Big Special Surprise Release New Album 'National Average'
Friday, 04 July 2025
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Isaac Watson / Whammoth
Big Special have surprise released a new album.
Out today via SO Recordings, 'National Average' arrives following a week of cryptic projection stunts at London landmarks such as the Tate Modern, London Bridge, Shoreditch High Street tube station, and Buckingham Palace.
The follow-up to last year's 'Postindustrial Hometown Blues' comes with the release of a video for the lead single, God Save The Pony, which offers the Midlands duo's raw intensity with funk-driven grooves and a chugging rhythm. Lead singer Joe Hicklin said:
"God Save The Pony is about the stones we carry. The different things that pull people down; the invisible weights that they have to drag through their everyday. On the personal level, it’s about reckoning with change. Reflecting on the moral obligations we have to ourselves and others and the mixture of the failures and successes in sticking to those. The weight of following a personal moral line is heavy on everyone’s shoulders. The song is a recognition of this strain in ourselves and others, and a well wish to keep going, whatever you have that drags behind."
Continuing about the album, he explained: "'National Average' is an album about the multitudes of a normal life as it begins to change. It’s about the stages of reflection on an average life as it moves further away. It’s about personal and political problems remaining the same as a life changes around them and they all begin to weave together."
Hicklin and Callum Moloney have also announced a series of UK in-store gigs, which begin tonight (July 4) at Rough Trade East, London.
They'll embark on a previously scheduled tour of Europe this autumn, before UK and Ireland dates in February and March 2026. Before the tour, they'll play 2000trees next week, and Green Man festival in August. Tickets are on sale now.
'National Average' tracklist:
1. The Mess.
2. God Save The Pony.
3. Hug A Bastard.
4. Shop Music.
5. Pig's Puddin.
6. Professionals.
7. Get Back Safe.
8. Yes Boss.
9. Domestic Bliss.
10. Judas Song.
11. The Beast.
12. I Once Had A Kestrel.
13. Thin Horses.
Big Special Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Fri July 04 2025 - LONDON Rough Trade East
Sat July 05 2025 - BRISTOL Rough Trade
Sun July 06 2025 - KINGSTON Banquet Records
Wed July 09 2025 - WOLVERHAMPTON KK's Steel Mill
Mon July 14 2025 - BRIGHTON Resident Records
Tue July 15 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade
Wed July 16 2025 - LIVERPOOL Rough Trade
Wed October 08 2025 - BRUGES Cactus Cafe (Belgium)
Thu October 09 2025 - ANTWERP Trix Bar (Belgium)
Fri October 10 2025 - ROTTERDAM Rotown (Netherlands)
Sat October 11 2025 - AMSTERDAM Bitterzoet (Netherlands)
Sun October 12 2025 - TILBURG Hall of Fame (Netherlands)
Tue October 14 2025 - COPENHAGEN Loppen (Denmark)
Wed October 15 2025 - HANNOVER LUX (Germany)
Thu October 16 2025 - BERLIN Kantine (Germany)
Fri October 17 2025 - WARSAW Chmury (Poland)
Sat October 18 2025 - PRAGUE Cafe V Lese (Czech Republic)
Wed October 22 2025 - VIENNA Arena (Austria)
Thu October 23 2025 - MILAN Santeria (Italy)
Fri October 24 2025 - ZURICH EXIL (Switzerland)
Sat October 25 2025 - MUNICH Orangehouse (Germany)
Tue October 28 2025 - COLOGNE MTC (Germany)
Wed October 29 2025 - PARIS La Boule Noire (France)
Fri October 31 2025 - BARCELONA Razzmatazz 3 (Spain)
Sat November 01 2025 - MADRID El Sol (Spain)
Fri February 13 2026 - NORWICH Waterfront
Sat February 14 2026 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Sun February 15 2026 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Digital
Wed February 18 2026 - LEEDS Leeds University Stylus
Thu February 19 2026 - GLASGOW SWG3 Warehouse
Fri February 20 2026 - MANCHESTER New Century Hall
Sat February 21 2026 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Tue February 24 2026 - BRISTOL Electric Bristol
Wed February 25 2026 - SOUTHAMPTON 1865
Fri February 27 2026 - LONDON Roundhouse
Fri March 06 2026 - DUBLIN Workmans Club
Sat March 07 2026 - BELFAST Ulster Sports Club
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