Friday interview on a Tuesday. It's Duncan Reid and the Big Heads.

Bombs Away? You must be happy with that?

Happy? I'm chuffing delirious! ;). As we were mixing it I was thinking; "This is bloody good, but will anyone agree with me?" Now the reaction has been ecstatic. Everyone is saying it's our best yet and the reviews have been magnificent.

That has made me very happy to say the least.

With it being your third album release in five years it’s not been a case of there being too long between new material coming out.
Do you find the process easy?

Yes and no. The writing process seems quite long winded. Being in a modern independent band means you have to do everything yourself because there's no record company to help. So, there's not just rehearsing and playing gigs although that takes a lot of time. There's also booking gigs and the whole process of marketing and releasing records, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bandcamp, the website ......... and so on.

It seems to take up all my time so that no "headspace" is left for writing songs. 

I don't mind because I enjoy all of it but it takes longer to write songs than it would have done way back when.
Recording is the easy part!

Could you release more than that though? If the solo workload was not so time consuming? I ask because often there are others factors that sometimes people don’t consider.
For instance Nick Cave once said that he could release albums more frequently, but Mute, his label, wouldn’t.
That would be a business decision. For others it is financial?

No. As I said before, it's all determined by how quickly I can write. As soon as I feel I have enough good songs for an album we push the button.

You have a firm control over your career. You currently self release, self promote and even book.
As you experienced the other side of that when in The Boys what is preferable?
Obviously one is less work, but also less autonomy?

One of the benefits of having a few years under the belt is experience. 

Someone once said of the film business; "no one knows anything". That's not strictly true of the music business, but I have a lot of experience and my opinion is as valid as anyone's. 

So, that is a preamble to saying that the best would be to keep control but be able to direct people to help.
For instance, you can always tell when bands have digital marketing agencies who take over their Facebook, twitter etc. The output is totally bland and characterless. 

I saw a tweet by a superstar from the punk days just recently which just said: "Retweet if you are coming to our gig at X venue on Y date" with a photo of the poster. 

How boring and corporate is that! 

You have to express your personality as much as you do with your songs. That isn't difficult if you are just being yourself. It is difficult if an office is doing it all as part of a roster of clients.
But with help there would be more time for writing.
Another example. Young bands on major labels who have a little success are pressured into coming up with another album after nine months or, they are told, new bands will come along and they will be forgotten. 

Now, you can't write an album that quickly so they are put with the same professional writer/producers as everyone else and so end up sounding the same as everyone else.
As it happens I want to try co-writing more than I have, but in my own time!
On the other hand, record companies have influence. It's taken us years to get onto the festival roster and we have no real mainstream media exposure. Record companies can use the influence of having a bigger artist on the roster to get openings for new ones. "Play this new band and you'll get an exclusive on that big one".
Like life. There are swings and roundabouts.

The band has consistently been Sophie and you, but other members appear to slip in and out as required.
Is this something that you are comfortable with?
Not that there is ever a quality issue, but maybe more so on a personal level.
Wouldn’t a solid band all committed to the one aim, of being a Big Head, be better?

Actually the last four years has been a quest to create a stable line up. 

It has just been very hard to achieve but, fingers crossed, I think we are there now. As you say, Sophie has been a constant for a long time now, Karen has been with us for over a year since Ciara became a mum and, although Nick is in a number of bands, he's committed to us. 

It's just great to not be changing all the time. Having said that it'll probably splinter again now! ( I hope not). Everyone is so great and the Big Heads is such a good platform they are bound to get offers. I just pray it doesn't take them away.

You do appear to be travelling around outside the UK to play frequently enough. From your point of view what are the pros and cons? What could we learn about promoting shows and hosting them here in the UK from these other countries, and what could they maybe learn from us?

Since the end of last year we are trying to play more in the UK, especially as we've had some great festival offers. There just seems to have been a "tick up" in the level of interest here that is really exciting.
When we play abroad we have to travel light. There's always the stressful fight with BA or EasyJet when they try to insist our guitars go in the hold. 

They get a mixture of fury, charm and crying from us to prevent the baggage handlers from having the chance to smash our gear up as they always do. 

Big Heads meets bureaucracy. So far we've won.
We are just back from Sweden though and will continue to play in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland, Spain, Ireland and, hopefully South America for as long as we are able to. 

We’d love to play the US again but the visas are a killer.
The biggest difference abroad is that you generally get treated better. There will often be food when you arrive for the soundcheck, dinner is laid on, drinks provided and accommodation. 

With most promoters in the UK, and you are one of the notable exceptions, you have to fend for yourself. Often you don’t get as much as a single beer. I'm not complaining but the difference in approach is stark.
Other than that, there isn't much difference really. Great promoters are heroes in my opinion. They usually do it based on a love of the music which they are vital to the cause of keeping it alive. Musicians can be difficult as well, especially if they have a sniff of success!

There have been some comments coming from the music industry about the impact on musicians touring. Do you foresee any problems?

There is one major problem already and one potential one on the horizon. Venues are being shut down by complaints from local residents. These residents often live in houses built after a venue has been open for years. 

Venues need to be protected. Having fun is noisy. Let's get the balance right. 

The potential one is that if, after Brexit, we in the UK require Europeans to have work visas for temporary jobs here then it seems likely that the EU, like in the US, will require musicians to have visas to play in Europe. 

I'm not commenting on whether that is right or wrong politically, it just seems likely to me. Like in the US and Australia, work visas always cost thousands of pounds so that will be the end of playing abroad. 

A loss of livelihood for us and a little bit of foreign revenue lost to the UK. You could say I'm keeping a keen eye on it.

Looking back over the last five years, the albums and tours, is there anything you think that you would do differently. We all learn from our experiences. What have you learnt that could be good advice for other musicians?

Learn everything you can about how the Internet works. 

There is science behind Spotify, Facebook, twitter etc. Go on courses, learn and do it yourself. 

Then concentrate on building up a live following by being as good as you can be and playing as much as you can. Spend any money you have on playing live, and making the best records and videos you can afford. 

Try to make personal connections with people who have followers like internet radio presenters and help them promote themselves. Help promoters and other bands do what they do. 

It's all about helping each other.
Don't waste money on PR companies and record pluggers. In general the mainstream media only want to know about people who are already famous or who once were.
It’s all quite DIY in the original spirit of punk!
Lastly, don't be a prick. Nobody likes a prick and it all comes around.

What’s next for Duncan Reid and the Big Heads?

We carry on not being pricks! We have some great shows coming up. 

Really looking forward to paying all the people back who lobbied Rebellion to have us there (Saturday afternoon in the Opera House - don't miss it). 

Plus a few other great festival dates like Undercover at Margate in September, Skegness in October, Jessheim in Norway in August, Camden Rocks and Wychwood at the beginning of June.

Sorry to all the promoters whose gigs I haven't mentioned. Just too many. Look at duncanreidandthebigheads.com to see everything. The never ending tour goes on!

And of course we have been looking forward to your return to Glasgow. This time in NiceNSleazy so it isn’t far for you to join the patrons upstairs to dance to ABBA. Does Glasgow hold fond memories for you? Playing the Apollo with The Ramones in particular?

It's always great in Glasgow. The last time at Audio was part of the tour where things seemed to turn a corner for us. The reaction was incredible. 

I'm really looking forward to NiceNSleazy. Heavy Drapes are great and we are relying on everyone who was at Audio to bring their mates. 

As you say, we can pop into the guilty pleasures disco after and bop to Black Sabbath and Sheena Easton. What a combination!
That Ramones tour was mad. Imagine hanging out with Joey Ramone every night! And didn't the Apollo have a sky high stage? 

Had to be careful not to go careering toward it at top speed. 

We'd been told if Glasgow audiences didn't like you, you wouldn’t get out alive. They loved us so I'm still here all these years later!

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Glasgow date with Heavy Drapes and 3 Minute Heroes

Monday album reviews #2 featuring Duncan Reid and the Big Heads, PWR BTTM and Southern Approach

Duncan Reid and the Big Heads – Bombs Away

Kicking off in style with ‘Can’t Stop’ Duncan Reid and the Big Heads are laying their stall out for all to see.

Think Helen Love if they managed to get within sniffing distance of a real recording studio and you’re in the ball park.

No offence to Helen Love. Love that lo-fi pop trash, but yeah, they would definitely swap their zx spectrums for a slice of this.

It’s a magnificent start, but before you know it you are neck deep in album title track ‘Bombs Away’ and it’s a mighty glitter bomb of a terrace stomping glam tune.

Please release it as a single and make a seventies pastiche video for it while you are at it Mr Reid.

We need the flairs and the mock top of the pops studio. We definitely need woollen tank tops and platform boots too.

Shangabloodylang pop pickers.

Two tracks in and the party has started.

There’s no stopping them.

No one should be surprised though.

Three albums into their career and the band quite literally haven’t put a foot wrong.

The two released prior to Bombs Away sound like greatest hits packages, and they have done it again.

Every single track could, and should, be a single.

In the alternative world that exists in my head, the one that I often find preferable to real life, these guys are dominating the charts.

They’re on the news as the BBC film them getting off of a private jumbo jet to hordes of screaming fans that have brought the airport to a standstill.

It’s Big Head Mania.

They are in the middle of a ballpark and you can’t hear them for the screaming.

‘Let’s skip to the good bit’. It’s a song that is ambrosia for the ears.

This can be the flip side of Bombs Away on the double A sided single.

I’m writing a letter to Santa saying that I’ve been good and it’s all I want this Christmas.

To get the point across about how good this release is it has to be said that as far as quality goes it is relentless.

Every single song without exception is a classic in waiting.

There are fourteen of them too.

While some bands struggle to hold the attention of even their most hardcore fans over the length of an ep this album demands your attention, and demands it in the best possible way.

It’s not even half way through the year and it is going to take something very special indeed being released to knock this off the top of a personal best album of the year list.

It’s a solid chunk of power pop magnificence from start to finish. 

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PWR BTTM - Pageant

With their debut ‘Ugly Cherries’ quickly grabbing attention outside the niche scene that spawned them, the band PWR BTTM had a coming out party like no other.

In so many ways it felt like the world was ready for change and they were going to deliver a big shiny and glittery calling card screaming that they were here and here to stay.

With their infectious, weezer-esque pop punk tunes they had set their stall out and people loved what they were offering.

Now all they had to do was live up to the promise of that, and with Pageant they didn’t.

Instead they jumped much further ahead than was expected.

If people were looking for an Ugly Cherries 2.0 they will still be acclimatizing themselves to Pageant.

Everything from the debut that fans loved is still in place, but the songs sound supercharged.

It’s an evolution in progress at a speed that we can all participate in.

Who knows where the difficult third album will take us, but for now Pageant is a luxurious, but also deeply personal, indulgence that is recommended.

The socio political angle can’t be ignored either.

As the world appears to be slipping back a step or two when it comes to equality rights for many it needs its champions.

It needs people who will make their presence felt.

It doesn’t necessarily have to come from a platform, or from a protest march, but from the artists like PWR BTTM who will deliver a message via their art.

All over the world Pageant will slip unnoticed into households and open eyes to another world.  

A world where what is considered normal is challenged. A world that highlights that under the clothing, under the masks people wear, under the labels given and those clutched at, that we are all just people. We are all simply people trying to get through the day. People working on how we fit in with our families, with our friends, and in the general the world about us.

And that’s not a bad thing because Vive le difference!

The party is here. You can join us or pretend it’s not happening, but the music will play on regardless.

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(Currently PWR BTTM have been dropped by their label and their management team.

Two members of the touring band have left and other acts who were booked to support the band have withdrawn from the live engagements.

This is the reaction to allegations against band member Ben.

Allegedly he has sexually assaulted some individuals and is being classed by many as a sexual predator.

It would be very easy to consider that there is no smoke without fire.

Especially as those surrounding the band publicly cut them loose, but I am of the opinion that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and right now as this review goes live no proof whatsoever has been provided to substantiate the allegations.

If that proof does come to light then of course that changes everything.

It is not my position to defend anyone that abuses others.

It is also not my position to castigate anyone, famous or not, based on unsubstantiated allegations.)

(Video updated to feature one from Ugly Cherries as Pageant videos have been pulled from YouTube)

Southern Approach – Restitution

A new wave of goth inspired rock?

The jury has contemplated the charges laid before them and unanimously found Southern Approach as guilty.

Damn guilty of wallowing in the birthing pool that gave us The Cult, Gene Loves Jezebel, Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, and every other kohl eyed guitar slinging band that did the rounds back in the eighties.

It’s not that Restitution is a nostalgia smash and grab party though.

There are plenty of punky guitar and rock elements that proliferate throughout that puts that notion to bed.

It’s an album that has very obviously been recorded in the present, a release that very carefully avoids sounding as if it is an unearthed gem from yesteryear.

It’s also has to be said that is material that wouldn’t be comfortable residing on the small stages of the clubs as it is obviously designed to order for stadiums.

The big grand sound is back, and it’s dressed in black.

Unfortunately for fans of this genre, new and old, they are not going to have Southern Approach coming to them.

Either on a small or large stage, and if the need arises then they will have to come to the band.

This is not due to any arrogance on their part though. It’s simply the nature of the beast. Southern Approach, as a project, was the result of old friends getting back together to address unfinished business. 

They were a group of individuals that became the big fish in a small local pond and should have, could have, been destined for something more, but then life got in the way.

It’s a tale as old as time itself, but one that many don’t get to add a happy ending to.

So with that in mind they, to use a cliché ‘got the band back together’ and Restitution is the result.

There have already been some well received outings for the band, and other dates will happen, maybe even more recording, but the intent was never to chase anything more than what it is, and that is friends making music.

Any plaudits that come forth are just the icing on the cake for them.

That being said the future is indeed unwritten.

So maybe everything will change again.

At one time the notion of a Southern Approach album being recorded would have seemed fanciful.

And yet here it is.

For everyone who dared to dream here is the proof that they can be manifested into existence.

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Monday album review #1