CollegeTimes Meets: Big September
CollegeTimes recently caught up with Bray natives Big September who are about to unleash their album Ballroom Addicts on the world.
Hi guys, great to meet you all...
So..., Ballroom Addicts is ready to be unleashed upon the world, give our readers a bit of info on it. Where and with whom did you guys record it?
We’re really proud of this album, we did it our way and took no notice of what other bands are doing at the moment. It’s an honest album and a statement of where the band are at at the moment. It’s very full on upbeat, you can either dance or sing along to every song on it. Ballroom Addicts is an album that can be listened to at any time, be it in the morning to get you in the mood for the day ahead, late night at a festival or as a preview to a night of rock n roll and debauchery!!! The songs were really well recorded and they sound massive which is exactly what we wanted. It was recorded down in Transmission Rooms in Drumlish and produced by the legendary Ger Mc Donnell.
Describe how a typical Big September song comes to be.
With this album most of the tunes were initially written by Naylor, he would bring up his idea and the band would then start working out how best to play it. We put a lot of emphasis on good guitar parts on this album and it shows with what Cillian has come up with for it. It’s a team effort and we’re not afraid to tell each other if something isn’t good enough, that’s really important for us.
Obviously the name Big September has an emotional meaning to all of you due to the loss of a dear friend but where did the album title come from?
We were in our practice space in Bray and we had just finished the last session of the album, the feeling in the band was great and we decided it would be a good time to choose an album title. We wanted it to stick out and create a striking image in peoples minds. The name Ballroom Addicts came from a lyric in The Righteous Way. We had a few options from different lyrics in the songs so we all agreed to stick them in a hat and whatever got pulled out was gonna' be the name. Fate decided it was going to be Ballroom Addicts.
How long have you been together as a band?
Big September has been going two years.
Can our readers expect to see Big September on the festival circuit this summer?
Absolutely, we’re playing Vantastival, Indiependence, Groove to name just a few. We have a very busy summer, our full gig list is on our website www.bigseptember.com We absolutely love playing live especially festivals and we give it socks!! So if you see us on a line up be sure to catch us.
Big September have a last waltz style gig lined up (we wish you many years of success by the way), who would be your dream Musicians to guest for the night. You get 6.
Kasabian, The Clash, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen and Ryan Adams.
How is the show on May 17th shaping up? Are you all excited to be back in The Academy?
Its going to be huge! We’re gonna pull out all the stops for this one. The album will be played in full and we’ll be sprinkling the set with some new tunes we’ve written since we finished the album.
So influences wise, who do you guys take a little bit of column A and little bit of column B from?
We are influenced by a lot of artists, especially from the list above. We love bands that are aggressive in their writing, attitude and delivery. We’re all listening to the Augustines second album at the moment and we love it.
And now your chance for a shameless plug to our readers...
Our album Ballroom Addicts comes out on 9th of May, its available in physical format from HMV/Tower with a really cool 16 page booklet and for download on all digital formats. We will be performing May 9th, 10th and 11th in HMV Henry Street, Liffey Valley and Grafton Street. We’re also going to throw the party of the year in The Academy in Dublin on 17th of May! This will be our launch party and everyone's welcome!
Tickets are available here from Ticketmaster and are €12
Support on the night is from Jamie Duff and The Klares, check them out, two brilliant acts!!
Thanks lads!
For more see www.bigseptember.com / www.mcd.ie / www.ticketmaster.ie