Big Big Train Share Lyric Video For Epic Track 'The Undergall Yard'

Keavin Wiggins | 02-13-2021

Cover art courtesy Royal Avenue Media

(Royal Ave) Big Big Train have released a lyric video for the 23 minute title track from their re-issued album "The Underfall Yard," which will be released on April 9th .

The video was directed by Christian Rios and the song includes a newly recorded guitar solo by former It Bites leader Francis Dunnery. "The music of It Bites was a big influence on me back in the day," bassist Greg Spawton explains.

"When we were originally working on the album in 2009, I knew that the title track needed a big guitar solo, so I reached out to Francis to ask if he would contribute a solo.

"Whilst he was keen to work with BBT, he was going through a stage where he wasn't interested in playing in the fluid, legato style he had mastered with It Bites, so the solo he played for us, whilst great, was different from what I was expecting.

"Subsequently, Francis has re-connected with the music of It Bites so I thought I would ask if he was prepared to have another run at the solo. He was up for it and has delivered a storming piece of guitar work for this new mix of The Underfall Yard."

"The Underfall Yard was an important album for BBT and we wanted the re-issue to offer the best possible audio quality," drummer Nick D'Virgilio adds. "Our sound engineer, Rob Aubrey, has immersed himself in the multi-track recordings and has used all of his considerable skills and experience to deliver a beautiful new mix."

"Back in 2009 we made what was then a controversial decision to make the whole 23 minute title track available as a free download ahead of the album's release," vocalist David Longdon remembers. "Of course, that was before streaming really took off, so it doesn't seem so unusual in retrospect!

"At the time our decision helped us to get our music heard by a bigger audience, so we thought we would repeat the exercise, but this time with a film to accompany the song."

"Christian Rios has made a beautiful film for The Underfall Yard," Greg Spawton continues. "Amongst other things, the song is about Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the great Victorian engineers. Christian wanted Isambard to appear in a specific way in the film and decided there was only one thing for it: he had to don the outfit and cigar himself!" Watch the video below: