Big Wreck is a Canadian-American rock band formed by Ian Thornley, guitari… Read Full Bio ↴Big Wreck is a Canadian-American rock band formed by Ian Thornley, guitarist Brian Doherty, bassist Dave Henning and drummer Forrest Williams while they were students at the Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts) in 1994.

After several years of gigging in Boston and Cambridge, the band signed to a major label and released its debut album In Loving Memory of... in 1997. The single The Oaf was a major Top Ten hit for the band that year.

Due to Thornley's Canadian nationality, the band's biggest commercial success was actually in Canada rather than the United States. The album's subsequent singles, Blown Wide Open and That Song, were not as successful on the American charts as The Oaf had been, but in Canada they were both Top Ten hits.

In October of 2001, Big Wreck played a special show at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Uzume Taiko Ensemble of drummers, with The Tragically Hip's Paul Langlois and Robby Baker also making appearances.

The band's second album The Pleasure and the Greed (released in 2001) was marred by poor marketing and was not as big a hit as their debut album, especially in the United States. The band subsequently broke up a year later in 2002.

Thornley moved back to Toronto, launching the band Thornley. Doherty has gone on to be in the indie band Death of 8, but the other band members never emerged with new projects.

Ian and Brian rekindled their friendship, which lead to a reunion in 2011.
This reunion, however, would not include founding members Dave Henning and Forrest Williams.

Albatross, the band's third album, would be released on March 6, 2012, and would be Big Wreck's best charting album of all time, debuting at #5 on the Canadian albums charts, and would see its title track hit #1 on the Canadian Rock charts, which it would hold for six weeks straight. It would also spawn the singles Wolves and A Million Days, and would receive the CASBY award for "Favourite New Album" in 2012.

2014 would see the release of their fourth album, Ghosts, on the 10th of June. The album would debut at #5 on the Canadian Rock charts, and would go on to debut at #4 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, making it their highest charting album on that chart to date. Ghosts would come to spawn three singles: the name-sharing Ghosts, Come What May, and Hey Mama.

Big Wreck's fifth studio album, Grace Street, would see its release on February 3, 2017. The album would end up peaking at #5 on the Canadian Albums chart, much like Albatross and Ghosts. However, the lead single One Good Piece of Me would end up outperforming Ghosts (the song), with the track charting high on two separate charts within the first week of airplay. The other two singles that spawned from Grace Street were Digging In and You Don't Even Know.

On June 5, 2019, founding guitarist Brian Doherty would pass away after a battle with cancer. He was 51.

Big Wreck would release their sixth studio album, ...but for the Sun, on August 30, 2019. The band would end up dedicating the album to the late guitarist in memory of him. The album would see Locomotive, Too Far Gone, One More Chance and Alibi be the four singles to spawn, and would also see an in memoriam tour dedicated to Doherty.
...but for the Sun would be the last full-length album recorded with longtime drummer Chuck Keeping, as he would end up leaving the band in 2021 to focus on family life.

In the following years, Big Wreck would hire new drummer Sekou Lumumba (the former drummer for Ian Thornley's side project, Thornley) to replace Chuck Keeping, and would go on to release 3 EPs: 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3.

Pages, Big Wreck's 7th album, was released on November 24, 2023.

Discography:
Studio Albums
In Loving Memory Of... (1997)
The Pleasure And The Greed (2001)
Albatross (2012)
Bag of Tricks (Live, 2013)
Ghosts (2014)
Grace Street (2017)
...but for the Sun (2019)
Pages (2023)

EPs
7.1 (2021)
7.2 (2022)
7.3 (2023)

Members:
Ian Thornley (Vocals, Guitar, 1992 - present)
Chris Caddell (Rhythm Guitar, 2019 - present)
Dave McMillan (Bass Guitar, 2010 - present)
Sekou Lumumba (Drums, 2021 - present)

Past Members:
Brian Doherty (Guitar, 1992 - 2019 (d. June 5, 2019))
Paulo Neta (Guitar, 2010 - 2017)
Dave Henning (Bass Guitar, 1993 - 2002)
Forrest Williams (Drums, 1994 - 2002)
Brad Park (Drums, 2010 - 2012)
Chuck Keeping (Drums, 2012 - 2021)

Do What You Will
Big Wreck Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Let em out
Let em out of the cage
And ease some pain
So you do what you will
Do what you will with the pain
Tomorrow brings, oh yeah

This world becomes alive

When all else fails, I won't
Even though it isn't right
Have you ever been surprised?
Hit the brakes at the speed of light
Now we know just what's unwise

Let em out
Let em out of the cage
And ease some pain, oh yeah
So you do what you will
Do what you will with the pain
Tomorrow brings, oh yeah

I found this mess again
Immediately on my own
Gonna give you one more try
How you ever wondered why
You never speed along?
Cause Ill only make you cry

Let em out
Let em out of the cage
And ease some pain, oh yeah
So you do what you will
Do what you will with the pain
Tomorrow brings, oh yeah

Do whatever you think's right
Out of sight and outta my mind
Open up the flood gates wide
Think it's time we left tonight

That was right before I found light
God I gave them quite a sight
I'll sing another chorus and cry
God I fell
The passion torn

Let em out
Let em out of the cage
And ease some pain, oh yeah
So you do what you will
Do what you will with the pain
Tomorrow brings, oh yeah

Do what you will
Do what you will
Do what you will
Do what you will

Do what you will
You will

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Big Wreck's song Do What You Will seem to be about letting go of pain and allowing oneself to do whatever they need to in order to ease that pain. The repetition of "let em out of the cage" emphasizes the idea of releasing one's emotions and not holding them back. The line "tomorrow brings" suggests that no matter what actions are taken to ease the pain, there will always be a new day and a chance to start over.

The theme of the song seems to be about the struggle of dealing with personal pain and finding a way to cope with it. The lyrics are somewhat ambiguous and could potentially be interpreted in different ways, but the overall message seems to be about self-care and moving forward.

Line by Line Meaning

Let em out
Release them from captivity

Let em out of the cage
Liberate them from confinement

And ease some pain
Lessen the discomfort

So you do what you will
Take control of your actions

Do what you will with the pain
Handle the agony your own way

Tomorrow brings, oh yeah
The future is uncertain

This world becomes alive
The world thrives on freedom

When all else fails, I won't
I stand strong in difficult times

Even though it isn't right
Despite it being immoral

Have you ever been surprised?
Were you ever caught off guard?

Hit the brakes at the speed of light
Reacted swiftly to an emergency