According to their website Big Deal are “slacker kings/ beautiful losers/ daydream dropout”. The boy/girl duo is made up of Alice Costelloe and Kacey Underwood who, together, produce delicious anglo/US indie gaze. The aural embodiment of an early ‘90s movie that would definitely star Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke in (Reality Bites anyone?), Big Deal are swoonsome, moody and delicately driven. Full of a curious longing that is both beautifully grey and strikingly sunlit, their album June Gloom is well worth checking out. They are playing Night & Day, Manchester on November 6th, so I got together with Kacey Underwood to find out more.
Why and how did Big Deal get together as a band?
KC: It was mostly accidental. We were friends and shared demos with each other of thing we were working on. We recorded a couple covers together, just as an experiment, to see how our voices worked together. A friend liked it and gave us a gig. In London you never know who is going to show up, but that night we were very lucky and it led to getting some nice press in The Guardian. The bands we played in previously were disintegrating and we realised that it would be a lot more fun to be in a band together. This was in 2010 i think.
The bands we played in previously were disintegrating and we realised that it would be a lot more fun to be in a band together
How has your sound developed and changed since you got together?
KC: It has changed quite a lot. We had a lot of sad stuff to get out of our system. We also gave up on trying to win people over with just two guitars, and now have a band backing us up. That has opened a lot of doors and let us become more the band we want to be.
What are your main musical influences?
KC: Mostly guitar bands, like Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.
And what else culturally plays a part in your music?
KC: I think the transatlantic dynamic comes across in various ways. Some very literal and some more subtle. We grew up very differently , as I’m from the desert in California, and Alice was born and raised in London. It’s a sort of miracle we get on at all.
I think the transatlantic dynamic comes across in various ways. I’m from the desert in California, and Alice was born and raised in London. It’s a sort of miracle we get on at all
Can you tell us about your album and new single?
We released June Gloom via Mute in the summer. We recorded it on a boat in the Thames in the Fall of last year. The current single from it is ‘Swapping Spit’. It’s an ode to self love/ loathe, and the friends you love to loathe.
And what do you have planned for your tour?
KC: Show up places. Rock out. Hope people show up places and rock out.
Big Deal play Night and Day, Manchester on 6th November, you can get tickets here. Listen to more of Big Deal via their Soundcloud and keep up to date via their Twitter and Facebook.
Interview by Anne Louise Kershaw
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Music
