Das britische Duo BIG SPECIAL ist mir gleich mit ihrer ersten Single „Shithouse“ aufgefallen. Eine wuchtige Mischung aus schimpfwortlastigen Sleaford Mods – Tiraden mit gitarrenheftiger Instrumentierung:
Auch das Debütalbum fährt auf dieser Schiene weiter und liefert eine sehr englische Mischung aus Weltwut, Hooliganismus und Progressivität.
* Your three favourite Punk singles/songs?
JOE:
So hard to pick just three, but here are three i’ve been going back to recently:
1- Jobseeker by Sleaford Mods
2- Knifey by Amyl and the Sniffers
3- Don’t Pray on Me by William Elliott Whitmore (Bad Religion Cover)
CAL:
Number 1 – Clash – Guns of Brixton
Number 2 – Sex Pistols – Pretty Vactant
Number 3 – Ramones – Bonzo goes to bitburg
* A record that will make you dance?
JOE: Bobby Bland’s ‘The Dreamer’ is a full on soul blues album full of groovy pain-filled bangers.
Can’t help but embarrass myself at the bus stop when I’ve got it on.
CAL: Call me mental, but the funeral march always gets me up and jigging.
* Your favourite song lyrics?
JOE: I’ve got an infinite amount of fave song lyrics, so this could change at anytime really.
‘A Cowboys Prayer’ by Johnny Cash is his version of a poem from an old cowboy poet called Badger Clark. It’s about his love of God but not church (“Lord I’ve never lived where churches grow, i prefer creation better as it stood”) but comes across as his love of the freedom he has been granted by his lifestyle (“I’m no slave to whistle, clock or bell, nor weak eyed prisoner of wall or street”).
I’ve always wanted to be the man in the song, who knows his own worth, appreciates all his small privileges, holds perspective to the lives of others and finds his own way (“Let me be easy on the man that’s down, let me be square and generous with all, I’m careless sometimes Lord when i’m in town, but never let them say i’m mean or small”). There’s no song lyrics that are a greater comfort to me.
But my newest favourite lyric is by Action Bronson on ‘Nourish a Thug’ “Bitch I Live it Pulled up to the crib with Xzibit Get him to put a fuckin fish-tank in the civic”. Got to love a ‘Pimp my Ride’ reference.
CAL: From our song DUST OFF / START AGAIN the lyric “every child learns the earth when it splits their chin”
It feels arrogant to pick your own bands lyrics, but Joe wrote them anyway… so I think its fine….
* The best “new” artist / band right now?
JOE: The Joy Hotel from Glasgow are probably my favourite new band, we played with them in Eindhoven and they blew us away. Unreal stage presence, brilliant songwriting chops and musical talent; lovely people too. Emme is a star for the ages. Their debut album is coming out and you gotta get it in you.
But also check out GANS and KEZ.
CAL: “Gans” from Birmingham are my current faves. They are two lads from the same area as us, and they write absolute belters. Lyrics are brilliant, and there’s a undeniable hookyness about them. Its like everything Royal Blood ever dreamed of being, but didn’t have the minerals to do properly.
We managed to get them our on our last tour and the live show was lethal. They are going to be massive one day.
* Your favourite song about rebellion/revolution?
JOE: ‘Building up and tearing england down’ a traditional Irish song interpolated by The Mary Wallopers. The song is about Irish works coming over to England for work and to labour on helping making the country what it is, but the lack of appreciation for the worker and gives examples of the poor working conditions and examples of how so many of their peers were killed at work. A song that is just as relevant today for working class labourers across the world. I suppose it’s more about oppression than rebellion, but it’s been written down in a song and is still lasting through the generations, so the act of it becoming art and it’s message shared with the people is rebellion in and of itself.
CAL: I watched Lankum play The Rocks of Palestine live at Glastonbury this year which was beautiful. Following on from that trad Irish sound, Sinead O’Connor singing The Foggy Dew always sends a chill down my spine.
* Your favourite song this year so far?
JOE: ’TALK TOO MUCH’ by GANS. A bass and drums duo from the same area as us. We took them on tour and fell in love. Top lads, top show, top tunes. Brutal and fun.
Or NOTHING/EVERYTHING by The Lovely Eggs, a beautiful personal song that had us crying in the van on tour.
CAL: Its a toss up at the moment between Fontains DC – STARBURSTER and Softplay – Everything and Nothing.
* Your favourite movie about music – and why?
JOE: „School of Rock“. When I was a kid i was well into classic rock and the British Blues takeover and i loved Jack Black, so was awesome for a film to come out about the music i loved. When you see him happy with his achievement at the end of the film, I cry every time.
A lovely funny film with hope and good tunes. My fave music film even if it is about a bunch of posh kids.
Or „Patti Cakes“ which is brilliant film about a young girl trying to become a rapper. Love it.
Or „Blaze“, the story of Blaze Foley.
CAL: Probably the most cliché film for a drummer to pick as his fave, but „Whiplash“ is a cracker. Get more drummers onto the silver screen. Also I’m a big Cash fan so „Walk The Line“ gets an honourable mention.
* Royal Blood, Idles or Sleaford Mods – which one do you prefer and why?
JOE: Sleaford Mods for the children, Easy answer.
The honesty the use to depict a certain side of English life spoke to me more than any music did for a very long time when i first got into them, they helped revitalise music for me in general.
I loved Brutalism by Idles, it meant a lot to me when it came out and respect the graft they’ve put in to get where they are now.
CAL: Easy answer. Sleaford Mods by a landslide. Up the mods. Up the mods. Up the fuckin mods.
* The best song you’ve ever written / recorded?
JOE: It changes for me, right now my favourite is „iLL.“ off of our album.
It was an early one for Big Special and think it helped set our tone and ideas.
Funny but sad, angry but reflective. The song always reminds of the start of all this for me and Cal.
CAL: I think the finishing track from our debut album called DIG has to take that spot. It’s made me cry at the end of every single gig we have played without fail. It’s already a very emotional charged set as it is, but the song encapsulates our whole struggle over the last 16 years to make it as musicians and feels like the end credits of a movie.
* Your favourite german song/record?
JOE: Tom Waits’ Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill cover of ‘what keeps mankind alive?’ Which was originally made for The Threepenny Opera in the 20s. I love the dark plod up to the the rickety podium where Waits bellows the dark observations of man.
CAL: I’ve recently got into CAN for the first time after my father in law bought me Ege Bamyası on record. proper banging album
* Your favourite record of all time?
JOE: There isn’t just one favourite, but one album I always go back to is Nina Simone’s greatest hits that came out after there was a remix of one of her songs on a yoghurt advert in 2008 I think. I got well into her and that album has been a staple for me ever since, i burnt through two copies of the CD and have a third.
It’s like mom’s cooking, or that old spot on the hill with a good bit of view that makes the shit town look beautiful. Nina Simone was one of the best to ever do it and i was raised on greatest hits compilations, the broad view of her talent and emotion is never less than a spectacle and always a kick up the arse to be better.
I never looked at yoghurt the same again.
Gotta mention Doolittle by Pixies,
American Recordings I by Johnny Cash,
Real Gone by Tom Waits,
Divers by Joanna Newsom
And Hiding Places by Billy Woods and Kenny Segal
(Sorry, feel bad just picking one haha)
CAL: Surely Its impossible to have ONE favourite album… if you like more than just one genre, then how are you meant to narrow it down to just one record?!
Saying that, Mike Skinners debut masterpiece “Original Pirate Material” is one of my all time favourites. It’s one of those records that I can sing every track word for word and don’t want to skip a single song. Also It was one of the first albums which wasn’t part of my dads vinyl collection and I had discovered on my own. It really sums up a time of coming of age and pushing your limits and boundaries to me. Its so raw and honest in its sonics and lyrics. It helped me in realising that its just as punk to make an album in your room on a laptop, as it is to write one on a guitar. That was a big eye opener for me at a young age, and has definitely informed how we worked on Big Special.
It also helps that Mikes a national treasure and a fellow Brummie.
Das Debütalbum von BIG SPECIAL ist bereits erschienen:
Auf der Bühne:
06.11.2024 Köln, Kulturkirche (Support für John Grant)
07.11.2024 Berlin, Columbia Theater (Support für John Grant)
15.11.2024 Weißenhäuser Strand, Rolling Stone Beach
