The Big Dish (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Big Dish links here. For the gameshow, see The Big Dish (gameshow).

1 Beginnings
2 Creeping Up On Jesus
3 Satellites and Split
4 Steven Lindsay: Post Big Dish
5 Albums
6 Singles
7 Other Known Recordings
8 External Links
9 Sources

[edit] Beginnings

The Big Dish were a Scottish pop/rock band formed in Airdrie, Scotland in 1983. The band initially comprised Steven Lindsay (vocals/guitar), Mark Ryce (guitar) and John Harper (keyboards). The trio was subsequently augmented on stage by Raymond Docherty (bass) and Keith Burns (drums). Early support slots with Lloyd Cole helped them to find a wider audience. By the time their debut album ‘Swimmer’ was finally completed and released on Virgin Records in 1986 the line-up had undergone notable changes, with Lindsay and Docherty joined by new guitarist Brian McFie and keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Ritchie.

[edit] Creeping Up On Jesus

Using an impressive list of session players — including drummer Blair Cunningham and hornman Gary Barnacle — producer Bruce Lampcov fleshed out Big Dish's sound on the second album, but to no avail.

Lindsay, McFie and Docherty then completed the follow-up “Creeping Up On Jesus” in 1988 with Craig Armstrong (keyboards), Blair Cunningham and Charlie Morgan (drums), and a horn section. Despite producer Bruce Lampcov fleshing out the band’s sound, this second effort proved unsuccessful commercially and the band was dropped from Virgin when Lindsay refused to countenance recording a cover version.

[edit] Satellites and Split

Lindsay and McFie recorded the band’s last record ‘Satellites’ for the American East/West label (a subsidiary of Warner) in 1991 with assistance from Armstrong, Docherty, producer Warne Livesey and a number of session musicians including bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Manu Katché. They also put together a new touring line-up featuring bassist Tracey Gilbert and drummer Skip Reid. However, despite critical acclaim for the new record and a hit single (Miss America entered the UK charts at #37), the group quietly disbanded shortly afterwards. A posthumous ‘best of’ entitled ‘Rich Man’s Wardrobe’ was released by Virgin Records in 1994 featuring cuts from the band’s two albums with the label and the inclusion of rare track ‘Voodoo Baby’.

[edit] Steven Lindsay: Post Big Dish

Not long after the split, Lindsay resumed his partnership with Armstrong (composer of the soundtracks for Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Ray etc.). Lindsay provided vocals on Armstrong’s 2002 album ‘As If To Nothing’ which also featured vocal contributions from Bono and Evan Dando. To promote this release, Lindsay returned to the live arena, performing throughout Europe with a thirty-piece orchestra.

Lindsay returned to the fold in late 2004 on his own Seminal label with the piano-driven ‘Exit Music’ featuring string arrangements by the Scottish Ensemble. Lindsay plays and programmes all other instruments and the album has received widerspread acclaim, being hailed as “a quiet, timeless masterpiece” and being “sparse and unobtrusive, combining strings and piano to beautiful, haunting effect”. Explaining his change of direction, Lindsay offered "when you get into your late 30s and early 40s, things can sound tired when you write music, and I thought if I picked up the guitar and tried to write another Big Dish album that is how it will sound".

The Australian edition of the album contains two additional tracks. Lindsay is now signed to Chrysalis Records and is currently working on the follow-up.