Three Music Thingz with Big Hug
Oh maaahhhh gad. [Sung like will.i.am. at the beginning of Usher's "OMG."] It's another edition of Three Music Thingz, where I ask musicians for three thingz that are essential to their music-making.
catch up on old editions...miraculous baseball with Miracle Sweepstakes? multitrack madness with Jesse Brenneman? albums as movies with Victor Nawebone?
Today, we've got the band Big Hug sharing their thingz! Big Hug—that's Tom Watkins on guitar and vocals, Henry Langston on bass and vocals, and Owain Mumford on drums and vocals—are a UK band that "hail from Cardiff and deepest darkest rural Gloucestershire" and are now based in London. They put a stately twist on the 1990s emo sound with last year's EP Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time; blurrily melodic burners like "All Yours" and "Guinness Paltrow" roil in their own foam, with plenty of angst seeping out in the call-and-response choruses.
Toby
Now they're back with a new EP, A Living You'll Never Know (out March 1st) and lead single "Cruellemonde de la Hi Fi", which is about "the purgatory of bullshit jobs," is a huge leap forward in their sound: its twisting riffs and tidy drumming are bigger, bolder, crunchier, snappier. Am I writing about an emo song or a party snack? I digress...I'm digging this more overtly math-y direction regardless.
So let's see what goes on behind the Big Hug scenes, and delve into a few of their favorite thingz...
- The UK DIY Emo discord channel
What a treasure trove of talented musicians, promoters, writers and emo headz who are so supportive of the various creative endeavours we’re all involved with—whether its music, zines, art, photography, comedy or putting on shows. Before we joined the channel, I think we felt a bit lonely and isolated as a band, we didn’t really know anyone in the wider UK scene. Since we joined, we’ve played a bunch of shows with some of the ridiculously good bands on the channel, met some lovely people and have contributed to some truly shocking Music League playlists. - Alternative tunings
Fuck me it’s an absolute pain in the arse tuning up and down every five minutes, but it allows us to dial into different and distinct vibes. Don’t get us wrong, we love a bit of standard tuning, but there’s nothing wrong with cranking your high E up a semi tone or two to get some extra flavour going on that guitar barbecue. - Cats
Last and by absolutely by no means least, our final thing is cats. Between the three of us there's two cat dads and one very involved cat uncle. The band Whatsapp group has more cat related chat and photos than anything to do with the band.
Our bassist rehomed 7 stray cats that moved into his garden during Covid in scenes reminiscent of Tony Soprano's pool ducks saga. Are we obsessing over our respective cats instead of getting therapy, quite possibly.
Are we threatening to write a cat themed concept album—you're god damn right. Better enjoy the mathy emo\indie bangers now cause we're about to enter our cat prog era and none of you are ready!
Yesss thanks Big Hug!! Check out their link aggregation and pre-save their EP. And if you like I Enjoy Music, tell a friend about it.
