Imagine: massive tunes of heavy saxophone, banging beats, hugely inventive stage shows and the capacity to party all day and night in a celebration of audio visual joy: Introducing Colorado-based band Big Gigantic…
Interview by Paula Hartley
What are your earliest musical memories and when did you decide you wanted to be musicians?
My earliest musical memories were based around my mom always singing and playing piano. She would always take us to her church choir rehearsals and there was always lots of different kinds of music playing in the house. I think I finally decided that I wanted to be a full time musician when I got to college and started studying music more formally.
How did you meet and form Big Gigantic and discover ‘your sound’ as a band?
Jeremy and I (Dominic) were roommates back in the day and played lots of music together through the years. We came together to form Big Gigantic and I think our sound is always developing to some degree but a love sax and drums element has always been the backbone of our sound.
What are your most important musical influences now and how do they affect your musical output?
I don’t have a particular musical influence but I try to listen to a lot of great music from back in the day and today and really just leave my creative flood gates open to making something as fresh as possible. I feel like we’re really interested in creating something that blends a lot of different vibes together. This can either help or hurt my musical output but in the end I think it’s the path to creating some really special music.
How do you think your sound is evolving?
Well, I think it keeps better in terms of the writing and production as well. As I learn to grow and write and produce better, the songs follow suit. We’ve been collaborating with lots singers and rappers on our last album, Brighter Future, and I think that’s really helped us get to the next level.
What are the essential instruments and studio equipment that underpin Big Gigantic?
Sax, Drums, Bass, Vocals, Keys, Horns
What are your thoughts on the current music scene?
It’s moving right along schedule really. Lots of super talented people making great songs and talented performers performing them. The internet really changed the whole game up years ago and it’s great to see individual unsigned artists being able to be successful as well as tons of other great artists within the labels etc. It does seem as though it may be time for another shake up like we saw several years ago but I’m excited to see where things go.
You’ve done some notable collaborations such as The Little Things with Angela McCluskey – is there anyone else you’d really love to collaborate with?
We’d love to make a song with G Eazy, Mac Miller, Alessia Cara or Jon Bellion just to name a few!
How is life on the road? Is it crazy? Do you have any strange tour rituals?
Life on the road is always crazy. Flights all over, right to a van, right to the stage, play a big show and travel to the next show. We have such a great time. Not many rituals just going out and gettin after it every night.
Tell us about RowdyTown- what is it- and why do you do it?
Rowdytown is our yearly festival at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison Colorado, just a short drive from where we live in Boulder, Red Rocks is the pinnacle of outdoor venues in the US. This year will be the 6th for Rowdytown. Over the years we have brought out artists like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Snails, Louis The Child, and Marshmello. We love playing our home state of Colorado once a year in the best venue in the country it’s our annual homecoming and a chance to showcase everything that Big G is all about.
Do you enjoy putting on an audio visual spectacle?
Yes and we think it’s really important to have a great visual experience along with the love show. We love working on that aspect of the show.
What has been your most memorable live show to date?
Tough to say but Lollapalooza last year was definitely top 3!
Other career highlights?
Really our whole career, the whole experience has been a highlight.
Tell us about the Big Gigantic Difference Foundation
We started the foundation in 2016 but our #ABigGiganticDifference initiative has been going for many years. Giving back is very important to us and we’ve partnered with organizations like Electric Family in the past to volunteer at food drives and raise money for other local organizations. The foundation is an extension of that and seemed to be the logical next step. A dollar from every headlining show goes to the foundation and currently we are working with local nonprofits that provide music education to kids to see how we can best support them with a 2017 project via the Foundation.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Looking forward to all these great festivals we have coming up. Coachella, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest to name a few and looking forward to writing some more new songs this year!
And the long term future?
Yeah we’re still writing and have some singles and remixes coming out the rest of this year and we’re already working on the concept for our next album. The future is looking bright for sure!!
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