Big Hand hails from Edinburgh, Scotland and has been championing ska music in the UK and Europe for the past few years. They have a unique ska style and musical maturity that helps them stand out from the crowd. SkaSource.com recently caught up with the band, and they were gracious enough to answer a few questions. This interview marks the second installment in our newly re-vamped interview format, “9 Questions With…” Enjoy!
Q: Your band members cite quite diverse musical influences. How did such a diverse group of musicians come together to form the band?
Luke – The full band line up took quite a few years to form fully Paul (Drums) and Tim (Guitar) met in the first year of Edinburgh Uni via a 16 piece soul band they were both playing in. The original lineup was all students but as with most uni bands as some members lost interest they were replaced. Fortunately in the case of Big Hand the members that replaced them seemed to strengthen the band rather than make it weaker. Phil (trumpet) was in a few bands on the Edinburgh music scene and we shamelessly stole him as he was (and still is) one of the best live performers we’d ever seen. I was the last to join, having played in bands with Tim as a kid and being sick of working for a record label as I was jealous of the bands I was working with who were getting to play. When we all walked on stage for the first time it was mindblowing and we realised we’d stumbled upon something very special indeed.
Ska is a really good vessel for people with different musical backgrounds as it’s almost impossible to hate the happy vibe and energy it creates amongst a crowd. Once you’ve seen that positive effect musical differences tend to get put to one side.
Q: SkaSource.com is based in the United States, where the overall ska music scene has shrunk from its glory days of the 1990’s. What is the scene like in the UK? Has there been a similar “rise and fall” in the popularity of ska music in recent years, or has ska music re-established itself alongside other music subcultures?
Pabs – There was a big fall towards the end of the eighties and into the nineties after bands like Madness, The Specials, The Beat, Bad Manners etc drifted away , and Brit pop and boybands started to dominate the music scene here.
There does seem to be a real re-emergence on the ska scene in the UK now though, which has been helped with touring bands like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, The Mad Caddies, The Toasters, The Slackers, Fishbone etc. It’s still fairly underground here and there’s not too much 2tone happening, mainly ska punk.
There seems to be elements and influences of ska coming back into the mainstream though, with acts such as Lilly Allen, Jack Pinate and Amy Winehouse. There are quite few bands where the offbeat is used more prominently in production, with people like Mark Ronson using more break beats and danceable rhythms, so we think there will be a massive re-surgence over the next 18 months.
When ever folk hear ska in the UK, it always goes down a storm and we’re doing our best to make sure that more people hear it and re-establish the ska scene to where it deserves to be
Q: You recently recorded your first album. Has going through the process of putting together an album had an effect on your approach to songwriting?
Tim – Yes in some ways. I think starting out on a song remains the same – you get inspiration, musically or lyrically, a melody comes from somewhere into your mind, it runs round and round until a phrase or sentence to do with something that is on your mind attaches itself to it, and then, as you keep singing to yourself, other phrases come to mind and the lyrics build up. I don’t think that has changed. But in terms of building and fashioning the song otherwise, we learnt so much from the producers who we were lucky enough to work with. They emphasized the importance of really having a solid well-thought out structure and so that you’re not messing around with the bones of the song that hold it in place, and taking care to choose a tempo that’s just right. Once that’s done, it was important to come into the session accompanied with as many extra melodies and ideas as possible to decorate the song with, as you’d never know in advance what would give the song an extra lift, or what would sound superfluous. In that regard, given that from early on, to save studio rampages and storms, we gave the producers the final say on everything, it was also good never to be too attached to any particular thing, as they could be pretty ruthless if they didn’t like it. I don’t know how well I managed at that!
Q: I notice on your MySpace page that you plan on touring outside the UK in 2008. Do you have any solid tours set up yet, and where are you most looking forward to performing? Have you performed outside of Scotland and England?
Pabs – Yeah, we love getting outside the UK and are aiming to get around Europe as much as we can, and hopefully over to the States at a point. We’ve currently got offers to play all over Europe, including Belgium, Spain, Finland, France and Germany. The challenge is getting them into a tour! So watch this space….
There is a really good ska scene throughout Europe and bands are always in demand. Belgium is a particular favourite of ours; Obviously nothing to do with the women, Belgian beer and chocolate…
Q: Do UK-based ska bands find it fairly easy to get gigs throughout the UK, or do you have to start really locally before branching out? Is it tough to get a gig in London, and is it important for bands to play in London?
Luke – To be honest getting from being a very well know Edinburgh band to a touring band in the UK was one of the biggest challenges that we’ve faced. Fortunately the ska scene in the UK is very friendly and bands are happy to gig swap with you. There are also some amazing clubs that do a great job of promoting new bands so building up a fanbase in other parts of the UK didn’t take too long.
I personally think that it has now got to the stage where bands don’t have to play London to get noticed. However all bands should play London as it’s got some of the best venues, club-nights and crowds this country has to offer.
Q: To my ears, the Big Hand sound is in a similar vein as Gorgol Bordello, Bedouin Soundclash and Mad Caddies, which is definitely a positive. Do you consider them influences on your sound?
Phil – Gorgol Bordello, isnt that the dude from the film “everythings illuminated”? I love that gypsy balkan madness, makes ye wanna dance about like a crazy fool so yeah i would say an element of influence was there. As for the Caddies, those guys are proper legends man, we played a gig with them at the Garage in Glasgow, Scotland and i was well impressed by their show.
Q: You’ve played shows at large venues, and at small, more intimate clubs. Do you have a preference between the two? Would you rather be playing to a large audience on a large stage, or in a small club with lots of sweat and the audience in your face?
Phil – I think we all just love doing gigs, both large and small venues you still get an amazing adrenalin rush and damn, that rush is addictive man.
Q: I have to be honest, the first I heard of Big Hand was through your MySpace page. Any thoughts on how the internet and technology relate to being in a band, and how they influence how you do things?
Tim – Just in the way you said you chanced upon us, it enables you, at a touch, to reach out across the world and connect with people that you otherwise never would have. The Internet is truly revolutionary, more so that the industrial revolution. Distance is reduced, barriers come down, ideas flow between people, consciousness is expanded. Importantly for a band starting out without any backing, its democratised the process, you can bypass all the industry middlemen with their confused small-minded ideas about choosing the next last-big-thing, if you believe in it and are prepared to work hard for your dream, then you can find you’re audience and get somewhere. I still hate computers though
Q: Anything you’d like to plug, please feel free to mention it here, and thanks very much for agreeing to the interview!
Big Hands debut album is out now exclusively via our site (www.thebighand.co.uk) – it has taken us two and a half years of blood, sweat and tears and we’re massively proud of it. Check out the tunes on myspace.com/bighandmusic and if you like them buy a copy n we’ll be able to get another one into production sooner rather than later
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