Who Is Big Dream?
Our new EP is out today! Some thoughts on the concept of Big Dream…
I've always been a bit of a mark for marketing. My friends love to tease me about how I will inevitably order whatever dish is featured on the vinyl laminate at a restaurant's entrance. It's a quirk I struggle to recognize in myself. So, in the context of my band, resisting the allure of marketing spiel has always been a challenge. There's this pervasive notion in the music world, a kind of rallying cry: “Don’t you want to feel like you tried everything possible?” or “You can’t give yourself an out, you have to be all in.” This sentiment, though often framed as a lifestyle choice for musicians, is also cleverly woven into every sales pitch. And let's be honest – the music industry has its fair share of snake oil salesmen. I've been the gullible consumer more times than I'd like to admit, buying into every vial of promise they sold.
This kind of mindset, when you buy into it for too long, begins to intertwine with what you loved initially – the music itself. Before you know it, this amalgamation starts to reek. The intertwined pursuit of a dream and the love of music, which once felt so pure, begins to be overshadowed by a sense of obligation, a feeling that “this was supposed to work.”
These musings were front and center as we were writing the songs on "Big Dream." After wrapping up the EP, I started reading "Our Band Could Be Your Life," an insightful book on the indie music scene of the 1980s. That scene reshaped our modern music culture. The stories of couch surfing punk rockers really brought something home for me. Making music is about the act itself, not the journey towards ease or luxury. The dream of success or 'selling out' might mean luxury, but the dream of making music is beautifully straightforward. Start playing – alone, or better yet, with friends!
It's easy to get distracted by the wrong things in the music industry (Big Dream runs a very profitable racket) but more than ever these days our primary goal is to create music that we love and that we want to hear. This EP is a testament to that goal. I am incredibly proud to have shared the microphone with Taimir Gore and Rebecca Basnight on these tracks. They’ve brought an undeniable energy to the EP, and I can't wait to hear what they do next. Ben re-worked the music on this EP in so many brilliant ways and Colin (on mixing & mastering) brought it all home with amazing production. Join us tomorrow at Songbyrd for our EP Release Party with Dear Daria (also releasing a great EP today!) and Milo In The Doldrums . We'll be taking a little break this year so give the EP a spin and let's party together one last time 🎉🥳