Big Heavy Stuff was established in 1990 in Sydney. It featured Greg Atkinson, Carolyn Polley, Eliot Fish and Nick Kennedy. Atkinson had previously fronted the bandUps and Downs. While Fish and Kennedy were in The Templebears. Polley was guitarist in a lineup of Toys Went Berserk and also played in Dutiful Daughters. The band gained the attention of popular Australian "alternative rock" band Jebediah, who added Big Heavy Stuff to the roster of Redline Records, a now-defunct independent label that Jebediah co-founded with its now-defunct management company Naked Ape Management. The arrangement with Redline facilitated the release of two albums: Size of the Ocean and Dear Friends and Enemies. In 2006, after performing at the Come Together Music Festival in Luna Park Sydney, the band went on an indefinite hiatus, similar to the decision made by Scottish band and label-mate Idlewild in 2010. It was incorrectly announced that the band had dissolved on FBi Radio in January 2006. The group reunited for a show at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, Sydney on 18 April 2009. The gig was for the That Then This Now documentary. The band reformed again to support Powderfinger on 18 September 2010 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre as part of Powderfinger's farewell tour.
Touring
The band toured regularly with fellow Australian bands such as Powderfinger, You Am I and Something For Kate, and were the main support on Radiohead's OK Computer tour of Australia. Big Heavy Stuff was also a support act for Dinosaur Jr., The Stone Roses, Neil Finn, Babes in Toyland, and other international artists.
Awards and accolades
The band's song, "Hibernate", reached number 77 in the Triple J 'Hottest 100' of 2001, a list that is voted on by the station's listeners. Big Heavy Stuff received a "Best Adult Alternative Album" nomination at the 2001 ARIA Awards for its album Size of the Ocean. The award was eventually won by Art of Fighting.
Side projects
Fish has recorded as a solo artist and released a six-song EPTrick of Light on the Nonlinear label in mid-2012. Atkinson has gone on to form "Worker Bees" with his brother Darren.
