Big Special

Big Special play The Liquid Room in Edinburgh on 29 November 2026. Formed in England’s West Midlands, the duo of vocalist and writer Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney shape tense, bass‑driven songs at the crossroads of punk, spoken word and post‑industrial rock. Hicklin’s half‑spoken lines carry stories of working‑class daily life, mental health and social pressures, while Moloney’s drumming locks into heavy, almost mechanical patterns that anchor the groove.

On stage, they work with contrast: stark recitation tipping into clipped hooks, dense rhythms opening onto more melancholic motifs. Emerging in the early 2020s with a string of tracks shared online, Big Special built their identity on the UK independent circuit before fixing it on record with their 2024 debut, Postindustrial Hometown Blues, released on SO Recordings. The album condenses what their live set makes tangible: raw energy, spoken tension and a taste for narrative that hits straight to the point.