Big House (Canadian band)
Canadian rock band

Big House was a Canadian punk-influenced rock band, based in Edmonton, Alberta, and active in the early 1990s.
History
The band began in 1982, when singer and guitarist Jan Ek and drummer Sjor Throndson moved to Edmonton from their hometown of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, where they had grown up together. Both had been steeped in classic rock, but were now hooked on Punk rock. In Edmonton, they joined the punk band Down Syndrome, which had been founded by Tim Balash, Laurie Bulback and Bob Kropotkin. Down Syndrome released one self-titled 7" E.P., in 1984. In 1986, Balash, Bulback and Kropotkin left the band; Ek and Throndson found replacements in guitarist Kevin 'K. B.' Broc and bassist Craig Beakhouse. They became Big House in 1987. They were renting a large old house at the time, which is how they chose the new band's name.
By this time, the band's music had evolved into a more commercial hard rock sound. In 1990, they were signed to Boom Town Music and produced an EP called "Pretty Things".
The public source identifies “Big House (Canadian band)” as canadian rock band. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around House, Canadian and band.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55605416. VIAF identifies the subject as 124653553. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Big House (Canadian band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.