Big Bill
Big Bill out in the wild (from left), Kodie Bill Braydon, Eric Bill and Alan Lauer; photographed by Kat Goins.
Austin’s own punk-oddballs Big Bill released their 7″ via Austin Town Hall Records, and we got the premiere of “Weird Walk” to keep the weirdness flowing freely in your world and ours. The Texan trio of Kodie Bill Braydon, Eric Bill and Alan Lauer possess a penchant for frocks and smocks snagged from the women’s wear department and penning songs that celebrate their own sweet styles of non-conformity. Stripped down punchy songs bask in the oddness of everything that continues to keep their hometown of Austin refreshingly weird with tunes and testaments for all of their favorite local watering holes.
“Weird Walk” walks the crooked line and manic mile with angular riffs and edgy attitudes that takes a stroll around what feels like East Austin enjoyed through lysergic eye lens. Seeing sights of cowboy hats, crying babies, ambulances, a house cat diving into a gutter, a streetlight melting like an ice cream cone on a sidewalk, and visions of folks who resemble primordial neanderthals. Everything from the mundane, the plain, to the outright odd and bizarre is heard and seen on display from cavemen armies to the type of over-thought/over-wrought details of irrational fear that puddles in one’s own path sometime trigger. For those outside of the great ATX city, it will remind some of their most surreal SxSW experience, Levitation festival, Austin City Limits, Psych fest, etc where the streets and scenes become even stranger than they seem. Stay with us, as we talk to Big Bill’s Kodie Bill Braydon, Eric Bill & Alan Lauer all about the new single, the b-side “Mainly Manly”, and much more in a roundtable interview session.
Tell us the story of how Big Bill began.
Eric: It started in 2011 with me, my brother Cody, and our friend Dave Fitzhugh. We were living pretty isolated in South Austin, and we spent about a year just going for walks, writing songs and then working them out with our first drummer, Max. We found our current drummer, Alan, in a parking lot. A huge loss in this band happened in late 2013 when Dave got very sick and had to step out for a while. Our friend Jennifer Monsees took over on bass, toured with us in 2014, and played on our second EP, as well as this new record. She recently moved to Philadelphia, so we picked up multi-instrumentalist whiz-kid Alex Riegelman. Dave has undergone several surgeries but is getting better and still contributes to the band from afar.
Cody: Eric had fronted a band in Lubbock, and wanted to try it again in Austin, and I wanted to try something new.
Describe your own dive-thrash-n-trash style that you all self-proclaim as “billwave.”
Eric: When we started, we knew we wanted to make music that wasn’t confessional. We were very into The Monks, and of course the best Austin band ever, Big Boys. Our songs tend to eschew earnestness, or hide it behind jokes. Performance-wise, our goal is to get people to forget themselves and have a visceral experience, rather than stand still admiring us or something. If you’re standing still at one of our shows I might “accidentally” spill your beer on you.
Cody: It’s just rock, but we try to be less macho.
Tell us about what sorts of machismo fixations informed “Mainly Manly”.
Eric: It began with just a phrase I sang to myself for a few months, “Mainly manly but I got a little girly girly/ In my mind and my body it’s a whirly burly,” which is kind of a joke. Like a dude who was super proud of his “manliness” would never say he’s “mainly manly”; he’d probably say he’s “all man.” When I say “I don’t have to be the Main Man,” it’s about realizing that you don’t have to be what you’re expected to be—strong, capable, dependable, whatever. A lot of our songs, like almost every punk song ever, is about the power of rejection. There’s this song by Bona Dish called “Challenge,” with one of my favorite lines ever: “Take acceptance, and throw it away.” Rejecting ideas of what you’re supposed to be is a powerful idea to me.
Being that the whole CIS male thing is very much on the decline (and not exactly in fashionable season by most accounts); what is the importance or lack of importance behind the whole ‘manly’ construct?
Eric: Well, if you go to any random show, you’re still going to encounter lots of cis-gender white men whining about their lives, or attempting to show you how sensitive they are, or how good at playing their instruments they are, or whatever. This song is in some ways grappling with the uncomfortable fact that when we perform, I’m ultimately yet another white dude with the loudest voice in the room. I was thinking about certain singer-songwriters who ultimately are just using their music to advertise to women how sensitive they are. One might argue that John Mayer’s music is more misogynistic than, like, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Frolicking in the water with Austin’s bad boys/strange boys—Big Bill; photographed by Kat Goins.
What do you all dig about Austin right now?
Eric: As artists, it’s fun because there are so many communities to get involved with, and people to collaborate with. Every local show, we meet new people, and they all have a project, they all have a passion. People complain about traffic and people moving here and gentrification, and all of that sucks, but at the end of the day we live in a large, prosperous, safe, clean city full of interesting people. There’s tons of yuppie scum too, but that just makes for good songwriting material. Like would that great Big Boys song, “Frat Cars”—would it exist without yuppie scum?
Alan: I love how everyone is down to do stuff. Everyone wants to participate. Anyone can start a band in Austin. Anyone can start 10 bands. You don’t need any special talent—just the willingness to do it. And I love the crazy weather.
Cody: I like going home.
What is everybody excited and obsessed with right now?
Eric: I’m obsessed with the album Taking Time, by Reservations. I don’t know them personally, but they’re an Austin band, and that album is totally stunning. Also the best band in our town is probably Tele Novella. There’s a whole scene of weird bands like us—Sailor Poon, Popper Burns, Basketball Shorts, Annabelle Chairlegs—I could go on and on and on.
Alan: Musically, I’m generally a bit behind the times. My Morning Jacket’s song “In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)” has the best breakdown ever. Yosi Horikawa’s record “Vapor” has some great songs fashioned out of found sounds. He goes out into nature, finds sounds he likes, and then sequences them into something amazing. Check out the song, “Letter.” And Squeeze’s greatest hits. I can’t get enough power pop. Also, I’m obsessed with the idea of the end of work. How far are we from a post-work society?
Eric: Squeeze does rule.
Big Bill’s 7″ is available now from Austin Town Hall Records.
