Big Silence

BIG SILENCE (The Beginning: Late-1989 to Mid-1990):
Iain ‘Moon’ Gould (vocals)
Arthur Cook (guitar)
Graeme Marshall (guitar)
Dave Sanderson (keyboards)
Rick Wolkers (bass)
James Kofe Jackson (drums)
DAVE remembers:
The band began as a hard-working and well-oiled live act gracing the stages of several venues across South West England with this line-up for the best part of 1990...playing at high volume and plunging ourselves and most of the room in dry ice!
It was a time marked by battered eardrums, battered fish, smelly transit vans, thumping hangovers, hairy roadies and cigarette-ash covered mixing desks. Long haired people wearing Big Silence logo-adorned T-shirts packed the house and many pints were spilled.
And the music?...
Well, we thundered through some stirring live sets predominantly comprised of hard rock covers (eg. Aerosmith, Billy Idol, Whitesnake, Queensryche, etc.) as well as one or two self-penned songs mixed in.
This all pleased the pub crowds of the day who wanted to hear ‘something they knew’ although of course, even at this early stage, there were clear intentions to supplement the songs we’d written ourselves with more original material.
Yes, the band had ambition to go further but, as it turned out, the line-up was destined to change before our own voice could be explored more fully.
Two seven inch singles (showing some promise) were recorded and released on vinyl during this early period…
VALLEY OF THE KINGS b/w Alone (Tangible Records) TR001
GO GO BABY b/w Born To Boogie (Tangible Records) TR003
…although that first ‘A side’ was later to be re-recorded to suit Big Silence’s new sound having changed our clientele, changed our direction and indeed changed our underpants in readiness to record our first and only album… the melodic and thickly layered The Eye Of Horus.
BIG SILENCE (The End: Mid-1990 to Late-1992):
Paul Mainon (vocals)
Arthur Cook (guitar)
Dave Sanderson (keyboards)
Rick Cook (bass)
Adrian Waters (drums)
PAUL remembers:
It was the summer of 1990 and I had gone to live in the beautiful city of Exeter in Devon. I was desperate to find a band and after eating at Harleys cafe, I found myself looking at the ads in a certain music shop. There I saw the name 'Big Silence' and they were on the lookout for a singer. I'd seen the logo everywhere on posters, t-shirts and painted on the back of leather jackets. I'd even seen their 7' Singles in the record shops. I thought they would be out of my league, coming from a background of small rock and metal bands in the North. They did have a fair old reputation and the singer that had gone before was blessed with a great set of pipes.
My aspirations were large and I went for it. I was told to learn several songs for the audition; the one I remember being something from Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche, which appealed to me enormously. After the initial audition along came the second test. I was given a tape of a song with just music on it and told to do what I could. Success. This song later appeared on the album as 'Eternal Winter'.
My first gig with Big silence was a small affair on the porch of a millionaires house, on a summers eve in Devon. He was, afterall, funding the band. Many shows came to follow and we kept building on the existing reputation, commanding an impressive following in and around Devon.
Then came the album. 'The Eye Of Horus' was recorded at Tangible Studios April - July 1991 in the gorgeous Devon countryside. What a fantastic time. I had an even better time getting out and playing the album live. It was good to see many an 'Eye Of Horus' t-shirt out and about.
When the Big Silence entity finally drew to a standstill, we'd already penned another albums worth of amazing new material and had been playing it live. The response was exceptional. It should have really made it to the studio but never did. I have the material in a live format, recorded at a show and, even now, listening back to it, I have no doubt that things would have gone from strength to strength.
What happened to the band after that? Well, I moved back up North. Adrian Waters I'm not too sure about. Rick Wolkers, who played bass on the album and did a few gigs, went on to help produce albums of Muse and do the sound at Exeter Cavern Club. Arthur and Rick Cook continued on their musical journey with the fantastic band 'Dirty Money' as well as doing jingles for Radio One along with Dave Sanderson - who, incidentally, is now Dr David Sanderson - better known as Flowerbed. A Doctor of music. What a great bunch of chaps and real musical geniuses.
Even though it may sound a little dated now, and AOR/Progressive Rock isn't everyone's trip to Debenhams, I think that the album stands up to time well enough to be appreciated. It's difficult deciding what songs to put on here so I just put on what the spirits told me to. Their are more where they came from, so if anyone would like to hear the full album, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.
I hope you liked 1991 as much as I did. What comes next? Nothing but silence...Big Silence. Peace.
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