Great Big Sea is a modern traditional band, a Newfoundland folk-rock band that performs original material and is appreciated for their mixture of traditional and popular music. Performing ballads, jigs and reels, they create a spirited sound -- whether classical standards or local songs they are transformed, but with the original appeal kept intact. Based in St. John's, this Juno nominated band possesses a crowd pleasing formula that is both heartfelt and vital.
Originally, Sean McCann and Bob Hallett played with the successful group, Rankin Street. In 1991, they met Alan Doyle and Darrell Power and formed GBS. The band played its first official gig on March 11, 1993, opening for the Irish Descendants. That year they recorded their first ever album, an independent self-titled release that included classics like "I’se the B’y" and "Drunken Sailor." This record has since been re-released by Warner Music Canada.
GBS's follow-up album, Up, went platinum in Canada, selling more than 100,000 copies and introducing their kitchen party style to a wider audience with lyrics like “So, pile your boots up in the corner/Hang your jacket from the door/There’s thirty people in the kitchen/And there’s always room for more.”
After the band won at the East Coast Music Awards in the “Entertainer of the Year” category, their third release Play, went platinum in just three months. Released in 1997, this album features new material such as "Ordinary Day," "End of The World," "My Apology" and more.
In 1998, Great Big Sea released Rant & Roar, a collection of their biggest hits. Within the first week of its release, it hit #3 on the Soundscan album charts, making it the fastest debut album rising of the week. This was also the year the band was nominated for several Juno Awards, including Group of the Year.
1999's Turn featured the hit single, "Consequence Free," traditional French songs and seven originals. A video was also released where Sean was bullied by a female wrestler!
Road Rage, released in 2000, cemented GBS's stature as one of Canada's most exciting live acts. Road Rage was recorded totally live on their Turn tour between October 14 and December 31, 1999. .Two new songs, "Everything Shines" and "Hangin Johnny," are added to this compilation of GBS favourites
Having won the "Entertainer of the Year" award at the East Coast Music Awards for four years in a row, in 2001, they decided not to submit their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete. In 2002, Power retired from Great Big Sea to spend more time with his family.
In February 2002, their sixth studio album -- Sea of No Cares was released in North America. Alan Doyle felt that it was their best album to date. Then, 2003 saw a Great Big DVD.
In 2004, the band released their seventh full-length album Something Beautiful. It was their fifth consecutive album to debut in the Top 10 on Canadian sales charts. In a podcast it was suggested that the complexity of the material on the album contributed to the fact that "it was not fun to make" to which a bandmade joked “so it's US, you don’t like then?”
The Hard and The Easy, released the following year, spans the spectrum of the Newfoundland songbook. It is a solid and straightforward acoustic album of traditional and local songs, and a first for singers and multi-instrumentalists Sean McCann, Alan Doyle and Bob Hallett. This album showed that tracing the evolution of Newfoundland folk music clearly remains a passion for Great Big Sea. Each of the twelve songs found on the album was selected for what it says, how it speaks of Newfoundland, history, labour and love, and how it fits into the local musical canon.
This eighth release is like a pure force of nature — Great Big Sea's blend of instruments like mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, and concertina, along with their vocal harmonies, revels in the melodies they create, and their sound bellows joy. It reached gold status in its second week. "The hard and the easy, we take as they come — that's it. That encapsulates the Newfoundland spirit," said Alan. It also includes "River Driver", which the band performs acapella; the band members apparently long to make an album someday of just singing!
In late 2005, GBS released their first podcast, containing audio of the band bantering back and forth in the studio mixed with various songs by them and other artists. They have since released several podcasts, which are interesting and informative but casual and full of foolish fun, covering a range of topics from "all beers with animals on it is good beer" to whose turn it is to have long hair and resolutions like “dirt is the new clean.”
Recently, the band drove six hours to Lexington to play "Wood Songs," a wonderful old time radio show that happens in the town's public library. And Bob has been writing for the website about his personal soundtrack as he loads tunes into his iPod. From Bay City Rollers tunes with "Heys" perfect for audience sing-a-longs to "There She Goes," one of his favourite lovesongs - "I don't suppose everyone can identify with the narrator, building a fantasy around a girl who he doesn't even have the courage to talk to, but I certainly can."
GBS makes great music with great heart, and in short, has become one of Canada's most popular bands.
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