Big Big Train

Big Big Train are an English progressive rock band formed in Bournemouth in 1990. The current line-up includes band founder Gregory Spawton (bass, guitars and keyboards), along with Nick D'Virgilio (drums, vocals, guitars and keyboards), Rikard Sjöblom (guitars and keyboards), Clare Lindley (violin, keyboards, guitars and vocals), Alberto Bravin (vocals, guitars, keyboards and drums), Oskar Holldorff (keyboards and vocals) and Paul Mitchell (trumpet, percussion). Until 2009, the band were active as a predominantly studio project led by Spawton and co-founder Andy Poole (bass, keyboards and guitars), who departed the band in 2018, with changing line-ups and guest musicians. They have released sixteen studio albums and six EPs.

After starting out as an independent band, Big Big Train were signed to Giant Electric Pea from 1993 to 1998 and distributed their releases through their own website. Since their sixth album, The Underfall Yard, which received critical acclaim from the progressive rock community, a more stable line-up has been established, and the band performed their first live concerts in 17 years at Kings Place, London, in August 2015. The gigs were voted Event of the Year by the readers of Prog magazine. Stone & Steel, a Blu-ray featuring the 2014 rehearsals at Real World Studios and four of the songs performed at Kings Place, was released on 21 March 2016. Big Big Train were the winners of the Breakthrough Award at the Progressive Music Awards held at Kew Gardens, London on 3 September 2013, and have been nominated in several other categories in recent years.

The band's latest studio album, Woodcut, was released in February 2026, as a follow-up to The Likes Of Us, released in March 2024. Their previous studio album, Welcome to the Planet, was released in January 2022. Ingenious Devices, a compilation album of re-recorded material with David Longdon's original vocals and one live track with their new singer Alberto Bravin, was released on 30 June 2023.

Big Big Train embarked on their first UK tour in October 2019. Scheduled dates for the band's first ever North American and European tours in 2020 were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following a European and UK tour in autumn 2023, their first US tour finally took place in March 2024, and included two appearances at Cruise to the Edge. The band embarked on a limited tour of the UK and Europe in late September/early October 2024, predominantly featuring tracks from their album, The Likes Of Us.

The roots of Big Big Train go back to 1981 in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham in England, when Gregory's older brother Nigel Spawton (drums) joined with Ed Serafinas (vocals), Pete McDonald (bass), Steve Lugg (guitar/vocals) and Tim McCarty (guitar/vocals) in the new wave outfit known as Big Big Train. Together they wrote and recorded many memorable tracks including ‘Snowbound Children’, ‘Girl in a Liver Swap’ and ‘Bandits at 12 o’clock’. Later in the 80s Andy Poole formed a songwriting partnership in Bournemouth, England, with his childhood friend, Ian Cooper. At around the same time, Gregory Spawton had also formed his first band, Equus. Equus played a few local gigs around the Birmingham area before splitting up when Spawton went to university in 1984. Meanwhile, Poole and Cooper's band, Archshine, recorded a few demos and occasionally emerged from their home studio to play some gigs.

In 1987, Spawton moved down to Bournemouth. Shortly afterwards, he met Poole and they discovered that they shared a mutual appreciation of Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and other progressive bands. In particular, they were both fans of a then relatively obscure band called IQ. Indeed, Poole had spent some time as a roadie for The Lens and IQ.

In the late 1980s, they decided to record some demos together. After a few months, the very first Big Big Train songs emerged and in 1990, Archshine ceased to exist, and Big Big Train was founded, initially consisting of the duo of Spawton (guitar) and Poole (bass). The following year saw the recruitment of Cooper (keyboards), Steve Hughes (drums), and Martin Read (vocals).

The band's earliest songs were released on a demo tape in October 1991, and the band's first demo album, From the River to the Sea, was released in May 1992. During this time, the band continued to perform live dates, gradually playing to larger crowds in higher profile venues.