What To Expect… The Unexpected
After a blistering set in the tent on Friday late afternoon I was able to sit down with 3 of the band Big Iron to find out more about them. I expected some laughs and probably some strange diversions in conversation (from stage wear to weird banter and beyond) and I wasn’t disappointed.
Live they entertain (the onstage photos from Ian Owen will show everyone that is true) and they do similar when talking to strange media people. As all of them spoke (some more than others of course), sometimes back to back or indeed interjecting over each other I have put …//… where one stops and another starts so as readers you can tell there is at least a change of person. Where I can I will add the names otherwise it will just be all the italic parts after the band name. Hope this helps keep it as interesting and as lively as it was sitting with the 3 of them.
I started by asking what all their names were and what they played and this was their answers…
The Interview Begins, Strap In
Big Iron: I am Oliver and I play the vocals (“PLAY the vocals?” is asked whilst everyone falls about laughing). I am struggling already (more laughs). // I am Aaron and I am the bassist. // And I am Kieran and I am the guitarist.
CGCM: So you just played the tent here at Call Of The Wild how did you find it, it looked like you had fun.
Big Iron: It was boiling…//… (Aaron) it was really warm…//(Kieran)… it was bloody hot though it was a fucking great time…//… (Ollie) let’s preface this you are wearing a jumper and you didn’t take it of…//… (Kieran) yeah, I am really bad for that, wearing a jumper, mind I don’t have a t-shirt…//… (Ollie) have you not (in quite a high-pitched voice sounding surprised)…//… (Kieran) but I would have been even hotter if I had had a t-shirt on…//…(CGCM: I don’t understand any of the logic in that)…//…(Kieran) next time either t-shirt or shit shirt…(everybody laughing and agreeing on the latter)… sorry but what was the question again? (everyone laughs)
Question?
CGCM: Just how the show went for you was the question
Kieran: It was great, I really enjoyed it…//…(Aaron): it turned out quite nicely…//… (Kieran) was really excited for it. For months been excited and yeah it turned out really good.
CGCM: Is this the first festival you have played?
Big Iron: As a band yeah. (this leads to chat amongst themselves about festivals and who had been to fests and who hadn’t with one of them admitting to having gone to T In The Park when it was going leading to him getting a slagging. Ollie: Some festivals there is more of a party feel and some are more chilled, this feels so chilled, I really like it. (everyone chips in saying how cool it is)
CGCM: So how long has the band been together?
How It All Began
Big Iron: (Kieran): Not even a year, last June. Me, Jack (the other guitarist) and James (drummer) had the idea of being in a band together for years and it kind of started with Covid really. It kickstarted it.
Jack and I had been in a band before this which was much heavier (the band were called Perpetua and are worth checking out) and we had kind of fallen out of love with that kind of thing so we stopped doing that and quit the band and during lockdown wrote some 80s kind of cock-rock album, about 8 or 9 songs.
As we were doing that we thought “Great” and then jammed those songs with James for the first time and he immediately hated every single one of them (laughing). However, there were a couple of riffs from one of them which turned into one of our songs called “Miles Away” and we just went from there. We got Ollie soon after…
Deal
Ollie: I think the deal was you asked me a while back and I was in about 4 bands at the time and I was like “I can’t do that as well”. Then I left one of them and thought “Ooooh, I could maybe do that” so I joined. I think I was under the impression I would do an album and then maybe just go away (everyone laughs). They would then know what it sounds like with vocals on it and you can get a guy that does that. As it was I changed my mind and thought I would stay as it sounded great.
Then we got Aaron afterwards and we thought “this guys really quiet” and we wondered if he liked us and then we found out he was a bit mental and liked us (everyone laughing).
CGCM: So have you released anything yet?
Their First 3 Gigs
Big Iron (Kieran): Yeah, we released an EP last October…//… (Aaron): There was a single first…//… (Kieran): there was a single in June and the EP in October. We have been playing shows since then. Our first 3 shows were really good. We got on the bill for the album launch from our friends Dog Tired (another good Scottish band) and it was really busy for us which was cool.
We are not really similar in sound but there are little elements that appeal to both crowds. Everyone there was great. Then we got the support for She Burns Red‘s album launch which was fantastic and done wonders for us and there are fans of theirs that now are also fans of ours which is really nice. Finally, there was the winter launch show for the EP which went really well. We sold more tickets than we expected. So we couldn’t have been happier with those.
Now comes the downfall after today we fall down (everyone laughs)…//… (Ollie) yeah, we have been riding a cheeky little wave to be honest and at this point, we are just (someone says “cheeky” in the background) looking to see what we can do to keep it going, keeping folks interested…//… (Aaron): doing more promo stuff, showing ourselves through social media, it isn’t that we are not taking it seriously but we are having a laugh whilst doing it.
Remark
CGCM: You did remark onstage about having fun
Big Iron (Ollie): Oh, did I? I can’t remember (everyone laughs)
CGCM: I take it you don’t remember what you say onstage?
Big Iron (Ollie): No not really. I hope I didn’t (pauses) are we cancelled now? (more laughing)
CGCM: No, no you didn’t say anything untoward or upsetting, it was all funny, you are quite an entertainer
Did I Say Anything I Shouldn’t?
Big Iron (Ollie): That’s cool, good to know…//… (Kieran) That’s one of my favourite things playing shows with this band is that you never know how Ollie is going to be or what he might say and I end up pissing myself laughing…//… (Ollie) or there are others thinking (in an exasperation)”Oh god can we just start this song, please stop talking” (everyone laughing in recognition)…//…
(Kieran) At Rockmantic in Carlisle, in the break of one of our songs he started talking about the 1980s Dune movie and if anyone had seen it. I was like “oh no, no, no” (as everyone laughs) but you know what I love it…//… (Ollie): I think I did a poll about it, folks looked bewildered (everyone laughs). I go onstage, have a panic attack, get offstage and say to the others “What just happened?” That is pretty much how it goes.
CGCM: The thing is most bands you can tell things have something scripted, or regular banter they use, with you I know it isn’t scripted (everyone laughs and agrees)
Big Iron (Ollie): I wouldn’t even remember if I did script it, I would forget it and look around at the others going “what was I meant to say here” (everyone agrees he would never remember)
CGCM: So you are kind of saying that with this band it is more of an 80s influence
The Influences That Make Them
Big Iron (Kieran): It originally started off that way but we kind of moved away from that, we still have those influences, for my solos and stuff like that. Was brought up on those types of things and will probably never leave me. I am a big Alter Bridge fan and I like the modern hard rock sound but with our own things added to it.
Like Ollie is great at adding that Mike Patton or Faith No More thing and that works really well with the sound we had when we presented it him originally but with him being an accomplished musician who is so good at playing every sort of instrument in the entire world, he has written some other songs, like “Daiquiri” which is our latest single that came out late May (he looked around at this point looking for confirmation on the date for Ollie to quip “I don’t know how time works at this point” causing laughter). Being honest I just want to play rock music man!
Vibe
Ollie (takes over): That’s the general vibe man. What does rock music mean to us? Let’s do that then. A lot of the stuff we’ve been writing really toes the line with “what is this” and if it falls under the category of rock music then it is a case of “let’s do it then”…//… Aaron: you can though definitely hear the metal influences in the riffs etc…//… Ollie: We love metal, really love it. I mean we have all just left or are still in our respective metal bands but joined up going “Maybe we should be in a rock band”. We love metal though we are more rock with this band. In fact we were blasting metal music all the way here…
CGCM: It is still quite chunky, you know you do some very heavy grooves
Not Being Liked, But Liked
Big Iron (Kieran): When I write a riff I want it to be groovy, something like a chorus that you can hum in your head rather than complicated or anything…//… Ollie: We present ourselves as a metal band playing rock music. That’s the vibe. When I first heard the demos, it was like the Perpetua metal sound, 90s post-grunge, Alter Bridge and I was like “Cool, I like this, we should see if we can keep this going.
I mean (talking to Kieran), you play with a whole lot of heavy gain, still very chunky, still very heavy, I like to scream, it works. I like that we toe the line between standard rock music but can play a show with a much heavier band like Dog Tired and people still like it…//…
Aaron: We do get some folks who may not be so much into the music but they are into the performance. It’s a fun thing to come and see…//… Ollie: That’s a brilliant compliment, “I didn’t like that but I liked you”, great not to be liked (everyone laughing, we all know what he means but it is so self-deprecating). Who knows what I mean anymore!
CGCM: You certainly went down well. I saw lots of smiling faces leaving the tent, they looked like they had fun watching you, which in my opinion is success (Aaron: “as long as they weren’t just happy it was over“, everyone laughs)…
Wondering
Big Iron (Ollie): I saw folks walking in and I could see them wondering “What is this” but they stayed to the end…//… (Kieran): Yeah, I like that, as long as we make people happy I guess. I am bad for getting in my head onstage “oh god my guitar is slightly out of tune”, I am slowly getting over it as I have been playing live for years. I am trying to get to the not worrying about little things, as long as we sound OK and the people in the crowd are enjoying us, that’s all the matters at the end of the day.
CGCM: The thing is the majority of folks won’t notice if something is slightly out. You will notice little things we won’t. What I will say that it is good though that you care and want to get your performance to the best it can be whilst still having fun.
Big Iron (Ollie): I have definitely ruined gigs for myself by thinking too much, you know that I am not doing this very well. How do I act, what do I say to these people and I think that’s where the whole unscripted thing comes from. I think it is being more honest and I think the whole thing of being onstage and making a bunch of silly noises to strangers is really ridiculous anyway, just be honest…//…
Thankful
(Aaron): and thankfully sometimes they dig it and you are like wow…//… (Ollie): and that’s great, but if they don’t like it then no wonder you didn’t, I just went onstage, I am taller than you, louder than you, I am making some weird noises at you, all kinds of strange stuff, no wonder you went away wondering “what the hell was that”! (Strange way of looking at what he and the band does but interesting to see how certainly Ollie sees it. For me I don’t think he makes many “weird noises” vocally.) Ollie: you wouldn’t say that, oh, I just did (band all point out he just said it, he is on record as saying it and take the piss a bit)
CGCM: Thankfully we are not the biggest site in the world so your secret is safe with us, just about (laughing). Sure it won’t be a case that you will never work again. (more laughing)
Big Iron (Ollie): Realise the ridiculousness of the situation have fun and hopefully everyone else will also have fun and if they don’t I have no clue what to say (laughing away)
CGCM: So what’s next for you guys, any more gigs, or new music?
Next big thing
Big Iron (Kieran): The next big thing for us is our first Glasgow headline show at the Garage Attic (July 20) which is kind of our only second headline show. Really excited to see where we are when it comes to fan base. I know in Edinburgh we could do well but sometimes that is due to friends and family as that is where we live, but Glasgow is different, we can see where we are in the scene and hopefully get some new fans from it and have a good time.
We also have another single coming out which should be out just before that gig. We recorded it at the same time as the “Daiquiri” single…//… (Ollie): The general idea is to try and keep playing further afield as possible (since the interview they have played up in Inverness North of Scotland and down in the borders near England at Wildfire Festival where they also went down a storm) and to see if we can we get people onboard who have no idea who we are. At the moment it seems the answer is yes which is cool.
Chat
They then chat about how they are trying to work with other bands to share audiences which is quite the thing certainly in the UK. A band travels to another part of the country to do perhaps even 2 or 3 gigs in an area with a band that has a following and return the compliment. It also means less gear needs to be carried as the hometown band allow the touring one their drums etc.
We also chatted about music in general before I thanked them for their time and for all the laughs they had given me. For anyone who lives in the central belt of Scotland who wants a damn fine night out with a cracking rock band then please do try and support the band when they play in Glasgow at the Garage Attic on the 20th of July 2024! This band rocks but also entertains. They are great company too and like onstage, they do not come scripted😂. I had no idea what was going on at times but I laughed loads. Big Iron is a band to watch out for!
Official Website // Official Facebook
Check out my other interviews and reviews here. Tom.
For all the CGCM Rock Radio coverage of Call Of The Wild 2024 visit this page: COTW 2024 – Complete Coverage
