The Great Divide - The Big Country Podcast

The Yuletide that nearly didn't happen is here. Join Tom and Svein for a look at the things that didn't happen this year, the things that happened, and the things we all have to look forward to. We send a Christmas letter to an old friend, and explore how Big Country music ended up in a computer game in the 1980s. Have at Yule!

After a bit of a break since our last proper episode, Tom and Svein are joined by Bruce Watson and John Gouveia. Expect a bit of general catch-up and LOTS of questions submitted by BC fans on the Great Divide Facebook page. Hear Bruce talk about his pre-BC bands, the recent Skids online show, his Subbuteo collection (and plans to do a match video soon), memories of past shows, and much more.

In this final installment of our WKW Pledger episodes, Tom and Svein are joined by Americans Jim Schubilske and Steve Coulter and by UK native Iain Chambers. A variety of Big Country topics are discussed, including favorite BC live songs, bands that should cover BC songs and what cover they should choose to fit their style, the shortest BC set in history, and Hammer Time. Sound bites are played and many laughs ensue.

Bruce Watson and John Gouveia join Tom and Svein in discussing Big Country's recent shows on the US East coast. Bruce also gives an update on how the current COVID-19 virus outbreak is impacting the band and answers fan-submitted questions. Listen to Tom share some great stories from his Big Country adventures in New York! Find out why JfnG had to burn his couch! Hear us marvel at the Whitley streaming concert! As usual there is also some rambling and general updates on this and that, and we hope this episode can entertain you for a few hours during these very unusual and uncertain times.

Tom and Svein speak with two more WKW pledgers from WKW's "Men of Steel" campaign: Gene Melang and John Lewis. Gene and Tom speak a good bit about WKW, which includes a segment with Bruce Watson answering some of Gene's questions for him. Gene is kind enough to allow us to share Tom's acoustic version of "Where the Rose is Sown", which Gene also received as part of his pledge. John Lewis talks about the early days of the BC email group, his own history as a fan and shares some nostalgic memories with Tom and Svein.

WKW has released their new album Men of Steel on CD, a feat which would have not been possible without so many generous pledgers. One of those pledge tiers got the benefactor an appearance on the show, and on this episode, we talk to the first two who purchased that option in the WKW Crowdfunding Campaign: Stuart Arnott and Tom Stieber. Between the two of them, we'll hear tales of gigantic record collections, surprise free shows during the Buffalo Skinners era, and the time Tony Butler performed at one of their homes. Plus, this show returns to our 90-minute roots! It's a bite-size Divide!

Is it Yule again already? Tom and Svein celebrate the year that has been in terms of podcast episodes, the WKW crowdfunding project, and other musings. The King of the Bogans, Andy Inkster, provides the main course as he visits the show to host an epic quiz for Tom and Svein. Who shall be victorious? John Gouveia is also called for the latest news and updates from Parts Unknown. Enjoy, have a happy holiday season, and have at Yule!

This episode is about the 'Return To Steeltown' 35th Anniversary Tour, focusing on the very first show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. As it happens, Svein was at that show and brings stories, soundclips, thoughts and reflections from his first BC adventure. Several Speakpipes are featured from others who also attended this show.

Tom and Svein finish The Crossing deep-dive series with an entire episode devoted to the final song on the album: "Porrohman". The most epic song gets the most epic discussion: three hours of the deepest dive possible, the podcast's longest discussion for a single song ever. Enjoy the final episode from the last album deep-dive that we'll ever do!

Tom and Svein continue to dissect The Crossing in the bloated manner of which only they are capable of. Three more hours, two more songs: "Close Action" and "Fields of Fire". We'll also hear some of listener Speakpipes and a rare live performance from the band. Only one episode to go in what is shaping up to be our deepest Deep Dive ever.

The deep-dive of The Crossing continues with "Harvest Home" and "Lost Patrol." What was meant to be a nice and easy episode become the deepest of deep-dives with Tom and Svein going to unforeseen depths to unearth new facts and never-before explored sides to these songs. Unlike your podcast hosts, remember to come up for air!

We take a break from The Crossing for our annual Yuletide episode! Expect the usual year-end summaries and related musings from your hosts. Marvel at the news of (and samples from) an unreleased Big Country covers album. Test your Big Country knowledge as you listen to Svein putting Tom through the ringer on the 'Great Divide 2018 Yuletide Quiz Show.' Enjoy, happy holiday season, and have at Yule!

The crossing of The Crossing continues in this nearly 3-hour epic. Tom and Svein discuss "Chance", "1000 Stars" and "The Storm" in this episode. You'll also hear some rare interview clips and a Speakpipe or two.

Tom and Svein delve into the actual songs on The Crossing in this episode. They cover "In A Big Country" and "Inwards," and break the record for longest time spent on a single song in the process. Plenty of deep-diving, sound clips and general hilarity in this one. Enjoy!

The final BC album deep-dive is upon us, as Tom and Svein get out their scuba gear and jump in at the deep end to explore The Crossing. This first part sets the stage for the song discussion that will begin in Part 2, and covers the early years of the band and how the music started coming together in 1981-83: the demoing, the record company try-outs, the Alice Cooper tour, the producers, the first trip to America, album recording, the new breed, and much more. Sprinkled throughout are sounds bites of interviews with Bruce Watson, Ian Grant, and Steve Lillywhite that also help set the stage. Enjoy!

Fans have been asking for new music, and in this episode, they get it, although not quite in the format they may have expected. Tom, Svein and a lurking JfnG are joined by Bruce and Jamie Watson to debut a new musical project that Bruce, Jamie and Tom have been secretly working on over the last few months. That project is WKW, and the resulting 3-song EP they're debuting on the show is called "Hands Across the Ocean." The three songs are the result of a musical collaboration between Bruce, Jamie and Tom, and they are full of heavy, anthemic guitar music in the tradition of our favorite band. We talk about how the project started, play each song, talk about each song and let you know how you can get ahold of the EP. We also discuss a video for one of the tracks that was made with the help of GoPros and green-screenery. Finally, we talk about the latest news from Big Country and The Skids. It's an episode full of laughs and some great new music.

After their longest break ever, Tom and Svein try to get back into the swing of things. So many things have happened in the past eight months, and our hosts do a good sweep through all of them to catch up ahead of coming episodes. Welcome to the big housecleaning episode!

Yule is the time for traditions. Some of the traditions of the Great Divide crew are to do a sweep through the Big Country-related releases of the past year, look back at the podcast activities since last Yule, play Speakpipes, answer listener questions, and just deliver the longest episode so far. This one gets dangerously close to the four-hour mark! Somewhere in there, though, we play a mix of Just A Shadow that you have never, ever heard before, courtesy of the big-hearted bogan Andy Inkster. John Gouveia also makes a few select appearances. Block off an afternoon, turn off your mobile, bring plenty of snacks and drinks, lock the door, and... well, enjoy, folks! Have at Yule!

Tom and Svein finally make it to Damascus. They celebrate by launching a celebratory, egg-timer-based discussion of the 24 non-album tracks from this period. The result is an episode that's longer than an average Bruce Springsteen concert. Enjoy!

Tom and Svein continue slogging their way toward Damascus with three more songs discussed: "Trouble the Waters," "Bella" and "Your Spirit to Me." Only one song remains until we finally arrive.

Tom and Svein continue delving into Damascus with a show as bloated as Dom Deloise after an all-night binge at a Denny's buffet. Three more songs are discussed: "Fragile Thing," "The President Slipped and Fell," and "Devil in the Eye." You'll also hear more Speakpipes and interview clips. Have at you. All of you.

Tom and Svein actually get three songs in this time, as they take apart "See You," "Perfect World" and "Somebody Else" from Big Country's "Driving to Damascus" album. The usual hijinks ensue.

Tom and Svein start the actual Driving To Damascus song discussion, and manage to get all of TWO songs into the album this time! You know the drill - look for the ultimate breakdown of music and lyrics, demo analysis, song backgrounds etc. Diving deeply is tough work, but remember that we do it so that you don't have to!

We finally set off to Damascus, probably the album they've been dreading the most to dissect. The reason? There's just so much material, so much emotional baggage, so much to talk about. In this episode, we set the stage for the song discussion that will begin in Part 2. We talk about activities of the band members starting at the end of 1996 and leading up to the album's release. The Stuart Adamson solo album? The celtic album with Carol Laula? Whatever happened to those? We talk about Stuart's move to Nashville and how that influenced him and his writing, we discuss the birth of the BC website, early bootlegs of songs that would appear on the album and the dreaded "too many folds" phrase. Sprinkled throughout are sounds bites of interviews with Stuart from the time period that also help set the stage. Enjoy!

The third and final part of our conversation with Tony Butler is here. This completes his reflections on each and every Big Country album, as he recalls working with Robin Millar and Kate Bush on The Seer, the near burn-out they experienced at the end of The Crossing tour going into Steeltown, the real reason The Buffalo Skinners turned out so hard rocking, how Why The Long Face was one of the happiest times in the band, and much more. A fantastic trip down memory lane, with a lot of wonderful stories shared. We hope you have enjoyed this very special trilogy of episodes as much as we have enjoyed putting them together.

This is the second part of our conversation with Tony Butler. He touches on The Great Unknown album and recalls early memories of meeting the BC guys and joining the band. We discuss Live Aid what-ifs an his development as a singer. Tony recalls working with people like Pete Townshend and The Pretenders, his time in L.A. working on Peace In Our Time with Peter Wolf, and the dreaded synclavier... The anecdotes and stories flow quite freely in this episode.

The time was finally right! We are very happy to welcome bass player extraordinaire Tony Butler to the show. He comes armed with a number of announcements, reveals what he has been up to during his retirement of recent years, and of course talks about anything and everything Big Country from ages past. Enjoy this first part of three TB extravaganzas!

It's the return of the Great Divide egg-timer in this episode! After breezing through recent releases and BC-related activity, Tom and Svein continue to tackle a myriad of Big Country-related questions - but only until the bell rings, when they have to move on to the next one. Enjoy this fast-paced plethora of topics!

Tom and Svein somehow manage to release their annual Yuletide episode after a blizzard of activity. What's more, it's the longest episode ever at more than three hours! They are visited by the spirits of podcast past, present and future as they look back at BC-related releases of 2016, podcast comments and rankings from listeners, play Speakpipes and blab about a variety of subjects. Enjoy this giant Big Country Yule log. Have at you!

Tom and Svein finally finish their latest minutiae-laden Deep Dive, Part 4 of the "Peace in Our Time" dissection. In this one, they take on "River of Hope," "In This Place," and "I Could Be Happy Here." They also play more SpeakPipes and give their final rankings of the album's songs and listener rankings from the Facebook page.

Tom and Svein continue flapping their fat mouths about Big Country's most divisive album, "Peace in Our Time." And they still don't finish. In this episode, they tackle "Everything I Need," "Peace in Our Time," and "Time For Leaving." More listener SpeakPipes are also played.

Tom and Svein pick up the pace a bit - just a bit - in Part 2 of the PIOT Deep Dive. In this episode, they cover the songs "Thirteen Valleys," "Thousand Yard Stare" and "From Here to Eternity." Yes, only three. BC bloviating at its finest.

Tom and Svein are digging deep again as they delve into the Peace In Our Time album - one of the most divisive albums in Big Country's timeline. In this first part, they cover the general time period of the band, their activities of 1988, the R.E.L. Tapes, the situation with the label, the choice of procucer, and get into the first single and first track of the album (King of Emotion).

The legendary Bruce Watson joins Tom and Svein once again to help celebrate 60 episodes of the podcast. Bruce talks about all sorts of subjects, from working with Robin Millar, the coming Seer tour, the Millar Mix petition, new music, the possibility of a PIOT tour, the relationships with Mike Peters and Tony Butler, the meaning of the word "Scorpheus" and much more!

Tom and Svein welcome two great Aussie guests, Andy Inkster and Dwayne Bunney, who share their insights, experiences and emotions from Big Country's recent and first ever tour of Australia. Multiple Aussie gigs are discussed at length and bits and bobs from those gigs are played, courtesy of Andy Inkster. So throw another shrimp on the haggis pit and join us for a fun, fast-paced episode. Time zones be damned!

Tom and Svein welcome guest Martin Warner to the show. Martin ran the official Country Club fanzine from issues 3-7 in 1983, and he shares some great, fun stories from the early days of Big Country as they changed overnight from a barely-known entity to a world famous, chart-topping band.

Tom and Svein finally conclude their epic deep-dive of The Buffalo Skinners with "Chester's Farm" and the song "Buffalo Skinners." They tie up loose ends with brief discussions about the return of the classic logo, the U.S. vs. U.K. masters, the poem that inspired the album title and more. SpeakPipes are also played, as well as a couple of acoustic rarities for good measure. Whew, another album takes the dive!

Tom and Svein continue their dissection of The Buffalo Skinners. This episode takes them from "All Go Together" through "Pink Marshmallow Moon". More listener SpeakPipes are also played.

Tom and Svein continue their dissection of The Buffalo Skinners. This episode takes them from "Long Way Home" through "Ships." Listener SpeakPipes are also played.

Tom and Svein jump into another one of their notorious album deep-dives. This time they delve into The Buffalo Skinners from 1993, and after nearly two hours they have managed to cover four of the songs on the album. Yes - the guys are back in usual style!

It's the return of the roundtable! Tom and Svein sit down with three new guests - Cara Cuiule, Jason Allen and Tim Eldred - to talk about the band's landmark Buffalo Skinners album. This will lead up to a series of deep dive episodes from Tom and Svein. We talk about the musical climate of the time, what we were hoping for from the album, memories of first listening experiences, the tour and much more. Settle in for a marathon of Big Country babbling!

It's that time of year again. Svein and Tom sit down in their respective palatial estates to ruminate on the meaning of the holiday season, to discuss the year that was, the year that may yet be and the years that may not be what was once again. Or something like that. Tom and Svein also select five bands each they discovered through their love of Big Country. Sometimes the connections are obvious, sometimes tenuous, but perhaps you'll find some new music to check out or despise eternally. We also share some truly awesome SpeakPipes from listeners and review listener questions. Happy Joyous Yule Logs to all!

Kirsten Adamson joins us for an in-depth discussion about her debut self-titled album. For the synaptically challenged among you, that means it's called "Kirsten Adamson." We go through the album track by track to glean Kirsten's insights on the songs from both a writing and production standpoint. We also ask her to rate the weirdness factor of fans of her dad's band who've been aware of her since she was young now taking an interest in her career. Spoiler alert: she doesn't think it's very weird. After the interview, Svein and Tom go over a few Big Country topics, including the upcoming Seer tour and a potential revival of our Seer Robin Millar Mix petition.

Tom returns to the show after a five month absence just in time to celebrate the fiftieth episode of the podcast. Svein and Tom discuss current happenings in Big Country land and receive a congratulatory message from a special guest. Well, special to Tom and Svein, anyway. After 30 years, thanks to a Polish listener, Tom learns how to pronounce Mark's last name. Well, maybe. Then the hosts tackle a series of Big Country questions with a three-minute time limit for their combined answers. Once the buzzer rings, it's on to the next question. Finally, the show mercifully ends as Tom and Svein bathe in riches. Separately.

Svein and special guesting co-host CJ Wade take a look at Big Country cover versions and do a top 10 countdown of their favourites. They discover significant discrepancies in their lists. They also look at the recent line-up changes in the band.

Svein and Arlin are back with the second and final part of their track-by-track discussion on Tony Butler's 1997 solo album The Great Unknown.

Svein and guest co-host Arlin Bartels take a look at Tony Butler's activities during Big Country's hiatus in 1997, including the launch of Great Western Records and his first solo album The Great Unknown. The episode contains the first part of a track-by-track discussion of the album.