Big Wreck, Version 7.1

IAN THORNLEY TALKS 7.1, THE FIRST OF A TRIO OF NEW EPs, PLUS SUHR GEAR, THE BAND’S NEW RHYTHM GUITARIST AND THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO KEEP STUFF SIMPLE

- Gregory Adams

“IF I’M GOING for a real fuzzed-out, messed-up sound and it just sounds like we’ve used it before, it’s like, ‘Okay, we have to trip this up somehow.’”

This is Big Wreck singer-guitarist Ian Thornley digging into the tones behind 7.1, the first of three new EP’s from the long-running, Toronto-based hard rock troupe. While, certainly, the five-song collection homes in on Big Wreck’s familiar bedrock — think mammoth, Zep-sized riff-play and vocalist Thornley’s room-rattling tenor — the guitarist nevertheless brought new color to the canvas this time around. Mid-way through recording, for instance, Suhr sent Thornley their Hombre combo amp, which was a revelation. After dialing into the bright, biting tones of the vintage-style brownface, he and co-producer Eric Ratz (Billy Talent, Danko Jones) were so impressed that they ended up re-recording a good chunk of his sections with the amp.

Fittingly, Big Wreck bring a towering presence to much of 7.1. “High on the Hog” is a brawny crunge built around high-gain chord chunking and a seismic roll of bluesy, lightning-fingered Page-isms (“I don’t think we’re hiding anything there,” Thornley jokes of the inspiration). The lush and anthemic “Fields,” meanwhile, is a multilayered crush of acoustics and electrics working a DADGAD tuning — dropped down a half-step — but it also integrates the prominent chime of a cigar box guitar from Matty Baratto, as well as esoteric synth styling and oodles of intertwining vocal melodies. Despite the maximalist presentation, Thornley suggests even more got pulled from the final mix.