Shine A Light Sunday is all about bringing you new music from artists that may not be mainstream yet, but they're artists you need to get your ears around.
This week features fellow north easterners bigfatbig, who despite the global arsehole that is COVID19 are starting to take punk, surf pop music by the wetsuit and drag it into 2020.
If you're a fan of bands like The Beths, Bully, Peaness and The Subways then you are going to love this band. Their new single Milk and Vinegar comes out 3rd September, and I've been lucky enough to have an early listen.
Milk and Vinegar is surf, punk pop at it finest, with an intro that makes you want to throw your phone across the room and dance as if your life depended on it. The main hook is an instant ear worm and I love the sing along vocals - I cannot stop listening to this track and I can't wait for the world to hear it.
"Milk and Vinegar is a song about those friends who you consider your non-romantic soulmates; it's fuelled by the intense highs of wanting to spend all your time with those friends, and the frustrating lows of missing them when life gets in the way."
I've had the chance to catch up with the lasses before the release of the new single because having listened I just had to learn more about this brilliant band.
Dreaminisfree: How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music?
bigfatbig: The way I usually describe our sound is like if The Front Bottoms were more melodic. Catchy, fun, punky, surfy pop music with tongue in cheek lyrics and an attitude to boot. We’d hope that it’s music you can dance and sing along to, that acts as a cathartic experience; we love it because we can just completely let go and let all our frustrations out, so we hope that’s something that translates over to an audience.
2020 started off amazingly well for you with BBC Music Introducing picking you in the North East tips for 2020, then you went on to play BBC Radio1’s virtual weekend in April - How did that feel to be picked for both?
Honestly, despite 90% of stuff being cancelled for us, this year has still turned out to be completely ridiculous. Our region (the north-east) is so jam packed full of talent it’s actually a bit scary, so to be acknowledged in a pool as competitive as that was really special. I think we’ve managed to make the most of it, given the circumstances. Big Weekend was an absolute dream come true - never in a million years did we predict we’d be involved in something like that after being a band for 7 months. Genuinely mind-blowing stuff. BBC Introducing have been our absolute angels throughout the entire time we’ve been doing stuff, we absolutely cannot thank them enough for the opportunities we’ve had through their platform!
As this interview goes to press you’ll be playing your ‘I’m Not Playing Leeds Festival’ – how does it feel to be back to playing in front of people again?
Oh my god, I literally cannot even tell you how excited we are about playing in front of people. It doesn’t even feel real, it’s as if we’re being pranked or something. We are 1000% a live band first and foremost so the last 6 months have been painful to say the absolute least, and though it’s not the live experience we’re all used to, we’re just grateful to be allowed to make some noise in front of people. The team that have organised it have done an absolutely sterling job and we have no doubt that it’ll be worth the wait we’ve all endured.
Some people have been using lockdown to work more on creative projects or learn new skills, whilst some have used it to take time to focus on mindfulness and just taking each day as it comes. Aside from the above what have you been using the extra time to do?
Initially, I felt really disappointed in myself for not making the most of lockdown and making the most of the time to write or do something productive. Some days all I managed to do was wake up. But when the world is on fire, I think just waking up and keeping yourself alive is a massive achievement. I tried the fitness thing which lasted a couple weeks before I remembered that I hated exercise, and gave that up as a bad job. However, I did write a little and also learned how to cross-stitch, which was super therapeutic!
After the new single Milk & Vinegar, what’s next for bigfatbig? New single, debut album?
I think we’re a while off an album at the minute, but there are definitely plans for another string of singles. We have a load of songs just sat waiting to be recorded so now the restrictions have eased a bit we’re itching to get back to it. 2021 is looking to be a huge year for us with everything that was cancelled and rescheduled, so festival season is going to be insane. Live shows are definitely where we make our mark so we plan on squeezing every last drop out of it that we can!
2021 is looking exciting for you from what I’ve learned – what are you looking forward to the most?
You absolutely took the words out of my mouth, we are beyond excited for (hopefully) some normality. I’ve mentioned festivals already but that’s 1000% what I’m most excited for, and we’ve got plenty of them booked. We’d loveeee to sort a little tour out too, and make some new friends in other parts of the country. I’m also of the belief that we are yet to write our best song, and I’m convinced that’s going to happen soon. Recording and releasing that will be amazing. We absolutely live and breathe band-life so we can’t wait for all of it - even the shit bits!
Finally Milk and Vinegar is a pretty bizarre combination – What’s the weirdest food combination that each of you like?
What a question haha!! Honestly we’re all pretty boring and normal when it comes to food, but part (half, I suppose) of the reason that Milk and Vinegar is called that is because we have a friend who puts vinegar on literally EVERYTHING - you name it, it’s doused it vinegar. Really troubling for me. The worst example was early into the friendship when he offered me some of his kebab after a night out (which I obviously accepted...) and it was drenched in vinegar. DONNER KEBAB. I could have been sick there and then!
Milk and Vinegar is out on 3rd September and you can pre-save it via this link
bigfatbig
Any artists looking to collaborate with Dreaminisfree please email debbie@dreaminisfree.co.uk