Exposed Vocals Interviews Great Big Dumb
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Great Big Dumb: We all grew up in small villages spread out around a small county in Sweden called Västmanland, located in something called “The whining belt”
The band consists of two singers (basically, one for the calm parts and one for the heavy parts), who also plays some instruments at times; and a songwriter who records most of the instruments.
We are old friends and used to dosmall musical projects for fun at parties when we were younger. The songwriter was absent for some years to study Classical Guitar, but one time when he was home for the weekend, we just tried to record a Grunge song he had made. The text was written on an old reciept (and it became the demo of this now finished song: https://soundcloud.com/great-big-dumb/dead-at-first-mixedmastered-by-tyler-wickens ).
We were pretty pleased with the demo, and some weeks later, we gathered some beers and set out to the garage one dark night to record our first track: Stench (https://soundcloud.com/great-big-dumb/great-big-dumb-stench)
And that’s pretty much how we started out. Our friends seemed to like the songwriting and the raw voices; and we were getting positive response on SC, so we kept going..
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Great Big Dumb: We just wanted something that sounded Grunge, a name that suggested some kind of self consciousness and perhaps some apathy. We just came up with the name after some late night brainstorming. If I remember correctly, we first tought about naming the band Great Big Dome….
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Great Big Dumb: Yeah it’s great. Can’t love the internet enough. People all over the world can share their talent, and work up a fanbase from their home. It creates a stream of honest music from honest people. And that is also sort of what we all find to be one of the charms of the Grunge era. We do give away our music for free, trough soundcloud.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Great Big Dumb: Hm, well perhaps. Don’t be afraid to take constructive feedback on your work, to start over and try again. And don’t be afraid to share your ideas with others and share the inspiration. Be self-aware when it comes to your own ideas and promotion. Work hard, practise. And then of course, dare to be proud of your music and the work you have put into it – see that you get paid for the work you’ve done when performing concerts. And see that you care for the amount of time you decide to help out with different projects so that you have the energy to fully focus on your own.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Great Big Dumb: This one is going to be answered by our songwriter..
I’m gonna answer the 2nd question first. I usually just try to work develope new melodic material trough variations of the starting ideas of the current song, basically like the way I work when composing classical music. I guess Great Big Dome is a good example (https://soundcloud.com/great-big-dumb/great-big-dome) – it sort of consists only of these two small melodic lines that I basically do variations on trough the whole piece. Except for the solo. The solo is a bit different.
Other than that, I guess I work a lot with Pastiche-writing. Like, I have listened to tons of Grunge trough the years, so I have gotten somewhat a picture of how to build up a Grunge song (in my personal opinion), so I try to follow that.
The arrangement; the choirs, the base, and the guitars is very important to me. The details in the arrangement. Notation helps me structure it.
First question: I usually just record ideas when I am in the mood for it. If I have writer’s block I just practise and don’t bother writing. Unless I really have to finish some piece for a deadline – In that case I try to use some, to me, unexplored composition method. If I am in the mood for writing, I record the idea on my phone. I almost never listen to the hundreds of ideas, but if I remember it without listening, I use to think that perhaps it was an Ok idea. That’s my method, don’t know if it’s any good, but it works Ok for me. I hope I don’t sound like a douche when trying to explain it 🙂
If you are wondering about my main sources of inspiration for the Great Big Dumb project, it’s: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, The Vines, French composer Francis Poulenc and Swedish Folk music
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Great Big Dumb: We’re on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/great-big-dumb/great-big-dome
We started a twitter account some time ago. But we almost didnt use it until about a month ago. It’s really fun, check it out! https://twitter.com/GreatBigDumb
We’re also on http://www.unsignedtopcharts.com/ @unsignedcharts
And that’s about it! We are on rotation on some radio channels, gonna talk more about that later.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Great Big Dumb: Music, just a lot of music. Create music, and teach music to those who wanted to learn. Music is the best.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Great Big Dumb: We are on rotation on some unsigned radio channels, and they are great for promotion! For example: @EGHradio, Indie Castle Radio (@indiecastle) and Fortheloveofmusic (@MusicaNL)
Other than that, just to relax and have fun. Listen to people’s music and comment on the music you enjoy! People on SC are really nice, contact them and share inspiration. If you like them, ask for tips. It’s a joy.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Great Big Dumb: We are going to spend two days in the garage this weekend and record a pretty sad acoustic song, and hopefully also a scream track. Fun times! The songs we record and publish now are all part of our album “Stench” which is in the making. You can expect some 5-6 more songs from that album showing up soon (The last song of the album is done tough, “Breathe”: https://soundcloud.com/great-big-dumb/breathe)
We are also doing a collaboration with the rapper Kid Kobi (https://soundcloud.com/kid-kobi). Looking forward to that!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Great Big Dumb: Haven’t tought about it. Really. I think we may refere to the half a million dollars-question here..
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Great Big Dumb: Organise, and keep focus. Stay self-aware and practise a lot. Be flexible. the old stuff. And as we mentioned before, trying to think about the amount of time dedicated on different projects, so that you can have the energy left to focus on your own.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Great Big Dumb: The (hopefully) full Stench album and perhaps some interesting collaborations!