Discogs
Features drummer John Wright of Nomeansno.
Show Business Giants Biography
by Laurie Mercer
Show Business Giants are a quirky,
humor-laden independent Western Canadian rock band with a rotating
lineup centered around guitarist, vocalist, and main songwriter Tom Holliston, with most frequent collaborators Scott Henderson (Hissanol) and Ford Pier (D.O.A., Jr. Gone Wild). Contributions have also come from such other well-known Western Canadian musicians as Craig Vishek (Pigment Vehicle), Keith Rose (Hard Rock Miners, Royal Grand Prix), Carolyn Mark, and brothers John and Rob Wright (the Hanson Brothers, Nomeansno).
Show Business Giants recordings
typically display energetic top-notch musicianship, bursting with
musical in-jokes and obscure pop culture references, covering a wide
range of genres, from doo wop and faux folk to heavy metal and punk.
Press information, biographies, and photos are always wildly inaccurate
and humorous, reflecting Holliston's
songwriting bent toward the silly, surreal, and trivial. While of a
novelty nature, many of the songs have such intellectual depth and
high-quality playing that a minor cult following has been created around
his recordings.
Holliston
released the debut Show Business Giants recordings Gold Love in 1989
and The Benevolent Horn in 1990 as cassette-only releases. His 1991
release I Thought It Was a Fig included contributor Andy Kerr, then guitarist for Nomeansno, bringing his work to the attention of that band, who subsequently released Maybe It's Just Me on their independent Wrong Records label. When Kerr left Nomeansno in 1993, Holliston was recruited to join that band, which he has remained with since (Holliston is also "Tommy Hanson" in the Nomeansno side project the Hanson Brothers).
In 1995 Essential Noise
Records, a short-lived Virgin Records subsidiary, released the album Let's Have a Talk with the Dead
and promoted "I've Got a Crush on Wendy Mesley," a humorous ballad
about an iconic female CBC television newscaster, for Canadian radio
airplay. Subsequent releases Will There Be Corn (1997) and Self-Aggrandizement Keeps Us Going...
(2000) were released independently in Canada and Europe. The band has
sporadically toured when members can coordinate their schedules, playing
in Europe in 1997 and 2000, the U.S.A. at intervals between 1989 and
2001, and Canada on a semi-regular basis. In recent years Holliston
has released several solo albums, while leaving the possibility open
for future recordings by Show Business Giants.
Tracklist
1. The First Pygmy In Space
2. Mothra Has Taken Tokyo
3. Sugartown
4. Vampire Hookers
5. Ace & Joan
6. Soundcheck
7. Anything But Love
8. I've Got A Crush On Wendy Mesley
9. Good-Bye Luftwaffe Girl
10. She Called Me Pete
11. Primate Boogie
12. I've Got Gingivitis
13. I Can't Get Russell Johnson Off My Mind
14. I Am The Lickspittle Of The Animal Kingdom
15. Big In Real Estate
16. The Other Side Of Mr. Sulu
17. Fireball X-L5
18. Wake Up & Roar, Bachelor God