Make 90s music sound vintage. Harmonies that break your heart, a filthy Tele, and a happy nihilism. Now set it ablaze. That’s Big Surprise. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
BIG SURPRISE: We met at a mutual friend’s party in 2018 which eventually evolved into a giant singalong jam session with some local Bay Area rock luminaries. As the night progressed and the crowd thinned out the two of us stayed and kept trying out different songs together. We didn’t have a ton of crossover in the songs we knew by heart, but the ones we did know in common were mutual favorites, and they became the foundation of our performing and songwriting partnership. It started that night and just grew from there.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
BIG SURPRISE: We actually both had the same kind of musical training as kids: piano lessons, singing in school choir and performing in musicals, but then as we got older and started playing in rock bands in college a lot of our formal training fell by the wayside. We’re both self-taught on guitar and probably wish that we had practiced more when we were younger, but we’re good enough to make our own music (by doing a million takes!). We’re actually getting back to a bit of formal training now, working with a great vocal coach who’s helping us remember some of what we lost during our rock’n’roll youth.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘BIG SURPRISE’?
BIG SURPRISE: For this band I think we are heavily influenced by old time folk music for its timeless melodies, foundational harmonies and storytelling possibilities, and also modern rock sounds from punk, post-punk, alternative and indie music for its sound, vibe and powerful dynamics. “Big Surprise” is just a phrase that’s been lingering in the ether for many years, and it felt like the right fit. Also, every other name we came up with was already taken!
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
BIG SURPRISE: We have been jokingly referring to our genre as “quiet riot,” because our songs have the ability to be intimate and quiet-seeming, but often build into giant rock crescendos. Other terms might be “fuzz folk,” “dream-punk,” or “swell rock.” We really hope people dig on our vocal harmonies, existential lyrics and dynamic arrangements. But really, whatever resonates with you is what should resonate, and we’re happy people are into it at all.
5. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
BIG SURPRISE: Our songs and sound have evolved quite a bit over the last 5 years. There have been times when it felt like we were treading water or not progressing in a satisfying way. But that’s the creative process for you. Create, create, create,then destroy, destroy, destroy. The willingness to kill your darlings is how you go from good to great. Now we’re working on our debut album and starting to book more live shows. It’s time to get out there and see what happens.
6. Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
BIG SURPRISE: Our songwriting process has worked many different ways, from one of us starting with a musical idea and the other writing some lyrics to a predefined melody, to the exact opposite, where one of us has written an almost full set of lyrics and the other comes up with music to go with it. Either way, we then work on the songs together, punching up some lyrics here, changing some chords or melody there, and we usually eventually arrive at a finished song. Lately, some of our best work has come from us just sitting and writing everything together. Which is easy to do, since we’re married and live in the same house!
7. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
BIG SURPRISE: This is something we have not talked about much publicly, but in early 2021, in the midst of peak COVID, Kathryn was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a devastating and difficult time, and doubly so because of the pandemic. We were incredibly fortunate that she had an amazing care team, access to essential life-saving treatments and, after a long year and half of chemo, multiple surgeries and targeted therapies, she is cancer free and feeling better and better. The diagnosis and state of the world threw a giant and potentially deadly wrench into everything about our lives, including our big musical plans for recording during quarantine and then playing regular shows after lockdown. Now we’re finally back on track and it feels amazing.
8. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
BIG SURPRISE: Getting this interview request of course! [Laughs] Seriously though, we’ve each had our own proud musical moments in our individual lives and careers. But as Big Surprise, getting such flattering and effusive praise for our new single, “Caesium” has been a high point.
9. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
BIG SURPRISE: They excite us in different ways. There’s nothing like that feeling of locking in together on something new we’re working on in our home studio. We’re both rationalists who don’t throw around words like “magical” very often, but there’s really no other way to describe it. So far we’ve only performed live once as Big Surprise, but we’re really looking forward to getting more of that live audience interaction as we play out more.
10. Do you think it is important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
BIG SURPRISE: If you ask us about a song we might tell you what WE think it’s about, but we’d rather hear your interpretation as a listener. That’s the most interesting part of art. Once it’s out there, it doesn’t belong to only you anymore. It enters a constant state of “becoming” with each new person who experiences it in their own way.
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