The big train is unstoppable: Even Corona and the departure of no less than three longtime members couldn't slow down Big Big Train's ride. David Longdon and Greg Spawton are proud of what their band embodies. In a double interview they revealed the idea behind the new studio album "Common Ground" and that they even already know what the next record will be about.
eclipsed: "Common Ground" was recorded in difficult times. What was different this time?
David Longdon: We are an international band and we have always worked with file sharing. In fact, this time we had agreed to record the new album together in one room, but ironically we couldn't because of the pandemic. So it was business as usual.
Greg Spawton: We lost three band members last summer with Dave Gregory, Danny Manners and Rachel Hall. That changed a lot of things. Also, Covid was annoying, also because we couldn't do our planned longer tour. Therefore "Common Ground" is maybe more rocking than "Grand Tour" was
eclipsed: My impression is that Covid-19, the Brexit and all that followed from it influenced the album, especially the lyrics. Is that right?
Longdon: Yes. What happened was a shock to everyone. Just in the United Kingdom, things happened in a short period of time that we had never experienced in our lives. The world was brought to its knees. That, of course, had an impact. The issues at stake are more situated in the here and now than ever before. Still, we wanted to make an optimistic album, not a dystopian one.
Spawton: Covid is definitely very present, yes. David told me he couldn't think of anything else, and he just nailed it. I would say the new songs are more general statements about the state of humanity, especially that we're better off connecting and banding together. We're not a political band in the way that, say, Roger Waters is. Maybe more in the hippie sense: we want to celebrate the best in people.
