SXSW Sixpack: Punk Hurricane Big Bill Keeps Austin’s “Weird” Flame Alive
By Paul Stinson
Austin band Big Bill asks a simple question: do semaphore flags exist to signal the arrival of a rodeo punk hurricane? If they aren’t yet a thing they should be, if only in the name of public safety.
A genre-defying joy ride outfitted in matching, band-branded track suits that would give Heaven’s Gate or a start-up cult a run for their comet-riding money, to pigeonhole the four-piece into a genre is to sell their electricity, whimsy and soliloquy-core short.
After developing a devoted local following over the last decade with their brand of cathartic hook-laden arrythmia, the band’s second full-length LP Public Freakout Compilation on Spaceflight Records is scheduled to go into orbit June 10.
The album’s title is something of a nod to the group’s quirky live-show disposition. Singer Eric Braden’s lyrical meditations, constructive meltdowns and belted-out proletariat rallying cries are sung and narrated in ebbs and flows that fans of Devo, B-52s, Jello Biafra, Talking Heads and sixties legends The Monks are likely to appreciate.
The band’s recent single and video, “Forget About Monday,” is a raw, melodic plea to hold off on giving in to the long shadow cast by the start of the week, offering hooks and choruses suitable for a three-minute fit of pogoing in your living room, produce aisle or local concert venue.
The short, sharp offerings including ‘Tricked,’ ‘Coma’ and ‘Peak’ are swirling storms of rhythm and guitar needling, punctuated by Braden’s vocals. The end result: an untamed vortex that is danceable, groovy, meaningful and capable of transforming any club into a severe weather event.
For a city that’s seen a large amount of its fabled “weird” paved over or pushed to the periphery by the forces of gentrification, it falls to Austin’s music scene and bands like Big Bill to keep the quirky flame alive and well. No pressure, y’all.
BIG BILL at SXSW
3/18 Easy Tiger East, Official SXSW Showcase (8PM)
3/19 Scholz Garten, Spaceflight Records Party (1:25 PM)
3/19 Volstead Lounge, Official SXSW Showcase (midnight)
3/20 Sunset, Chill Phases, Dripping Springs, Texas
SXSW SixPack is a yearly series of unapologetic enthusings/profiles on bands that need to be seen and heard by more people.
Paul Stinson is Nada Mucho’s Austin Music Correspondent. Formerly a Texas and Oklahoma statehouse correspondent for a major news organization, Stinson is plotting his next move and can be found lurking in Austin’s music shadows and Casino El Camino burger joint. Or playing with his cats Olive and Piko.
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