Big Country

After suffering a nervous breakdown, Stuart Adamson exited The Skids in 1980 with the aim to be in charge of his own band again. He formed Big Country with fellow Dunfermline, Scotland native Bruce Watson. Their initial demos were rejected by Polydor, Arista, CBS and other labels, and after two shows opening for Alice Cooper, they were kicked off the tour. Their manager Ian Grant encouraged Adamson and Watson to do a lineup reboot.

Phonogram Records released Big Country’s debut single “Harvest Home” (produced by Chris Thomas) in 1982 and it was a marginal UK hit. Switching to up-and-coming producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel) proved infinitely more fruitful, helping inspire the band’s unique sound of bagpipes-like harmonized guitars over marching percussion. Their 1983 debut album The Crossing was internationally successful, spawning three big UK hits: “Fields Of Fire”, “Chance” and the US top 20 “In A Big Country”. The band was nominated for two Grammy awards soon after. It was followed by the single “Wonderland”, the group’s fourth consecutive UK top 20 hit.

Big Country’s second album Steeltown debuted at #1 in the UK, but ultimately sold only a fraction of what The Crossing had. Its three singles did well in the UK and Ireland, but nowhere else. Grant later shared, “There were no classics on it. I think it was rushed … and there were internal problems”. In 1985, after recording instrumental tracks for the film Restless Natives, Adamson began threatening to leave the band after feeling burnt out from success and its responsibilities. Due to rumors of splitting, Live Aid organizers canceled plans to give Big Country a full set at Live Aid – instead, they were only invited to participate in the all-star finale.

A new A&R man recruited a producer for their third album The Seer but was unhappy with the results, so he had the entire thing remixed by a different producer. Its first single “Look Away” became the band’s highest charting hit in five countries including the UK and Ireland, but made little impact in the US. The album reached the top 20 in seven countries and spawned two more hits in the UK and Ireland. In 1988, Big Country released their last internationally successful album Peace In Our Time, featuring their final international hit “King of Emotion”. The album was called an obvious attempt to try and rekindle US interest in the band, with Austrian producer Peter Wolf (Starship, Wang Chung, Lou Gramm) giving it big, radio-friendly choruses, but it still ultimately underperformed in America. It was after this Adamson decided to break up the band – but then he re-formed it in 1991.

Drummer Mark Brzezicki was unable to commit to touring, but acted as studio drummer on 1991’s No Place Like Home. For 1993’s Buffalo Skinners, he was unable to participate at all. Those two albums and 1995’s Why the Long Face (and all of the singles from them) found moderate UK success. Despite landing the special guest slot on two Rolling Stones tours and performing several shows with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, by 1999 the band was “a depleted commercial force” with Driving To Damascus being their first album to not reach the UK top 50. By then, Adamson’s drinking problem had become obvious to those around him. In 2000, he moved to Nashville after Grant suggested he find new inspiration outside of Dunfermline, Scotland. His second marriage collapsed in 2001 and that December, Adamson took his own life.

The remaining three members had no plans to continue as Big Country until reuniting in 2007 to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary, with bassist Tony Butler handling vocals and Watson explaining, “It wasn’t a comeback, it was just the three of us having fun as friends and as a band, and hoping to give the fans some enjoyment”. The following year, the trio released a mini-album under the name BBW (Brzezicki, Butler, Watson).

In 2010, Watson asked The Alarm’s Mike Peters to join since Adamson once had given him his blessing to front the band. Butler quit in 2012. Big Country released The Journey in 2013 with Peters performing side stage on tour, leaving center stage open in honor of Adamson. 2014 was the 30th Anniversary of The Alarm’s Declaration, so Peters exited and Simon Hough was asked to take his place.