Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
Genial brass ensemble leader Dave Desmond has been performing with Big Big Train since the very first concerts by the band’s modern incarnation at Kings Place in 2015. Many fans will have appreciated his friendliness at the traditional post show get together, but his voice is heard less often when talking about the band and, in particular, all the highs and lows he has witnessed since those first shows in north London nearly a decade ago.
So today, it’s Dave Desmond’s turn to step down from his normal position and take centre stage in conversation with writer Andy Stuart, as they discuss Big Big Train’s ‘The Journey Continues’ 2023 tour. This discussion was recorded during the writing of Andy’s new book, ‘A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line’. The book features exclusive interview material with all the touring members of the band, dozens of unique concert and backstage photographs and Andy’s personal tour diary of three wonderful weeks in August and September 2023.
‘A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line’ is available for pre-order now from Burning Shed via:
burningshed.com/store/kingmaker
and from The Band Wagon USA via:
thebandwagonusa.com/collections/kingmaker-publishing
In a thoughtful, humorous and typically warm conversation, Dave talks about being the “band within the band”, and how the Big Big Train brass ensemble provides one of the most unique and distinctive sonic elements in progressive rock. He describes how well that quintessentially English colliery band sound travelled around Europe on the ‘The Journey Continues’ tour, and gives a detailed and fascinating insight into the recording and performing of one of the most iconic moments in Big Big Train’s musical repertoire: the finale of ‘Victorian Brickwork’. And finally, we learn who really is the falsetto king of the Big Big Train tour bus (although the runners up may surprise you)!
Dave describes one particular highlight – a unique cover version of a certain Yes track – that fans who attended last year’s gigs are sure to remember.
“I didn’t know ‘Heart of the Sunrise’, or if I did, I’d forgotten! But NDV just said, ‘Listen, all the prog fans will love it when they hear the brass section playing this track’, so I just had to take his word for it. But he was right! It’s a fantastically rewarding experience to have the chance to mix this combination of styles and play such complex music as part of a rock band. That’s a rare treat for us and probably quite a unique one. There may be others, but I can’t think of many other prog or rock bands that tour with a brass ensemble like ours.”
Genial brass ensemble leader Dave Desmond has been performing with Big Big Train since the very first concerts by the band’s modern incarnation at Kings Place in 2015. Many fans will have appreciated his friendliness at the traditional post show get together, but his voice is heard less often when talking about the band and, in particular, all the highs and lows he has witnessed since those first shows in north London nearly a decade ago.
So today, it’s Dave Desmond’s turn to step down from his normal position and take centre stage in conversation with writer Andy Stuart, as they discuss Big Big Train’s ‘The Journey Continues’ 2023 tour. This discussion was recorded during the writing of Andy’s new book, ‘A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line’. The book features exclusive interview material with all the touring members of the band, dozens of unique concert and backstage photographs and Andy’s personal tour diary of three wonderful weeks in August and September 2023.
‘A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line’ is available for pre-order now from Burning Shed via:
burningshed.com/store/kingmaker
and from The Band Wagon USA via:
thebandwagonusa.com/collections/kingmaker-publishing
In a thoughtful, humorous and typically warm conversation, Dave talks about being the “band within the band”, and how the Big Big Train brass ensemble provides one of the most unique and distinctive sonic elements in progressive rock. He describes how well that quintessentially English colliery band sound travelled around Europe on the ‘The Journey Continues’ tour, and gives a detailed and fascinating insight into the recording and performing of one of the most iconic moments in Big Big Train’s musical repertoire: the finale of ‘Victorian Brickwork’. And finally, we learn who really is the falsetto king of the Big Big Train tour bus (although the runners up may surprise you)!
Dave describes one particular highlight – a unique cover version of a certain Yes track – that fans who attended last year’s gigs are sure to remember.
“I didn’t know ‘Heart of the Sunrise’, or if I did, I’d forgotten! But NDV just said, ‘Listen, all the prog fans will love it when they hear the brass section playing this track’, so I just had to take his word for it. But he was right! It’s a fantastically rewarding experience to have the chance to mix this combination of styles and play such complex music as part of a rock band. That’s a rare treat for us and probably quite a unique one. There may be others, but I can’t think of many other prog or rock bands that tour with a brass ensemble like ours.”
