UK duo Big Special share new single; North American tour w/ Public Service Broadcasting starts next week

UK duo Big Special (singer Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney) have followed up this year’s National Average album with a new single, the mournful “DRAGGED UP A HILL (and thrown down the other side)” that really shows off Hicklin’s pipes. “Bit of a tear jerker… not our usual,” they say, “It’s our Adele song if she was a labourer.”

Hicklin also says its’ “a song written a while ago that we picked back out of our dusty drawer, about the old labouring days and the feeling of getting nowhere in love and work, despite all the graft,” adding this disclaimer: “Don’t listen when drunk.”

If you’re unfamiliar, most of Big Special’s music leans more towards IDLES, Fontaines DC, or Algiers with Hicklkin’s mix of shouty sprechgesang and crooning vocals backed by soulful postpunk. You may have heard them on Sleaford Mods’ recent single “The Good Life” which also features actress Gwendoline Christie. You can listen to this year’s National Average and 2024’s Post-Industrial Hometown Blues below as well.

Big Special will be on their first North American tour starting next week, opening for Public Service Broadcasting, hitting major cities in the US and Canada, and stopping in NYC on 12/9 at Irving Plaza. All dates are listed below.

BIG SPECIAL – 2025/2026 TOUR DATES
12/01 – Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre ^
12/03 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore ^
12/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent ^
12/07 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge
12/08 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell
12/09 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza ^
12/11 – Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall ^
02/13 – Norwich, UK @ Waterfront
02/14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms
02/15 – Newcastle, UK @ Digital
02/18 – Leeds, UK @ University Stylus
02/19 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Warehouse
02/20 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
02/21 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
02/24 – Bristol, UK @ Electric Bristol
02/25 – Southampton, UK @ The 1865
02/27 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
03/06 – Dublin, UK @ The Workman’s Club
03/07 – Belfast, UK @ Ulster Sports Club
^ supporting Public Service Broadcasting