Featured Artist: BIG Something

A tight six-piece ensemble that brings arena sized grooves to every stage they play. This is funk, fit for the future, featuring crystalline synths, wailing saxes, and guitars that shred established musical boundaries. Their debut album "Stories from the Middle of Nowhere" was recorded in Raleigh, NC with Grammy-nominated producer John Custer and was named the Home Grown Music Network's Best Studio Album of 2010. Each song is something special: catchy and charming, layered and soulful, with colorful characters that embody the best and worst in us all. One listen will lead to many and you'll realize you've discovered that BIG Something.

Interview By Maisie Leach

Photos by Joshua Snudden & Alissa Whelan (Bright Life Photography)

HGMN: How did you go from being the Anonymous band to BIG Something?

Nick: We knew we wanted to change the name with the new album. By that point so much had changed musically and with the line up, that it was like a completely different band. Also, there were about 10 other "anonymous bands" on the internet, maybe more. So we went through list after list of possible names - most of them we're jokes like "Do It Up Brown" and some other really stupid ideas.

Quinn: We read books trying to find cool words that go with each other, read a bunch of poems, checking' out books from the library...

Doug: It's easy if you're a metal band. You can come up with any damn thing.

Quinn: Bronchitis.

Doug: It actually got kind of funny there for a while. We came up with some good ones.

HGMN: What's the funniest one?

Jesse: BIG Something was the funniest!

Doug: I think we were kind of hesitant on it for a while.

Nick: Custer was the one that really sold me on it.

HGMN: You do have a big sound. I can definitely say after listening to the album that it has an "arena rock "sound to it.

Nick: I think that's what Custer was going for too.

Jesse: I hadn't even thought of that, it is like arena rock.

Nick: That's the whole thing with it... I don't know what it is. There are just so many influences and so many songs and sounds going on that it's hard to even tell people what kind of music it is. That's when the "BIG Something" came to mind - after not really knowing how to describe what this thing is. Kinda like a play on the old name - Anonymous - but less serious and more unique. We thought about it for a really long time and no one really liked it at first. Custer was actually the driving force. He was really pushing for a new name in general, and out of all the potential names we pitched, he said "I think you guys could rock the big something." He liked it because it was playful, and almost like we were making fun of ourselves, but it was still universal and open-ended. Once he said that, that's when everyone got on board with it.
HGMN: How did Custer end up producing your album? Isn't he pretty selective with the bands that he works with?

Nick: We heard of Custer through this younger local Burlington band - Jive Mother Mary. They had just finished up a CD with him and Jesse had a copy. I listened to it and was immediately drawn to the quality of the mix and the production. So I asked him who recorded it and Jesse said - "John Custer." At this point I had no idea who John Custer was, or at least that he was a semi-famous producer. I just thought he was some random guy. So I gave him a call and he asked to listen to our music before we agreed to anything. I gave him some old anonymous stuff. He said he heard potential and that he would love to do an album. He wanted to help take it in a new direction. I'm not sure how selective he is, but I know he won't do projects that he doesn't like.

Doug: He always had a lot of good advice

Nick: He just kind of coached us in getting tighter, having layers on a song. It was more his ear and his input that helped guide us...not so much his equipment or whatever.

HGMN: Listening to the CD the very first thing I noticed was the top notch production.

Nick: Yeah, he did it really good.

Doug: It's weird hearing ourselves like that. Finally a CD we can be proud of. I don't think we've ever really been proud of most of the stuff we've done.

Nick: It was a little weird at first.

HGMN: why was it weird?

Doug: For us, we get so used to what we sound like in the practice room or on stage. It's never going to be the same. The CD has awesome production on it. It's like hearing yourself on a voice mail recording.

Ben: I personally wasn't even in the band but I had heard them a while back as Anonymous. Custer gave me the CD. It was a different band, sounded 10 times better.

HGMN: You guys are planning on putting out a new album soon. Will Custer be producing this one as well?

Nick: Yes! This one's going to be a whole new ball game too. The first time we did it he had no idea who we were. We were all super intimated working with him. We've just gotten so much better. I think the songs are better. He seems to be a lot more excited about this one too. He put more initial time and thought into it.

HGMN: How many songs will there be on the new album?

Nick: We are going to do 10 songs and maybe an interlude or two. We know exactly what's going to be on it.

HGMN: So what is going to set this album apart from the last album? Is there anything different about it?

Nick: I think everyone has gotten better as a musician. I think the band is a lot tighter. We've all grown a lot, especially from doing the last CD with Custer. That kind of helped us map ourselves and our sound out. The song writing has gotten better too. I think the songs are all catchy.

HGMN: Who writes all the songs?

Nick: We all sit and write them together. A lot of the stuff Josh came up with on his keyboard. And then we kind of record little 30 second snippets of different ideas and I'll take them to my friend Paul who helps with the lyrics. He and I sit down and do the lyrics together.

Quinn: That's one thing I noticed about them. When I sit down and watch them at practice, when they are trying to think of something new, they are constantly recording all their jams and improvisational stuff and listen to it - Find that 30 seconds that was pretty good.

Nick: We record everything. We record all our practices and all our shows just because that's the best way to evaluate. It's hard to tell when you're there playing. You have to listen back.

HGMN: Who co-writes with you?

Nick: His name is Paul Interdenado

HGMN: He's like your Tom Marshall or Robert Hunter?

Nick: Yeah, you could say that. It just helps me not to take it so seriously. We have a lot of fun writing songs. One thing I think that's changed a lot when we switched from Anonymous to BIG Something, it's a lot more about having fun. With Anonymous, I think we took the song writing a little too seriously. Or at least I did. So now we are doing more with characters. Paul helped a lot with that.

HGMN: When you went into the studio with Custer as Anonymous, was it with the current line up?

Nick: It's the current line-up except for the drummer. Our old drummer, Hunter, is on that album. He actually did a killer job. That's the only thing that's changed. It's going on 7 or 8 years now that we've been playing together. We listened to the recording of the first 'Pinky's Ride' and 'Amanda Lynn' last night. We listened to the first practice. ...it was hilarious. Those were the first 2 Big Something Songs, I think.

HGMN: Your live shows usually turn out to be a giant party with all your fans. How would you describe it?

Nick: We want people to have fun and have a good time. Flags, bubbles, light up glow things, one big, massive organism.

HGMN: I noticed a lot of purple pimp hats at your merch booth.

Nick: Those are "Pinky" hats.

(Pinky is a fictional character who is part Robin Hood, part Clyde, part neighborhood Pimp.)

Quinn: They'll sell well tonight.

HGMN: Who are your influences?

Casey: We all like rock of various types.

Nick: I think everybody has their own influences and it's cool to hear once it all comes together. You can hear them.

Ben: We all like very big sounds. I think that's the one common denominator. Everyone likes very big sounds.

Nick: Casey will bring in a jazz CD. Doug will bring in some Iron Maiden or some Rush. Josh likes Zappa. And that's cool because I had never really listened to that before. Road trips are fun because everybody brings CDs. Jesse, what do you like?

Quinn: Jesse likes Jeff Beck and Jimmy Herring. Those are the top 2.

Nick: I like the Talking Heads...so you hear all these crazy things coming together.

HGMN: I hear a lot of Talking Heads when I listen to your album. I also hear a little Foo Fighters...Foo Fighters has that arena sound too...Casey, what do you listen to?

Casey: I go through different phases and listen to different types of music but, uh, all kinds. Classical, jazz and rock are probably my favorites. My favorite artists...hmmm, Igor Stravinsky. Probably sums it up.

(Laughter)

Casey: What?

Quinn: Casey also likes the Dead.

Doug: Quinn is our mascot.

Quinn: Don't write that down.

HGMN: So what are some of your favorite covers?

Nick: I like 'Sledge Hammer'. I also like 'We are the champions'. There's a white board in the band house with just a list of covers.

Quinn: It's hard. I'll throw covers at them all the time.

HGMN: So how does one get decided?

Quinn: If somebody doesn't veto it.

Nick: The hard thing is finding a song that's obscure but one that  people can also recognize and also has parts for everybody.

Doug: When it gets down to it, we don't get a lot of practice time. It takes so long to sit down and learn another song.

Nick: We like to focus on the originals first and foremost but the covers are fun. It's a way of making a show fun and getting people excited.

Doug: One reason I veto a lot of them is because you have to be selective. It's quality control. You don't cover a song to cover a song. It's got to be something that is really going to be good.

Nick: Doug does a good job of quality control. We would have probably done a lot of stupid things.

HGMN: Ben, when did you join the band? Was it after 'Stories'?

Ben: Well after the album...I joined in May of this year. May 12 was my first show with BIG Something.

HGMN: Were you in another band prior to BIG Something?

Ben: I was in a band called March to the Arctic. They're an indie band from the DC area. That's where I'm from. They all decided to go their separate ways and then I found out about auditioning with these guys. They allowed me to hop on.

HGMN: So you moved from DC to down here?

Ben: No. I go to school down here. I'm still technically living at home...But I have a house down at school, which is about an hour from Burlington.

Jesse: So he sleeps on my sofa...and drives the minivan.

HGMN: Casey, you are also in the band Brand New Life. How do you make it all work being in 2 bands?

Casey: That's a good question to ask. A lot of people ask me that and I don't really have a good answer.

Ben: He's also a full time student and a radio DJ at UNCG too.

Jesse: He's a wizard. His DJ name is DJ Kaz.

Casey: I don't know, um, it definitely keeps me on my toes. I play pretty often which is good. It keeps me playing a lot which makes me work harder at not getting stale.

HGMN: How would you describe the difference between playing with BIG Something and Brand New Life?

Casey: There's a higher level of energy brought by rock music. And in the other band you could say there's a little more of a composed aspect to it.

Nick: I think Casey does a really good job. We have one saxophone and it sounds like we have a horn section. And Josh does a great job supplementing that with the trumpet too. It's cool how we interact in parts. When you get the synthesizer, guitar and sax all working together it comes out really cool.

HGMN: Watching you perform live I can tell by the way you are playing that you guys feed off of each others energy.

Casey: Yeah, well, that's the thing. "Feeling it" is most of what it is. That's what it is with these guys. The idea is to put every ounce of feeling into it so that it's not boring.

Nick: There's a lot of talent in this band. I almost feel like I'm the least talented one. My favorite part sometimes is just listening to everybody else. You get caught up. It's natural. When everything is clicking, you get to listen to what Casey's doing, what Josh is doing, Ben etc. My favorite part is to listen to what everyone else is doing.

Doug: The one thing that I think we are all good at is that nobody steps on each other. We all learn really well. If we are on top of each other it's layered or intertwined.

Jesse: This is the biggest band I've played with so having to worry about what everyone else is doing has been really cool. You have to listen and make sure you aren't doing something that is getting in the way of someone else. You have to humble yourself a little bit.

HGMN: What do you guys think is the most interesting thing about you? Why should someone who has never heard you before listen to you?

Casey: I've heard a lot of people say that there's something for almost everyone in our music in terms of elements of different genres or whatever. But it's also really accessible with catchy vocals and good song writing.

Doug: The energy we have when we play live is a big thing too. We are a whole new band, less about individuals.

HGMN: It does look fun when Nick is jumping up and down and stuff. Do you guys ever look at people's faces when you are performing?

Casey: Well, it's hard for me to see everybody.

Nick: I like interacting with the crowd. I want them to feel like they are part of it too.

Doug: It's better when they are people you don't know. Otherwise, I'll see a group of friends and they'll make a goofy face and I'll start laughing. That happens a lot.