Massive Wagons
Massive Wagons were founded in 2009 in their hometown of Lancaster, England by vocalist Barry “Baz” Mills and guitarist Adam Thistlethwaite. The duo were inspired by the resurgence of hard rock led by bands such as Airbourne and Black Stone Cherry, and their lifelong affinity to classic rock acts such as UFO, Rainbow and Slade fuelled their fire even further.
Since then, the band have, as Classic Rock Magazine put it, “blossomed from local concern to national conversation”, becoming a firm favourite of rock fans and press alike across Europe thanks to their no-nonsense anthems, electrifying live shows, unconquerable work ethic and fun-loving personalities. The first ever Lancashire band to have achieved a UK Top 40 album, Massive Wagons are due to release their sixth album ‘TRIGGERED!’, the long-anticipated follow-up to the UK #9 album ‘House Of Noise’, having whet the appetite of their fans with their Record Store Day single “Changes” and an alternative version of their UK #16 album ‘Full Nelson’ over the course of 2021. ‘House Of Noise’ also picked up the Best British Album award as part of Planet Rock’s The Rocks 2021, and landed the #14 in Classic Rock Magazine’s Best 50 Albums of 2020.
Baz explains how ‘TRIGGERED!’ stands out compared to the band’s previous albums: “I think this album is a lot more British sounding. I think we’ve managed to bring our sound more up-to-date, it sounds fresh and exciting. It has much more of a punk vibe about it, but, that being said, it’s still full of everything we love about guitar music.”
He continues: “There are some very angry, passionate songs in there. We all dug really deep writing this one, some of them were a real labour of love. I think we truly have made our best album yet. I know that’s a cliché, but our other albums felt like they had a foot in the previous one somehow, be it leftover songs, a certain sound or style… But I think this one stands alone as a unique sounding Wagons album.”
For ‘TRIGGERED!’, Massive Wagons returned to Backstage Studios with producers Chris Clancy (Machine Head, Megadeth, Those Damn Crows) and Colin Richardson (Funeral For A Friend, Slipknot, Sepultura), the production force that was also behind ‘House Of Noise’.
‘TRIGGERED!’ will be released via Earache Records on 28th October 2022 and is available for pre-order worldwide at earache.com/massivewagons on limited coloured vinyl
(including clear/blue splatter, green, orange and pink), black vinyl, signed CD, cassette and digital download. Appeasing the hungry collectors in the rock community, there are also six white vinyl editions available as part of a special collector’s bundle, featuring six different front and back covers.
The release of ‘TRIGGERED!’ will follow a summer that will see Massive Wagons (completed by Adam’s brother Alex Thistlethwaite on drums, Adam “Bowzer” Bouskill on
bass and Stevie Holl on guitar) further cement their reputation as one of rock’s most hard working bands. Having kicked off festival season with an incendiary headline set at Call Of The Wild festival (which Planet Rock Radio coined as the “biggest gig of their career”), and as part of Download Festival’s second stage (where they shared a stage once more with their December 2021 touring partners The Darkness), Massive Wagons will be playing multiple UK and European shows and festivals across the summer. From Kendal Calling festival in the UK to Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium and Rock In The City in Finland, the band will be unleashing their unmissable show across the UK and Europe’s favourite festivals, following the success of their set as part of Germany’s WDR Rockpalast Festival in October 2021.
The reputable headliners, who have also previously dazzled as headliners at Steelhouse Festival, Planet Rock’s Winter’s End festival and Rockin’ The Bowl, have announced their co-headline tour with Ugly Kid Joe for 2022, having put in serious hard miles on tour with The Dead Daisies, The Wildhearts, the aforementioned The Darkness and as part of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Status Quo’s arena tour in recent years, as well as their own ‘House Of Noise’ headline tour in 2021.