Life is sweet for Big Sugar - Cape Breton Post

Festival shows, including the Harvest Jazz & Blues, prompt rock reggae band to reform

Article by Victoria Handysides

They're reborn, but don't call them refined - this Big Sugar is as raw as ever.

"It's the continuation of the story," Big Sugar frontman Gordie Johnson drawled, sitting in the back of a tour bus crossing the Prairies last week in the middle of the band's first big tour in nearly a decade.

His voice is raspy and his throat is coated with Vicks Vapo Rub. Last night's Lethbridge show - and all the shows, so far - have been long and loud, the 47-year-old told us.

The Toronto-born blues rock reggae band dominated Canadian airwaves in the '90s and charged into the new millennium with five studio albums (two platinum). With a massive catalogue filled with hits (including Hey Mr. Fantasy, Diggin' a Hole and Turn the Lights On), the band shocked the rock world when they decided to split following a NYE show in 2003.

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