of culture away from the genteel progressive sounds. Scotland has always had a knack for surprising though, and beneath the hard exterior lies a country which understands human emotions and is unafraid of embracing them. That Big Hogg take this and magnify it through the classic Canterbury Sound makes them all the more interesting and exciting.