ALL MUSIC MAGAZINE UK _ SINGLE OF THE WEEK - BIG SPECIAL - 'PLAINTIVE NATIVE' via SO Recordings | EU/UK tour on-sale now
- Desh Kapur
- 4 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Off the back of dropping surprise second album NATIONAL AVERAGE. in July via SO Recordings, Big Special now share new single 'PLAINTIVE NATIVE' - a thunderous track with heart.
Explaining 'PLAINTIVE NATIVE', frontman Joe Hicklin said, "The song is about political turmoil clouding the minds of the nation that turns moral conviction into apathy. It’s about worry for the future and a lack of hope. It’s the confusion of trying to be good when everything is so bad and not knowing how to navigate and trust all the wagging fingers and waving fists."
Big Special’s rise has been rapid. In August 2023, the Walsall duo - Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney - played their first London headline show at Camden’s Dublin Castle with only one release to their name. Less than two years later, they commanded a packed O2 Forum Kentish Town, celebrating the success of their acclaimed debut POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES. Their new album NATIONAL AVERAGE. charts that journey, and explores the highs of success alongside the persistence of mental and emotional battles.
A band just two years into their career, the pair have seen support from NME, BBC Radio One, BBC 6 Music, Brooklyn Vegan, Rough Trade, DIY, DORK, MOJO, CLASH, The Line Of Best Fit, UNCUT, Rolling Stone UK, and more, continuing to be one of the UK's most exciting acts.
Grounded in a decades-long friendship, Big Special are built on honesty, grit and sheer persistence. Balancing dark humour with raw truth, they continue to evolve without losing sight of where they came from. Theirs is a story of brotherhood and resilience, and proof that even when you’re living the dream, the struggle doesn’t vanish.
LIVE DATES:
2025:
October 15th: Lux, Hannover, DE
October 16th: Kantine, Berlin, DE (Sold Out)
October 17th: Chmury, Warsaw, PL
October 18th: Café V lese, Prague, CZ
October 22nd: Arena, Vienna, AUT
October 23rd: Santeria, Milan, IT
October 24th: Exil, Zurich, CH
October 25th: Orangehouse, Munich, DE
October 28th: MTC, Cologne, DE (Sold Out)
October 29th: La Boule Noire, Paris, FR (Sold Out)
October 31st: Razzmatazz 3, Barcelona, ESP
November 1st: El Sol, Madrid, ESP
November 8th: Mutations Festival, Brighton, UK
December 1st: Neptune Theatre, Seattle, USA *
December 3rd: The Filmore, San Francisco, USA *
December 4th: The Regent, Los Angeles, USA *
December 7th: Cobra Lounge, Chicago, USA (Headline)
December 8th: Rockwell, Boston, USA (Headline)
December 9th: Irving Plaza, New York, USA *
December 11th: Concert Hall, Toronto, Canada *
*Supporting Public Service Broadcasting
2026:
February 13th: Waterfront, Norwich, UK
February 14th: Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK (Sold Out)
February 15th: Digital, Newcastle, UK
February 18th: University Stylus, Leeds, UK
February 19th: SWG3, Glasgow, UK
February 20th: New Century Hall, Manchester, UK
February 21st: 02 Institute, Birmingham, UK
February 24th: Electric Bristol, Bristol, UK
February 25th: 1865, Southampton, UK
February 27th: The Roundhouse, London UK
March 6th: The Workmans Club, Dublin, IE
March 7th: Ulster Sports Club, Belfast, UK
About Big Special:
Life comes at you fast. Just ask Big Special. On the evening of August 9, 2023, the duo – Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney – walked onstage storied Camden boozer the Dublin Castle for their first headlining gig in the capital. The duo had only a single release to their name: the majestic, cathartic, existential bellow of ‘Shithouse’. The Big Special story had barely begun.
Fast-forward 20 or so months later, however, and Hicklin and Moloney are again onstage, this time at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, sweat-drenched and bathing in the rapture as the biggest headline show of their career so far draws to a triumphant close. They’re looking out at 2,300 or so fans, hands aloft, a fraction of the following that have been drawn by the righteous missives and unflinching poetry of their acclaimed debut album Postindustrial Hometown Blues. As Moloney notes, the Forum is only a kilometre walk away from the Dublin Castle. But the distance Big Special have covered between those two shows is far greater than can be plotted on a map.
The journey between those poles, from then to now, is one of the key stories told by their second album, National Average. And trust Big Special to invest those stories with wisdom, insight, the blackest humour and the most absolute humanity. And these might be their stories, but the lessons speak to us all.
They’ve been friends for decades, first crossing paths while studying music BTECs in Walsall during their late-teens where they formed a band. It didn’t happen for them – not then, anyway.
But this backstory still grounds them now. Then, during lockdown, with endless days of nothingness stretching out before them, they took another swing at that dream. Before, Hicklin had sung his poetry over acoustic guitar strum; now, he felt an urge to scream these words, loud and true, over a noise that would match them. Moloney stepped up to once again throw in his lot with his dear friend. Of course, he always believed in Hicklin. And once he heard the lyrics to ‘Shithouse’, to ‘This Here Ain’t Water’, which spoke so eloquently and elementally of their lives, their mental health struggles, their dreams and the obstacles that lie before them, he knew that faith was well-placed.
Upon its May 2024 release, the debut album Postindustrial Hometown Blues was baptised with acclaim; Big Special found their audience, and then expanded it, and then expanded it, and then expanded it further. The work was hard, but the rewards came fast.
And so National Average reflects the world as it is, as Big Special have seen it while grinding around the nation and screaming their poetry at the people. The album also registers how their own lives, their own world has changed, and what that means. “We’ve finally got a taste of everything we ever wanted,” says Moloney, “and we’re loving it. But every silver lining has a cloud with it. Mental health isn’t situational. You can be living the dream, and still be depressed along the way.”
With characteristic Big Special flair, the darkness is leavened by more than a ladle-full of the blackest humour.
But the upbeats are easily matched by the album’s downbeats, the album’s emotional shifts more crafted than on the debut. “The first half of the album is about ambition – you can hear the confidence of it, even a little bit of sleaze,” says Hicklin. “The second half is about reflecting on what’s happened, how everything’s changed. You’ve got to be honest with the darkness.”
Moving forward remains Big Special’s ethos, pressing on through changes big and small, staying true to who they are without betraying the truth of who they might become, thankful for the energy and insight that’s driven their mission this far, and will fuel whatever comes next.
Brotherhood is key. “There’s only ever been two people in Big Special,” Hicklin says, “so we’re the only two people who get it, what this unique experience has been. The intensity of our relationship is good. In a lot of ways, we’ve just been lucky, and things lined up so that we’re able to do this. It’s not some fucking divine thing – we’re just good at what we do, and we’ve got a good team. We should respect the craft, respect the audience, and do the best we can, so we can keep on doing it.”