Big Black

From ChicagoPunk
Revision as of 02:17, 29 October 2014 by Gantry (talk | contribs) (Removed song tracks)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Bigblack.jpg

Big Black was one of the most important Chicago punk bands of the 1980s. They are one of the Big Four and released a bevy of albums and EPs before breaking up in 1987. Fronted by Steve Albini and led on guitar by Naked Raygun founder Santiago Durango.


Members

Short Term Members

Releases

  • Il Duce 7" - (Homestead, 1986)
  • Atomizer LP - (Homestead, 1986)
    • Engineered by Iain Burgess
  • Headache 12" - (Touch and Go, 1987)
  • Heartbeat 7" - (Touch and Go, 1987)
  • He's a Whore/The Model 7" - (Touch and Go, 1987)
  • Songs About Fucking LP - (Touch and Go, 1987)
  • Pigpile (live) - (Touch and Go, 1992)

History

Origins

Steve Albini was briefly involved with the band Stations, during which David Stowell would often use a Roland PR-808 drum machine for sequencing. Though he did not spend much time with Stations, Albini got his first real exposure with the drum machine and bought one on his own. He spent extensive time after that getting acclimated with the drum machine and recorded his first demo (which would go on to be the Lungs EP) mostly by himself in his apartment in Uptown. While attending local shows in the 80/81 timeframe, Steve got to know the manager of The Effigies, Jon Babbin. He gave Babin a copy of the demo and mentioned to him that he was looking for other people to join his project. Babin gave the demo to Jeff Pezzati who liked what he heard and joined up with Albini.

The Coach House and Bulldozer

Jeff and Steve began practicing at a coach house, where Pezzati lived with Santiago Durango and others. The basement of the coach house had a rehearsal where Naked Raygun and other bands practiced during that time. One Sunday while Pezzati and Albini were practicing, the two of them were making such a racket that Santiago couldn't hear what was on the TV. Giving up on trying to watch TV, he went down to the basement and decided to join in on the practice session. Though Durango was part of the Bulldozer EP his role was more of an axillary one, as most of the songs had already taken shape before he became a regular member of the band.

2006 "Reunion"

On September 9, 2006 Big Black played at short set at the Touch and Go Records 25th Anniversary festival, their first show in nearly 20 years. With the original lineup of Albini, Durango and Pezzati, Big Black played Cables, Pigeon Kill, Dead Billy and Racer X. Albini stated at the show that he was doing it strictly as a "thank you" to Touch and Go and Corey Rusk, so don't expect another Big Black show in the near future.

External Links

YouTube Clips