A modern-day indie band you can believe in, London quartet The Big Moon have had some big life changes since their last album in early 2020. Some stuff we all went through, some less so, as bassist Celia Archer tells Emma Way, ahead of their Cardiff live date for new album, Here Is Everything.
Is friendship a topic on upcoming The Big Moon album Here Is Everything? Since your previous album, Walking Like We Do, came out in January 2020, it ended up being something people missed, something especially important.
Most of the story, the lyrics, are about Jules [Juliette Jackson, vocals/guitar] finding out she’s pregnant and going kind of on that journey. I think we finished the album when the baby was about nine months [old] and she stopped writing when they were about five or six months. But the friendship element I think just comes from all of us making the album together. I think you can feel it in the music – us supporting each other and supporting Jules on this journey. When you’re recording a song, the way that you feel when you’re doing it and the energy that you put into it comes out in the music; not necessarily lyrically, but definitely in the music video [Wide Eyes].
What was the biggest difference you saw in your own playing on the new album?
Jules left more space on this album for us to add bits, so we all made up more bits than we had on previous albums. I do a lot more keys and piano stuff on this album. Spent a lot of time on the Rhodes making interesting sounds and putting it through pedals, which is really fun – whereas before, I was often playing parts Jules had come up with, and then trying to do it exactly the same way Jules says because often she’ll have decided already what the phrasing is. And it wouldn’t be how I would naturally do it. It’s the same with backing vocals – I enjoy doing that because it’s harder to play somebody else’s rhythms than your own, so it’s good practice. This time, it’s all of our voices coming together, both our actual singing voices and production-wise. That’s the friendship thing I was talking about. I’ll hear a guitar part and I’m like, that is so Soph [Nathan, guitarist]. Pure Soph.
How did you stay creative during lockdown, away from the band?
There were definitely points in the last few years where it felt completely indulgent to be creative at all. Our jobs are weird, and sometimes amazing and sometimes stupid, and you’re kind of like, “why am I doing this?” It’s not just the moment that you’re actually writing a song or when you’re in the studio recording, or onstage performing: it’s all the other stuff that you’re doing. Your life feeds into it. I think we all helped each other through it and made it to the belief that it was worthwhile. Jules continuing to write these really beautiful songs made it feel easy because you want to do them justice.
I tried to do other things, like more physical things. Got into weaving a bit… and spent a lot of time curled up in a ball crying, which I think is also a very important part of the creative process. We also did a lot of volunteering. It was nice to have a wider range of activities to do rather than just the band, which had been the focus for the last eight years.
Big Moon band members write for other people as well, like Prima Queen, right?
Jules and Fern [Ford, drums] have done writing sessions. They produced some Prima Queen tracks, which led to us realising that we could self-produce a lot of this record.
Was it a natural readjustment when you came back and you started playing again, or something you had to get into?
It was very strange. The first show we played was a festival last summer, like a year since we’d played a show – which for us is forever – and we have the baby with us as well. I was sitting in the artists’ bit beforehand, having some food; it was the first time we’d been around that many people in a year. It was super overwhelming. We hugged each other, which we do before we go on stage, and walked on – and honestly, I felt like a puppet come back to life.
I suddenly became this person I hadn’t been in a really long time – and hadn’t realised I hadn’t been – and we all felt it. We’d been rehearsing the songs before and I couldn’t remember parts, trying to watch old live recordings to figure out what we did. Then as soon as we were onstage, it was all kind of under our fingers. We were all crying, and Fern nearly broke her cymbals because she was smashing them so hard.
What was the thing you missed most about touring?
Free crisps. Just being the four of us together, being with our crew. Rocking up in a service station is always really fun. We feel like a biker gang. Meeting people on the road, the energy of a crowd. Having that confirmation of why you’re doing what you’re doing – which you get from seeing a 13-year-old girl singing along to Jules’ lyrics, or someone coming up to you at the merch desk afterwards and saying, “this song really helped me through a tough time.”
You’re like, this is why it’s important to make music and share it with people and to bother trying to figure out what feelings are and to try and communicate experiences. It’s just to feel less alone. It’s that feeling of being in a room with a bunch of people who are all there because they understood what you were trying to say. They all get what you were feeling and they feel it too. It’s just really special.
You summed up live shows pretty well there. Personally, I think that’s what draws me to them.
Yeah, because you can go on your own as well. Because you’re among friends, in a room of people that are like, “yeah, me too, same!”
The Big Moon, Tramshed, Cardiff, Tue 27 Sept. Tickets: £17.50. Info: here
Here Is Everything is released on Fri 14 Oct via Fiction. Info: here
words EMMA WAY
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