Tour link: https://metropolistouring.com/big-country-2025/
Scottish indie rockers Big Country have returned to Australia for a Greatest Hits tour.
In 2019, they were here to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of their classic second album Steeltown which was recorded at ABBA’s Polar Studios in Stockholm and produced by Steve Lillywhite, garnering a UK number one album. Their debut album, The Crossing, also with Lillywhite at the helm, cemented their reputation as an influential band with an undeniable 80’s Celtic Rock feel that led to two Grammy nominations and widespread airplay, alongside substantial touring. A lot has transpired since those heady days but with the current line-up treading the boards with great reviews on keeping their legacy alive, we recently caught up with founding member, and guitarist, Bruce Watson via Zoom.
Hello, here is my vinyl copy of Big Country’s debut The Crossing [holds up album].
Bruce Watson: Oh, cool, bro.
It has survived a bit of weather, but it’s probably a little bit iffy by now.
BW: Is that the embossed sleeve one? Is it an original?
Yeah, and it mentions on the back that Steve Lillywhite produced it.
BW: Yeah, that was in bold letters as well, and quite rightly so.
Is that the kind of thing that was from Simple Minds, getting that sound, that distinctive sound at the time?
BW: No, it was Big Country. It was Simple Minds after Big Country. Although I love Simple Means, they are genius.
Indeed, and you managed to poach one of their bass players at one point.
BW: Well, we didn’t poach Derek [Forbes – 2012 to 2015]. No, I think Derek had been out the band before that, so we didn’t actually poach him.
Anyway, you’re coming back here again but this is billed as a greatest hits tour. What’s the variance from the previous set list?
BW: The promoters actually did that. We had nothing to do with calling the tour, but we will obviously play the songs that we’re best known for, and so the set will vary from time to time, you know, but obviously we do have to play those five or six songs from the early days, most of which were on the first album anyway. The anniversary was out, as coming up so we do some songs from that era, play some fans favourites kind of thing, and maybe take a look at a couple of B-sides that we like doing and just generally songs that we enjoy playing. So, it’s always a mishmash, but there’s always about six or seven songs that are always going to be the core songs of the set, and we work around that.
Are there any particular standouts for you in the discography?
BW: Well, to me, I enjoy every single one or I wouldn’t be doing them. So, with the songs, you try to vary them, and I wouldn’t say there’s a favourite.
Approaches to songwriting and arrangements have changed over the years, mainly due to technology. Is there anything that makes you approach things differently?
BW: No, because the way we wrote those songs is how we play them, and I think people would expect you to play them the way they’re used to hearing the records. So, we tend to do that, although live, we sometimes we slip in little Easter eggs here and there, and certain songs, you know, we’ll maybe do. There may be an instrumental section that will come up in a song, and we’ll maybe change that and play a lick from another song that we don’t play so much, or we’ll chuck in somebody else’s guitar part from somebody else’s song. You know, sometimes it’s a bit of fun and there are no rules. We’re not a band that jams a lot. We don’t do extended guitar solos or stuff. We tend to stick to the format and the way it was recorded. But sometimes something spontaneous can happen and you’ll go off on a tangent for a while. It is good for the band and it’s good for the audience because you might not repeat that every night, you know, so it depends.
How have you coped with the lineup changes in the last couple of years?
BW: Well, the lineup now has Tommy [Paxton] on vocals, Chris [Stones] on bass, and Reece [Dobbin] on drums, as well as Jamie [Watson] on guitar. There’s myself, and Tommy’s obviously on guitar. Both Tommy and Chris were and still have a group called Restless Natives which do Big Country songs, and they do them justice. They’re very sympathetic to the band and they do some great verses. For me, the guys have given the songs and the name of Big Country a new lease of life, you know. So, these guys are kind of mostly invested. They’re not session musicians. They’re not just doing it just because it’s a job, they love the band and they love the songs, and they care. They care about the way Big Country should sound. So, for me, that’s given me a new lease of life, and it’s great to get their input because they come up with things that I might have forgotten because I’m too close to it or because I’ve been in the barn for 40 years. Sometimes you can become too close to things like that, and you can’t see the wood from the trees, and then it just takes somebody from the outside to come in. That’s kind of the way it is with the guys, because they are fans.
Understood, but I guess you’ve replaced the rhythm section.
BW: I had no choice but it’s one thing for the better.
In light of that, has this change allowed you to create new material?
BW: Well, not new material. We’ve been recording a new album which will be out next year. There’s been a lot of songs and music that Stuart [Adamson – late frontman], Tony [Butler – bass] and myself recorded over the years with an example being a song called “Winter Sky”, which was the B side of “Just a Shadow “way back in 1984. We had done the album, Steel Town, and we had the first two singles out and then it came to the third single, which was “Just a Shadow” and the label got in touch with Stuart and myself, so soon we realised that we needed a B side. They said, ‘Look, we need a B-side. The record comes out in about a month, but we need a B side,’ and we didn’t have a B side because we’d used up all the tracks. So, it was suggested that Stuart and I go into a recording studio in Edinburgh to write a song and record it, ‘We need it yesterday.’ So, Stuart and I went into the studio in Edinburgh, and we didn’t even have a drum kit or bass. We played bass, and the drums were played on a keyboard. Stuart played the snare on a keyboard. I played the kick drum on the keyboard, and the song was called “Winter Sky.” Now, it was a demo, but the record company needed it as a B side. But for me, the song was never developed. It needed Tony and Mark’s [Brzezicki – drums] input on it, and they weren’t [around] because the record was done, they needed it quick, you know, but they weren’t there. So, I’ve taken a lot of songs that were done like that that were not so much released but got released on a series called Rarities on an online only kind of thing. But these songs were never really developed. I’ve taken them and recorded them with the guys and kind of finished them. I haven’t used the original recordings. We just listened to the songs a couple of times and took them to the final conclusion, with real drums and stuff like that.
That’ll be great. What are your recollections of the early days in the UK when say England was very much going into this post punk transition but then suddenly MTV turned up willing to play your video?
BW: It must have been very strange because I’m from Scotland. I mean, I liked prog rock, you know, I like prog rock, I like all kinds of music. It was kind of weird when the punk thing happened, it was almost like a whole year zero thing. I was never into 20-minute keyboard solos, or even 20-minute guitar solos. But it was almost like when punk hit, you had to sort of deny everything else, stuff you don’t listen to anymore, you know. But there’s a lot of prog rock stuff. Our drummer [at the time] was a huge prog rock fan, allegedly like my stuff like that, and the two of us would get together and have some great, great times with musical ideas and stuff like that. You know, if a song’s a good song, it’s a good song and there shouldn’t be any rules. I like music, that’s what I do. I like music in general, whether it be classical, or different genres like country or whatever. I enjoy it, and if I don’t enjoy a song, I just don’t listen to it, you know.
How did you cope with the attention from MTV when suddenly your film clips were shown? Because it wasn’t really an overnight sensation, which a lot of people like to believe, as you worked very hard prior.
BW: Yeah, well, MTW was it, basically. I didn’t really get involved in the science of putting things out, if you can call it science, but I was just involved in the making of the music. MTV was just like an extension of radio. You know, you got your record player, the radio and then obviously the MTV thing. You were doing videos, and it would get played on TV. You might be touring in the UK, and your song gets popular in America, but you can’t go to America. So, you know, they would play the video off your single until you got to America. So, you know, to me it was just like an extension of radio play airplay. Instead of it being the record, they were playing the video and the record, you know.
When Stuart passed on, you kind of changed roles in the band in the sense that you started doing some of his stuff and then your son came into it.
BW: When Stuart passed away, the band had split up anyway, before Stuart passed away, because Stuart was out in America and he was working on a new project. My role in the band has never really changed. The band has always been the same, which is to basically accompany Stuart. Although even though Stuart wasn’t there, my role and the band hasn’t really change that much, as in being guitar player, co-writer. I’m not a singer or never was I saying I didn’t. I don’t want to be a singer or even a frontman. I just continue and hopefully do the songs justice and try my hardest to, you know, get a group of musicians sympathetic to the songs. You know, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t have any other roles behind the scenes, as it were, you know, because I’m not good at that. Although obviously with Stuart not being here, I find myself having to do more promotional things. I’m not very good at doing the promotional side of things apart from playing live. So, with me being the only original member, I tend to find, for instance, at the moment we’re doing the tour in Australia. So, I’ve got to spend half of today doing press and promotional stuff, which was normally a role done by the singer or frontman. That’s not something I wanted to do. So, that’s the only difference between what I used to do, what I’m doing now. I’m more involved in doing the press and promotional thing. That’s about the only sort of change, you know. Everything else is pretty much the same.
Have you embraced the digital age, with the way that things have changed with touring or do you just use a pedal board and bring out your amps?
BW: Oh, no. It’s pretty much the same as what I’ve always done, just guitar through pedals and through an amp. Pedals and technology have changed, but the fundamentals of the guitar are exactly the same and the amplification is exactly the same for what I use, I use. I think there’s room for both. I mean, the amps that I use are still valve tube driven. It’s like an old TV set, and that’s the way they’ve been for years. My guitar is an Esquire. It’s a one pickup Telecaster and that goes through an amplifier, which is valve; it’ll probably be when I get to Australia. Whenever I go abroad, they ask me what amp to use, and I’ll just tell me, ‘Give me a Fender Twin,’ which is a valve amp. But my pedal board is basically a mixture of digital and analogue. I use a lot of digital effects, so it’s kind of hybrid. It’s the best of both worlds’ kind of thing or the worst of both worlds. No, I don’t use amplifier modelling. I don’t go down that route. It’s just something else that’s going to take me a long time to programme. I’ve tried it before, but I felt like I had too many options.
So, for the hit song, “In a Big Country”, which is your most famous hit, there’s the MXR transposer to get the bagpipe sound, so you’ve still got a pitch shifter in there?
BW: Yeah, I’m working on my peril board at this moment in time because I’m going down there. I’m having to build a rig that I can take on the aeroplane. So, I’m actually working on that at this moment in time. I’ve got my pedal board in front of me, and for that, I’ve got a pitch transposer. But I don’t take it on the road because it’s over 40 years old and it’s not as reliable it used to be. So, I’ve got a couple of little tricks that I’m using. A couple of pedals that I can emulate that with, you know. We use a Korg [600mA] pedal which is big, clumsy and bulky. Then this is technology for you, that made it this size. But this will go into play with me somehow. I’ve tried all different multi effects digital stuff, and they’re great. They’re really good but I find they’re great until you go on stage with them and then the heat gets in there, and the moisture gets in there, and they tend to have a mind of their own. The stuff is great, but sometimes when you’re in a touring band, they get knocked and they’re in the back of your van or inside the whole aeroplane and things get banged about and then, you know, then you run into problems. So, I’ll try and keep it as simple as I can, just in case there’s an emergency, and try to always have a backup.
When you worked with producers such as Steve Lillywhite, for example, did he bring along a stack of pedals and say, knock yourself out?
BW: Oh, no, no. Occasionally a producer might have a pedal that they will bring with them that they like to use, not a bit of outboard, but we just used to use the outboard effects on the desk. A lot of delay pedals and stuff we had in the early days, again, it was digital delivery. In fact, it was tape we were using at the time. But, you know, you might be outboard equipment on the desk. Like a Lexicon that, you know, you could never take out a live, and you can never afford it anyway. We just had to use the outboard stuff that was in whatever studio we were in, you know.
What about amplifiers? I guess it was Marshalls and Stuart was using Session amplifiers?
BW: Originally, it was the H & H amps [HH Electronics], and then once we got a bit of money in for the band, we used two-amp sets. I was using a Music Man and a Marshall. Stuart was using two Fender combos. Nowadays, I’m using little ENGL 1 x 12, 50-watt amps, and some Black Star stuff as well.
Guitar wise, it’s. It’s still the Esquire, as you say.
BW: I’ll use an Esquire at the moment. Yeah, it changes. It varies from time to time depending on what I’ve got. But at the moment I’m using the Esquire. It’s a Telecaster without the neck pickup.
Just very quickly, is there a particular performance in your career that stands out to you and makes you say that was worth all the trouble and effort?
BW: Well, every, you know, I put my heart and soul every gig you give it 110% every time, you know, so every gig, you want to treat it as a one off is special because when people come along in Australia, it might be the one and only time they’ll get to see you, kind of thing. Try not to be blasé or it’s just another night, you know, you remember people saved up their hard-earned cash to come and see for that one night only. So, every night I treat it as the same.
Did you find that when the band was starting to make it big, I guess if you want to call it that, that you were in the shadows of Echo and the Bunnymen or Simple Minds?
BW: No, I mean I just. I love all those bands, and I think we, we come from the same sort of well, as it were, you know. I love all those bands but every band that you mentioned was unique, had their own sound, and was fantastic live. I mean, it’s not as if we were, you know, part of some big club or anything like that. Every one of those bands went on to do great things as well. It’s brilliant. My guitar playing is just something I’ve always done, and I know my limitations on guitar. I know what to do with the guitar. Regarding what I’m trying to say is I don’t have big companies around my sound, so my guitar playing is going to be based around what I do in Big Country and Big Country only.