A band with a lead singer from Hollister, a drummer from Gilroy and a bass player from Morgan Hill has broken into the Top 40 radio charts with a single entitled “After the Laughter.”
The local band, Big Wood, hit the 40th spot on the Nielsen-Billboard Hot A/C indicator radio chart for July 15-Aug. 12 for their single.
Gary Cornick, of Hollister, plays the guitar and keys while also providing lead vocals for a band that includes friends Steve Short, on bass and vocals, and Joe Cloutier, on drums and percussion.
The band mates describe the single as “an upbeat song that blends the band’s melodic rock roots with a current pop sound and powerful vocal performances.” Think Eagles mixed with a little bit more pop and that’s close to their sound.
“This song is really about how you deal with a new relationship after the initial excitement starts to fade,” Cornick said, “How you have to work to keep the passion going when things get routine…We’ve all been there.”
The group has an official music video on YouTube, that mixes footage from live performances with still shots of the band members enjoying time off stage.
The group will be performing at the 9 Lives club in Gilroy on Aug. 23 as a special guest for the Travis Larson Band for those who want to hear their sound live. Their single is available online at iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and several other online music sites.
The trio originally started playing music together when they were in high school 30 years ago. They played in bands named Alamden Express and Starrider for big crowds in Northern California clubs. But after a few years, they headed in different directions. The band came together again in 2004 for an impromptu performance at a birthday party for Cloutier. They decided to form the band Big Wood. While performing live shows, they began writing and recording new music in anticipation of putting out an album.
The first release from the album, “After the Laughter,” was written by Gary Cornick. The team worked with producer Mack, who has worked with such bands as Queen, ELO and Billy Squier. Anthony J. Resta, who has worked on albums for Collective Soul and Duran Duran, produced the radio mix of the song.
“Mack and Anthony have done it all in this business,” Short said, in a press release. “We are very lucky to have them working with us.”
The band has plans to tour select U.S. cities to promote the full album when it is released.
For more on the band or upcoming tour dates, visit http://bigwoodband.com or https://www.facebook.com/bigwoodband. For tickets to the Aug. 23 show, visit http://bigwoodband.com/merch.
