| Double the fun: Big Strides |
|
| |
|
| "People often ask me to describe the music we make, and part of me wants to say 'why should I?'" |
 |
| |
|
 |
CMU ALBUMS OF 2006: 'Cry It All Out'
released 2 Oct on Tall Order Records
OK, another predictable favourite for album number two. Anyone who has been a regular and observant reader of the CMU Daily in the last couple of years may have noticed that we like Big Strides. A lot. In fact one of us might be considered a 'very big fan indeed'. I was first exposed to the band at a Camden Barfly gig, having never heard a single track from them before. I often find it hard to get into a band under those circumstances, but on this occasion, no. It was great. And I found myself itching to get hold of their then latest album. And when I did, it brought me great joy. So imagine how feverish my anticipation was earlier this year when I heard that Big Strides were shortly to release a second long player - 'Cry It All Out'. It did not disappoint. What I love about it (apart from the fact that it's sixteen tracks long - which must surely represent some serious value for money) is what I always loved, and still love, about Big Strides - the fact that this is not a band you can particularly characterise by genre. I hate ascribing genres in any case (and not because I'm crap at it) so I love it when I come across a music act that appear to genuinely defy categorisation. If pushed, I'd say they walk a line between indie, blues, jazz and rock (possibly because that's more or less what the band say themselves), but either way it's a brilliantly satisfying mixture, and one, as I say, that had me hooked from the start. And one that comes across especially well on 'Cry It All Out' which starts off strong, continues strongly, and ends, er ever stronger. I like every song on it. I like the sound of the double bass, and the harmonica. I love the lyrics, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, sometimes political, always intelligent and beat-poet reminiscent. As I said, we like Big Strides a lot. Which is why 'Cry It All Out' is one of my many favourite albums of 2006, but more importantly, one of CMU's top ten favourites. With all that in mind we used some only slightly sinister connections of ours to secure the mobile number of frontman Marcus O'Neill to get the Big Strides story - past, present and future, via Japan and beyond. |
On the very odd occasion that you get to see a band that features a real double bass, that intangible yet undeniable extra layer of musical charm that the instrument brings to pretty much any song you care to mention makes you wonder why more indie bands don’t use one. Except then you see the band’s double bass player navigating the dimly lit back stairs of whatever North London venue they’ve been playing, lumping their oversized musical instrument on their back, and you realise why. But when a band is lucky enough to include a member willing to make that effort, it really makes a difference.
“I think you do need to have a bit of a weird personality to be a double bass player”, Big Strides’ Marcus O’Neill observes, “just to commit to dragging that thing around everywhere you go. Not many people would do it”. Which is why O’Neill reckons the music gods must have been on his side this year because, with his band’s second album under way, his long time collaborator and Big Strides’ double bass player Tom Pi decided to leave the band. It was an amicable departure, but posed O’Neill and his other band mate Lewis Kirk with a bit of a challenge. “We weren’t entirely sure what to do,” O’Neill explains, “so we put out an advert for a new double bass player. We didn’t get much of a response. Except for Chris [Kelly]. Who turned out to be brilliant, and picked everything up almost straight away. We were really lucky. And he is one of those weird people willing to lump a double bass around with him”.
Which is just as well, because we love Big Strides and the Big Strides sound. And a key part of that is the double bass that provides the distinctive backing to Marcus’ equally distinctive vocals.
That basic Big Strides sound was already in existence back in 2000, when O’Neill first put together a vocal/double bass/jazz drums trio in Leeds, and there began his collaborations with the aforementioned double bass playing Pi. Over a year or two they slowly began to develop their sound, gigging around their home city, until they decided that to make a serious go of it they needed to up camp and move to London. “We figured that whatever you’re doing, if there’s more of it going on somewhere else, that’s where you should be” Marcus says. “And for all the talk of a ‘Leeds scene’ it is really hard getting noticed up there. Most of the bands that come from there, Kaiser Chiefs etc, they may be from Leeds but their management and labels are all in London. And then the live scene in Leeds went all rubbish – loads of good venues all seemed to shut at around the same time – the jazz club, the rock club, and before that the Town & Country. It seemed the right time to move South”.
In London, Marcus and Tom found their drummer and Big Strides proper was born, further developing their distinctive sound, and finally getting it down on record in the form of ‘Small Town Big Strides’, released by independent Tall Order in June 2005. “I think we had always assumed we’d get into the studio eventually”, Marcus says of the band’s first album, “it was more of a live thing to start with, but we always wanted to make a record. Though to be honest, with us, the live music and the recorded music isn’t all that different. In the studio we’re aiming to get down something as close to the live experience as possible, with all the energy of a live show. We don’t spend loads of time reworking the tracks – the aim is to get each one done with as few takes as possible.”
Given how good the Big Strides live show is, it’s a good approach to have, and it’s a mission that seems to have been accomplished two times over, on both ‘Small Town…’ and this year’s new long player ‘Cry It All Out’, both of which really do possess the energy, excitement and humour of a late night gig in a smoky London jazz club. Except one where the sound levels are spot on.
‘Small Town Big Strides’ was a great album and while it may not have been one of the big releases of the summer of 2005 it did help the band expand their fanbase, as a new audience slowly discovered the band’s refreshing mix of jazz, funk and indie rock. It was through the debut album that at least three people in the CMU office, individually if I remember rightly, all honed in the Big Strides sound, so that by the end of the year they were officially CMU favourites. Meaning considerable excitement round here when we heard a second album would be following in Autumn 2006.
“The second album really felt like closure”, Marcus says, “we’d been playing most of the songs for a while, so it was good to get them down on record. We went into the studio, played 24 songs, with very few takes, and picked the best 16. It seemed like a more coherent process than the first album, and was a really satisfying experience”.
Like many of CMU’s favourite bands, the reason we love Big Strides so much is that have a refreshing and slightly eclectic sound, equally at home in jazz, blues, funk and indie clubs. Also like many of CMU’s other favourite bands, that slightly eclectic approach probably also hinders Big Strides because the mainstream media and music buyer often struggle with music that’s not so easy to classify.
“People often ask me to describe the music we make, and part of me wants to say ‘why should I?’ But then I’ll say we are a funk, jazz, blues, rock n roll band – which possibly doesn’t help. Other people seem to change the bands they compare us to depending on who’s in fashion. It used to be The Libertines, or The White Stripes, then it was Hard-Fi. But really we’re not like any of them. We play the jazz circuit, but we also play indie and rock clubs. Sometimes you find jazz fans think we’re too indie, and indie fans think we’re too jazz. But in the middle there are people who really get what we do, which is great. Because it means our gigs get a really diverse audience, there’s no uniform, which is brilliant”.
With album number two now out there, acclaim for Big Strides’ music continues to grow, although Marcus admits it does sometimes seem like “slow progress” at home. But that said, and again like many other CMU favourites, the acclaim is actually growing faster elsewhere in the world, which can provide a real boost when a band’s mainstream profile is still relatively low at home. Big Strides are finding an ever growing fan base in Japan in particular, where licensing deals are being done that should further capitalise on their growing popularity there. “It is amazing in Japan,” Marcus says, “they really seem to get it. It’s a strange experience going out there, something like Lost In Translation meets Spinal Tap. I mean, you’re completely lost, you can’t even read or make out any of the road signs, and yet strangers come up to you asking for autographs”.
“But it’s something you come across quite a bit when you’re touring outside the UK,” he continues. “I remember meeting Nate James. He’s really big in loads of countries, but not in the UK. It’s strange, London is supposed to be the centre of the music world, and in some ways it is, people all over the world are listening to all these great new artists and bands who are based in London. Yet London itself ignores half of them”.
With a new single out in February, and a re-release of the brilliant ‘Cry It All Out’ following in March, if you have been guilty of ignoring Big Strides so far, then the New Year is your chance to catch up for lost time. Not least, so you too can celebrate just how good something can sound when you find someone willing to lump that double bass around.
Marcus from Big Strides’ favourite artists of 2006:
“I hate this question – and I can’t speak for the rest of the band, we all like varied stuff. But, erm, Blanche, definitely, I really like their red haired bass player. Oh yes, and Black Keys, and Larrikin Love. For being weird”.
Marcus from Big Strides’ New Year’s resolutions:
“To sleep more. And rock more. And eat more low fat eggs”.
chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - published dec 2006
