Big Sugar

Big Sugar comes to Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on January 25, 2026. Formed in Toronto at the end of the 80s around guitarist-singer Gordie Johnson, the band blends heavy blues rock and hard rock with a reggae pulse and a touch of psychedelia. Built on thick guitar riffs, deep bass lines and dub-minded rhythms, their sound grew from club stages to major rooms across Canada.

Across albums like Big Sugar, Five Hundred Pounds and Hemi-Vision in the 90s, then Heated and Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready?, the group shaped a catalogue where electric blues meets Caribbean accents, pushed by the presence of Jamaican bassist Garry Lowe and multi-instrumentalist Kelly “Mr. Chill” Hoppe. After a pause, the band returned with Revolution Per Minute, the stripped-back, reggae-leaning Yardstyle, and Eternity Now in 2020, keeping that hybrid approach alive.

On stage, Johnson drives a tight, guitar-forward set that slides between grit and groove, with dub spaces opening inside the riffs and a low-end that locks the room into a steady sway.