Live in Graz and Vienna

Big | Brave: sound tourists with delicate aggression

Between untamed and relaxed: Mathieu Bernard Ball, Robin Wattie and Tasy Hudson (from left) explore soundscapes as Big | Brave.

(Bild: Big/Brave, Thrill Jockey Records Krone KREATIV,)

Between massive drone walls and fragile folk aesthetics, the trio Big | Brave from Montreal, Canada, have been making music for more than a decade and can point to a growing number of fans. They are coming to Graz and Vienna with their new album - and answered our questions.

Beauty is in the eye or ear of the beholder. The Canadian trio Big | Brave conveys a special form of unwieldy beauty, which can be roughly categorized between massive drone walls, folkloristic sedan chair and experimental sludge metal. As brutal and dense as the sound cascades of the band from Montreal may seem at times, the people behind them convey their messages in a sensitive and highly likeable way. The rough recipe for success in the recent past: singer Robin Wattie's angelic timbre penetrates Mathieu Bernard Ball's distorted guitars, while Tasy Hudson, who was brought on board in 2019, provides the rhythmic foundation with intense but distant stick beats. This approach was perfected on "Nature Morte", released in February 2023, while the brand new "Schwestern" album "A Chaos Of Flowers" allows the fragility of the vocals a little more freedom.

In search of female poetry
"We've seen my voice as an additional instrument in recent years," laughs Wattie in the "Krone" interview, "that has definitely changed the overall sound in the long term." "A Chaos Of Flowers" is inspired by more or less well-known poets such as Emily Dickinson, Renée Vivien, Emily Pauline Johnson and the Japanese feminist Akiko Yosano. The freely accessible poems by women from the 19th and 20th centuries have impressed and inspired Wattie in equal measure. While "Nature Morte" was a sonic volcanic eruption towards the destruction of our hemisphere, "A Chaos Of Flowers" connects with the forgotten strengths of women poets who have fallen into oblivion behind the bulk of the generally celebrated men from the Anglo-American sphere. Accordingly, new songs such as "A Song For Marie Part III" or, in part, "I Felt A Funeral" have a ponderous calm that first had to creep back into the band's sound corset.

"The albums are very different from each other, but as far as the creative phase is concerned, one went almost seamlessly into the other," says Wattie. Guitarist Ball adds: "We're breaking out of our familiar sound territory a lot more on the new album, which was also exciting for us. We'll probably never write a pure jazz album, but the changes are inherent." An important milestone for the expansion of the Big | Brave sound was the collaboration with the quirky experimental rockers The Body 2021 on the joint album "Leaving None But Small Birds". "We realized for the first time that we could break out in a different direction and not be afraid of it. Challenging ourselves has always been the main catalyst for Big | Brave. Sometimes we're insecure and uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable also means trying your best to always get the most out of yourself and your music."

It's an interplay
The trio, which has been together for five years, has long since found a way of working that all members agree with and that has proven to be a solid foundation despite the sonic adaptations. "I usually come up with a basic idea that I can't really explain clearly and specifically, but which always feels right to me," laughs Wattie, "and then, at best, we transform this idea into a shared Big | Brave sound. By now we've all matured as songwriters and know how to approach things. Our early albums were also subconsciously about each member proving themselves as individuals in the band and solidifying their point of view. But as you get to know and trust each other over time, this pressure disappears. Today, we know our own abilities and those of the others. It's an interplay, not a competition."

In Big | Brave, cooperation is based above all on the close friendship that prevails within the band. "Of course we discuss and argue a lot, that's inevitable," says Ball, "but the longer you work together, the more you focus on the good things." Frontwoman Wattie has to think of the greats in pop when she thinks of counter-examples. "Michael Jackson and Beyoncé both sang 'Someone's gettin' fired' during a song at live shows because they didn't like something. That's unbelievable. The rules are very simple for all of us: treat everyone around you the way you want to be treated. It sounds simple, and it is simple, but many people find it incredibly difficult." Tasy Hudson, who recently joined the team, knows what it takes to be part of Big | Brave. "You have to be open and honest and there's absolutely no room for any ego games. We don't take ourselves seriously and we share a passion for travel. First and foremost, we are tourists rather than a touring band."

Not afraid of work
For Wattie, the shared travel experience is crucial to whether the chemistry is right in the long term. "It's the little things that matter and make touring enjoyable at best. A good meal, a nice cold beer or a place of interest that we haven't come across before. If this band gives us the chance to travel the world, then we want to get to know it, and luckily we're all on the same level and share these interests." After the turmoil of the pandemic, the musicians in Big | Brave are now able to make a living from the band. "We had day jobs until the end of the pandemic, but now the touring and festivals allow us to make a living," says Hudson, "and if not, I'm back tattooing or working behind the counter in a bar. As long as we have enough time to make music together, we don't shy away from any other work."

Live in Graz and Vienna
With their new album "A Chaos Of Flowers", Big | Brave, who wowed audiences at the Krems Danube Festival in 2023, are coming to Austria live twice these days. On May 8, they will play at the Orpheum Extra in Graz and on May 10 at the Chelsea in Vienna. You can find tickets for Graz HERE and tickets for the Vienna show HERE.