How Big Wreck's Pages sessions spawned The Rest of the Story

When Big Wreck settled into Noble Street Studios in the spring of 2023, they had a trilogy in mind — 17 songs meant to form a three-part EP series called Pages, a nod to the structure of 7.

But after Pages arrived that November and earned a Juno nomination for Best Rock Album, the band’s manager, Dave Morris, floated a different idea: rather than splitting the rest into Pages' sequels, why not spin them into a full-length record?

That idea stuck, and instead of the original plan of having those 11 songs released as Pages 2 and Pages 3, they have since become The Rest of the Story, Big Wreck’s eighth studio album, out Friday through Sonic Unyon Records.

Ian Thornley, the band's lead guitarist and vocalist, says he still has his reasons as to why a multi-EP project works, but the "grown-ups" pushed him away from it.

"I think more of it gets heard, more of it gets consumed," he said in an interview with Barrie360. "Super fans are one thing, they'll listen to the whole record and they'll have their favorites and I think they know us well enough to know... we don't do filler... every track has its own its own life and its own pulse."

The three-EP strategy is something Big Wreck executed between 2021 and 2023 with 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3, which brought with it hits and live staples like "Bombs Away" and "Rye Bread." By the time that release cycle had ceased, the band was already teasing material for Pages.

"I don't really care what the car looks like that it travels in," Thornley stated. "As long as the music gets out there, that's the most important thing."

Even the title of the new album is a nod to its predecessor. However, Thornley says the sound of the two projects aren't distinctly different.

While "In Fair Light" and "Summerlong" from Pages feature synth-heavy openings, very different than the band's earlier material, there's plenty of keyboards on The Rest of the Story, although they aren't front-and-centre.

"If we took if we swapped out some of the songs from Pages for some of these songs (on The Rest of the Story), then Pages would feel different and this record would feel different," Thornley explains. "Sequencing can either just be the list of songs or there can be a little a little bit of magic in there. And I think in Pages, we got lucky."

"Each and every song on there was on Pages at one point."

The first two singles from The Rest of the Story, "Believer" and "Holy Roller" gave fans a heavier look into what was coming in 2025, with the latter specifically showcasing some inspiration from Van Halen's sound from 1984.

"Believer" features Thornley lamenting on the chaos and complacency of current-day society, although he says he's usually not a sociopolitical lyricist.

"I judge people on a face to face sort of basis, you know, and I don't really like to pick sides and stuff like that, but I do think there's an inherently right and wrong that as time wears on," he says." It's just sort of a snapshot of like, what the hell's going on right now? and how did we get here?"

Musically, Thornley's earworm guitar riff and vocal performance stand out, especially the harmonies on the chorus. Meanwhile, the driving bass from Dave McMillan and groove from drummer Sekou Lumumba are isolated underneath the vocals in the verses.

"That was Nick [Raskulinecz]'s idea," Thornley said.

"On the demo, I originally had the riff going under the vocal and he's like, 'no, let's just chug ahead.' As soon as we tried it in pre-production, it was like, OK, that works and leaves more space for the vocal and leaves you more of a place to go once the verse is done."

Nick Raskulinecz, best known for his production work with bands like Rush, Bush, Korn, Deftones, and more, co-produced The Rest of the Story along with Thornley. It's the fourth Big Wreck album he has production credits on (Albatross, Ghosts, Pages).

According to Thornley, Raskulinecz's impact can be felt throughout the album, particularly on "Laws of Man," which Thornley says originally started with more of a yacht rock sound.

"The demo of that, which I still adore, is very different from how it ended up on the final record," Thornley explained. "On the finished album, it's basically a dobro and a vocal. Very stripped down and a tip of the hat to Chris Whitley, who's one of my heroes."

Thornley admits he's still working on the original demo of "Laws of Man," alluding that a future release potentially titled The Whole Story could feature demo material and reworked tracks.

The album's third single, "Around," started with a Rolling Stones-style sound, but turned into something with a more modern, pop rock energy.

Chris Holmes, the engineer on this record and Pages, had a lot of experience as a pop songwriter in California, and was someone Thornley leaned on a lot to round out the sound.

The band will be headlining an album release show at Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on Thursday, which could give fans a preview of the unreleased tracks along with their hits. Touring guitarist Paulo Neta will join the band for the performance.

"For the most part, nobody will have heard the record; so I don't want to just play new music," Thornley says. "We got a couple of songs that we're going to work up for the set that I think would be cool and we can slide into the set pretty seamlessly. And then, maybe a couple of surprises."

ALBUM TRACKLIST

1. "Staff Party"
2. "Holy Roller"
3. "Believer"
4. "Short Bangs"
5. "Out of Range"
6. "Around"
7. "Laws of Man"
8. "Dog With a Gun"
9. "Escaping in Place"
10. "Labour Day"
11. "Hills"