Upcoming North-East England three-piece girl group bigfatbig have brought their freshly unique musical charisma & beautifully blended vocals to create a musical force that looks set to make waves amongst the music scene.
Now, this talented trio has released their brand new single “Don’t Wanna Be Sad” & have kindly taken the time to chat with Fierce & Fabulous Revolution about their latest musical release. Check out what they had to say below.
Hey bigfatbig, thank you so much for this interview. Can you start by telling the readers a little bit about yourselves?
Hey! We’re bigfatbig – a three-piece, slacker girl band based in North-East England. Robyn (vox) and Katie (guitar) have been friends for over a decade, and when we met Chaz (bass) a couple of years ago, bigfatbig became a reality. We love making a racket online and at gigs, so if you’re interested, come join the party!
When did you all first discover your passion for music?
We’re absolute clichés – we’ve had a passion for music for as long as we can remember, but I’ve never felt so sure of my passion for music since launching bigfatbig. So much of the time we’re deterred from pursuing music as a career option because the industry is unstable, but being part of a band that pursues music out of passion has made me so sure that this is exactly what we’re supposed to be doing.
How did the idea to form bigfatbig come together?
Music has always been a big part of our Robyn and I’s friendship, but the more we started going to gigs together, the more we realised two things. We wanted to see more female artists on stage, and we wanted in on that for ourselves. We asked our friends in the scene if they knew anyone wanting to play bass in a new band, and Chaz was the first person we met with.
It still freaks me out that it happened so quickly and easily – literally the first person we met fit all of our requirements and we became best friends straight away? Seems fake to me but okay.
We locked ourselves away in a practice room for a year to write and practice together, and bigfatbig is what came out.
How would you describe your musical style to someone unfamiliar with your music?
Slacker pop-rock. Intentional nonsense. Candied, chaotic goodness. A heavy blend of Kate Nash, The Subways and The Front Bottoms.
You are about to release the new single “Don’t Wanna Be Sad” on the 25th of March. How did the idea for this single come together?
For a time, the chorus lyric “I don’t wanna be sad anymore,” became something of a mantra for all of us. The monotony of feeling so consistently low struck a chord in recognising that just acknowledging a difficult time is not enough to do something about it, but it’s definitely the first step. This song is the voice of that turning point, it’s the voice of a time of realisation that changing your life takes a tangible and persistent effort.
What would you consider to be the main inspiration behind this song?
My emotions are very intense and while that can be a really negative thing, a positive that comes out of it is that it’s really easy to find inspiration for songwriting when you’re feeling so much. Usually, I don’t like to be too personal through our lyrics, so although this song came from a place of vulnerability, I think the relatability of the lyrics will have the listener focusing less on our inspiration behind the song, and more on their own reflections that it brings about.
How would you compare the creative process behind this single to your previous releases?
We’ve had a different creative process for every song we’ve written together, so I feel we managed to work around the restrictions that the pandemic put on us quite well. We did as much of the writing as possible from separate houses through terrible voice notes that will never see the light of day. After the initial writing, we had less chances than usual to practice and record as a full unit due to covid restrictions, so we had to be far more efficient than with previous releases. It was intimidating, but we’ve never been so confident about a release before, so maybe the pressure is what works for us!
Did you always plan on releasing “Don’t Wanna Be Sad” as a single?
Honestly, yes. We were keen to get back in the studio and release some new music after having a (forced) break from those things, and as soon as we played this track full band for the first time, we knew it would be a single. I think you can just tell when a topic is going to be relatable for listeners, too, and after the year we’ve all had, we wanted to release something that our listeners could find solace in.
What does the song personally mean to you?
Don’t Wanna Be Sad for me is about letting go of how I think I’m supposed to feel, in order to embrace how I actually feel, so that I can accept it, and move on. It’s the most personal song we’ve ever released, and I think there’s so much power in sharing our experiences – it’s been so cathartic to express ourselves in this way and to share that with the world.
If listeners could take anything away from this song, what would you like it to be?
You are allowed to be sad. There are so many of us that are sad, so you’re definitely not alone. You can be sad and not want to be sad anymore. You can be sad in silence or you can be sad at the top of your lungs. You can be scared to admit that you want change and still battle for it every day. Your emotions aren’t up for debate by others. Your emotions are yours – own them, use them, move through your life with them.
Do you have any further releases planned that you can currently tell us about?
I don’t want to give too much away, especially because so much is out of our control at the moment, but I’ll say that we wrote and recorded ‘Don’t Wanna Be Sad’ alongside another song, so come back to us on that one real soon.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations & why?
We all absolutely love our local scene, and the women who are involved in it are huge inspirations for us. To see other women who have had similar experiences to us doing whatever they want to do in the industry and being successful in that is just amazing, and constantly reminds me that we can do the same. Martha Hill is one of my biggest inspirations – she’s northern, she makes the best indie-folk music, and her ability to seem genuine and comfortable in her place on stage is something I really admire. There are so many examples I could give just from our local scene – we’re really doing it here up north!
What are some of the things you three enjoy doing in your spare time?
All of us truly love doing nothing together! I know that sounds silly, but honestly we just like being around each other. We work hard together so much of the time, so it’s important to just be together sometimes. We’re actually really passionate about doing nothing, it’s way more important than you might think it is!
What advice would you offer to someone looking to pursue a career within the music industry?
Have your own reason for doing what it is that you want to do. Existing in this industry is hard, things that you can’t foresee will become more difficult than you can imagine, and during those moments you’ve got to have a reason to carry on. Tangible reasons like money or getting a big record deal can sometimes feel untouchable, so I would advise you to have more personal reasons. Do it because you love it, do it because it’s the most fun you’ve ever had, do it because you can’t imagine not at least trying – no one can really take those reasons away from you, and then in those hard moments, you can remind yourself why you do it, and carry on.
Finally, is there a message that you would like to share with the readers of Fierce & Fabulous Revolution?
If you’ve made it this far we really appreciate it! And we hope you enjoyed reading about us and our silly little song.
You can check out “Don’t Wanna Be Sad” on Spotify below.
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