INTERVIEW: Big Words Are Learning To Love Imperfection
Big Words. Photo supplied.
Big Words are one of my favourite Melbourne-based bands. Earlier this year they released the Cherry mixtape, which almost never existed.The mixtape is an example of the artistic triumphs that have come as a result of the pandemic. There hasn’t been as much discussion as there should be about how it’s given many people more time than ever to create.
Often we’re only given a chance to create art when it suits the rest of our lives. For Big Words, they’ve spent their lives so far working towards buying the time to make music. 2020 gave them an opportunity to use their time to create, time they might not have otherwise had.
I spoke to Will from the band about how Cherry was born from ideas that seemed lost to time, and how when it comes to calling Cherry a mixtape, it’s the most apt description the band could have chosen. I’m really proud of this interview, so I hope you enjoy.
Ben Madden: Firstly, can you introduce yourselves and your music?
Big Words: Hi, hello, good morning. My name is Will Scullin from Big Words. We make eclectically influenced RnB music.
You recently released your project Cherry – a project you’ve said was the discarded leftovers from your upcoming debut album. Did turning your discarded ideas into something fully realised teach you anything about the creative project?
Well, see to me the songs are still really in demo form. The whole point of the project was to not try too hard and fully finish anything. So, in turn, yes it did. The idea of perfection is really something that doesn’t exist. Art can never be perfect, even if it is stated so. It’s definitely exercised the idea of less is more, something that producers that I idolise practice a lot (i.e.: Rick Rubin).
You’ve described Cherry as a mixtape – a descriptor that isn’t used much outside of hip-hop for a project. What makes it a mixtape, rather than an EP/LP/other?
I think we took the term even more literally than a hip-hop mixtape. As these days people have fully-fledged, produced “mixtapes” that are just an excuse as to say my best work is still to come or I’m not ready to call this my debut yet. As Cherry was discarded songs, there is no real backstory or narrative to it, it’s mashed up ideas that we’ve created sparsely over the last few years. Similar to how you would chop up songs to be on a cassette, Cherry’s iPhone recorded interludes really break up the flow of it, which for me makes it feel like you’re listening to a mixtape of ideas or influences.
Cherry marked the end of a three-year hiatus from releasing a project (singles notwithstanding) – can you tell me a bit about what you’ve been up to in that time, other than working on the upcoming debut album?
We’re just living, we’re working to get by and to be able to spend more time creating music. We’ve both worked full time in hospitality for the entirety of our career so far. it has its challenges and definitely plays a large part in inspiring writing for the album. We don’t ever force songs or have a method to writing them. You just have to live and let these ideas come out of your circumstances. Currently, we’re two regular guys that are waiters and write music in and around waiting tables.
As for COVID-19, it was definitely more of a blessing than a curse for us. Being able to stay at home and just focus on creating or not creating and just really doing what we want has been magical. I guess that’s where Cherry came from, having the freedom to work on what we really want. In saying that I guess that is the goal, to buy the time to work freely.
Did you ever feel any pressure to return with a project sooner to fulfill people’s expectations of newer artists, and that they continue to pump out music, and why/why not?
No, if COVID didn’t happen there wouldn’t have been one either. I think the comparison in that way is one of the worst things for the artist. There are always new artists, that’s never going to change, and if you’re constantly trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing the what the hell are you actually doing?
I guess you need to look at what are you doing? Are you “pumping” out music because you’re a genius that just can’t rest unless you put out a song a month? Are you competing with everyone else to be relevant, is being noticed quickly a representation of success to you? For us, the above options are not how we would like to create art. When music is really good, it’s always relevant. The idea that these days you need to be at the height of your career at 25 is insane to me, to be that good at anything it takes a very long time.
I feel you have one of the most exciting live shows in Melbourne – a sentiment I’m sure many would agree with! Has it been scary writing/releasing music without the ability to realise those songs in a live setting for now, and how have you dealt with those emotions?
Firstly, thank you. It’s definitely something we pride ourselves on. Well, as I’ve mentioned, Cherry was some sort of accident. These songs would’ve rotted away on a hard drive, so it’s not like we ever intended to play them live. With other songs, as we are writing them, we are constantly imagining the live alternations and renditions we could do.
However, it definitely would’ve been fun. The idea was to do lots of tiny tiny shows. Really fast and punky performances in sweaty little rooms all around the country. I guess it’ll have to be something we revisit in a few years’ time. But to be clear about it being scary releasing music without performing it, in regards to the mixtape no. The album would’ve been a very different story though. I don’t think we would’ve released it at all.
Cherry, and all your songs to date, represent a real melting pot of sounds/influences. Have you ever felt any pressure to distill your sound into something more ‘concrete’, or do you enjoy being able to draw from a range of genres to realise your vision of what your music should sound like?
I don’t really see why we should be limited to create one certain type of music. Sure, it’s easier to sell it to people. It’s easier to swallow when you know what you’re eating. I guess the idea of making a record of all the same stuff is kinda boring to Kieren and I.
We both listen to so many different styles of music, so why can’t we be post-punk one day and jazz standard the next? Each day is a very different feeling to the next and those feelings to us can be associated with a sound or music. It’s not really something we think about too much, better just to do.
Taking the process of writing/creating Cherry – how will that translate into what the album sounds like, and has writing Cherry changed your vision for the debut album?
In terms of sound, it’s going to be a totally different experience. Cherry consists of demos recorded in my room with bullshit bad drum samples and a really cheap recording set up (still awesome though). The vision for the album’s sonic is much grander. It will be cinematic, but warm and somewhat a crossover of 70s and contemporary production. I would say the only thing it’s changed is the ability to let go of things more, dropping the idea of perfectionism and just letting things appear the way that they are.
Given the material you’ve created for the debut album so far – does it sit more in step sonically with your debut EP or Cherry?
Short answer, neither.
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Finally, where do you see yourselves in 12 months, and what will you be doing?
Our guitarist Jaime is from Spain, we’re planning to move for about 6-8 months next year to set up in his family’s holiday home on the Mediterranean coast. We’re gonna write and record the second record there. So, in 12 months hopefully we’ll be eating lobsters and prawns, sipping a full-bodied crisp white wine listening to demo mixes in seaside Catalunya.