CLUNK Recommends | BIG SPECIAL - ONLY FREE WHEN SLEEPING

Matt Wellham

After years of photographing and filming the London music scene, Matt’s now based in Sydney, Australia. A lover of the post-punk and alternative movement, he can usually be found in the grassroots venues, camera in one hand and a beer in the other.

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BIG SPECIAL return with new track ‘ONLY FREE WHEN SLEEPING’, along with the announcement of their upcoming EP ‘O’JOY’, out 5th June.

Composed of vocalist Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney and hailing from the Black Country, BIG SPECIAL turns pub-like conversations into gritty, invigorating sonic movements.

‘ONLY FREE WHEN SLEEPING’ continues this trend, with a moody, marching blues beat driving the track, while Joe Hicklin spits his preaching words, demanding an audience to stop and listen.

It’s a sound fit for the slickest Peaky Blinders episode, and fans of SPRINTS, Sleaford Mods and Lambrini Girls should take note.

Speaking about the new single, the band add: “This is a head-down walking song. When all that shows up in observation is negative, when all news is bad news and you just look at your feet and curse the cruelty and the faff of the modern day and all the days before that lead to this feeling. When you just wanna go to bed and let your dreams make up a different story for you to smile at, just for a little bit, until you wake again. Head down, stomp through another day.“

Along with the single, the band have announced their upcoming EP ‘O’JOY’, featuring recent singles ‘SLUGLIFE’ and ‘DRAGGED UP A HILL (and thrown down the other side)’.

Speaking about the EP, the band said: “This new record is made of all the fallen parts of our first two albums. We picked them up and took them back to the studio to rework and play with them to make them into their own piece of work that reflects upon what we have done so far. The songs that didn’t fit in the right place at the right time. Including songs that, at the time, might’ve made the albums too long and lean too far into a darker tone, where we wanted to keep the balance of an emotional journey, like watching a movie with your eyes closed. So we made O’JOY!”