Big boy (band)
| Big boy | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Live (2007) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Alternative metal , glam rock |
| founding | 2006 |
| Website | hailthebigboy.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Big Boy (Johannes Schleiwies) | |
| AK (Andreas Kellner) | |
| Darek Leiner | |
| Happy | |
| former members | |
guitar |
Thor Lunde |
guitar |
Peter Kafka |
guitar |
Chris "The Lord" Harms |
guitar |
Gabor Poszt |
Drums |
David Sobol |
Big Boy is a German alternative metal and glam rock band. The music group around singer and front man Johannes Schleiwies, who uses the eponymous pseudonym Big Boy , originally comes from Munich , but is now based in Los Angeles . The group became known for their deliberately casual and provocative self-portrayal. They see themselves as the "straight version of Queen ".
history
Regardless of the actual founding history, the group has its own band mythology. According to this, the Swede Big Boy founded the music group. This is said to have served two years in the Foreign Legion , from which he is said to have been dishonorably discharged . During a stay of several weeks in a sanatorium , the ghost of Freddie Mercury is said to have appeared to him, who is said to have instructed him to become the greatest rock star in the world. Big Boy is said to have met his bandmates during a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago . In order to subsequently finance the recordings for the debut album, he is said to have auctioned oral sex on eBay . In a conversation with Kin Kats magazine , von Schleiwies, who mentions Queen and Turbonegro as musical influences , explains this attitude: “Germans sometimes have the habit of not appreciating or paying little attention to music from their own country. Unless, of course, you're doing student indie music. That's why we lied a bit or over-emphasized certain roots. I thought it was funny, and we really believed that it doesn't matter who you are. You can become anything you want, and then it's reality. That's the beauty of rock'n'roll or glam rock. Art is always a little artificial. Unless you do student rock. "
Even before the first studio albums were released, Big Boy became well known on MySpace and played numerous concerts. At this point in time, guitarist Peter Kafka already left the formation because he wanted to concentrate on his engagement with Lacrimas Profundere and his newly founded band Beloved Enemy . Chris Harms, then guitarist for The Pleasures and also singer for Lord of the Lost , later joined the group for live performances . In May 2007 the first appearance took place at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen and in August at the M'era Luna Festival . Big Boy were then signed by the Berlin concert agency KKT, which represents Die Toten Hosen , Die Ärzte and Beatsteaks , among others . The management of The Darkness became aware of Big Boy and took over the representation of the band. On July 6, 2007 the label Mate In Germany ( Soulfood ) finally released the debut album under the cocky title Hail the Big Boy , which drew comparisons to Marilyn Manson and Twisted Sister . As part of the release, the band played almost 100 concerts across Europe. Tours with the Backyard Babies , Wednesday 13 and Mindless Self Indulgence followed .
In 2009 the second album Ponygirl was released . The title denotes the pet play practice from the BDSM area. The front man explains the connection: “I came to Germany for a few weeks, and the girl I was with at the time came to visit from Hollywood. We drove to this noble bunker hotel on the Obersalzberg for the weekend . She had a multi-tail whip with a very oddly shaped handle. I thought that. In reality it was a butt plug with a ponytail. She wanted to trot through the hotel room and be trained with it. It was then. ”Surprisingly, this album, which was also available for sale, was given away by the band. You could order this regular retail version free of charge on a website and receive it by mail. According to the company, it is the first physical album worldwide that was given away in such an edition. Big Boy explains this daring step: “We want to make ourselves completely independent of the music industry with its outdated record company structures. We own all the rights to the songs and don't have to ask anyone how, when and if we can publish the material. It was important to us from the start not to release the album just as a free download in shitty sound quality. We put a lot of energy, passion, money and time into this record - we want people to hear the songs as they sound. And not as a flashy MP3 on the phone and without a booklet. With 'Ponygirl' we offer all that for free. ”Schleiwies, who originally worked in the record industry himself, describes the musical development between the two albums as follows:“ When we debuted, we absolutely wanted to be loved, and if necessary hated. With this record we just did what we wanted to do. Without any questions in the back of their minds whether people would like it this time. This is probably one of the reasons why the new material is sometimes more abstract. Looking back, 'Hail the Big Boy' seems a little late adolescent to me today. Sometimes too simple and very easy to understand. "
As of spring 2009, the group's headquarters were no longer in Germany, but in Los Angeles, California . Frontman Big Boy describes the various reasons for this step: “The big consideration was: Before I take a small step and go from Munich to Berlin, I would rather take a big step and move to Los Angeles. The big dream is and remains to be on the road as a musician around the world. In Germany in particular, you are quickly caught up in your country of origin and your nationality. If you look at Scandinavian, English or American bands, it is fundamentally different. Groups such as Mindless Self Indulgence , Wednesday 13 or Turbonegro are not exactly the biggest and most successful acts in the world - nevertheless, they managed to be internationally attractive from the start. We don't want to be restricted. The clear goal is to be successful in Germany and also in America. ”“ In LA nobody stops you, neither on the way up nor down. You can do anything and get everything you are looking for. "For his hometown Munich, however, he has only ridicule and scorn:" Basically, I hate Munich. I have no interest in this city, I never leave here in the evening. We even played our first shows in Hamburg and Cologne instead of Munich. Today Schwabing is a catwalk for snobbish business management posers with high polo shirt collars. "
Also in 2009, a reality show about the band's life in LA was produced for US television . The group also benefited from the fact that, as a German band, they are perceived as exotic there. As part of the filming, Big Boy completed a US tour and played on the Sunset Strip in the legendary Viper Room , Key Club and in the opening act for Korn . During the Germany tour 2010, the music group itself produced a video diary lasting several weeks under Ponygirl Tour 2010 - The Videodiaries , which they published on the internet .
Although not officially dissolved, Big Boy are now inactive (as of 2017).
reception
The debut album Hail the Big Boy was particularly well received by reviewers. In the music magazine Sonic Seducer, for example, it says : “[…] [D] a but someone takes their mouths […] quite full. Because what follows after the one and a half minute intro, which sounds like an excerpt from a French trench Schmonzetten strip, is glamorous megalomania par excellence. But also extremely excellent, because the way Big Boy and his instrumental entourage perform glam-industrial-rock has something of a big screen. "
Big Boy has always been a band that polarized both musically and because of their performance, the reviews of the follow-up album Ponygirl in particular varied greatly. Ulf Kubanke from laut.de sees the implementation of the record as “unsympathetic, bungled, simple and artistically primitive”. He also adds: “Provocation can be so exciting when it works and isn't just for its own sake. Big Boys, on the other hand, made a conscious decision to use the musical wooden hammer or sledgehammer. However, it is more annoying than provoking. The music labbert lust-killingly as a mixture of counting rhymes, hackneyed cockrock and brazen drinking song from the tortured boxes. ”He describes the singing as“ Marilyn Manson for the poor ”, the lyrics as“ the simplest platitudes or stupid dirty talk ”.
On the other hand, André Ohler's criticism in the Kin Kats is far more benevolent : “Although hardly known in the mainstream, Big Boy has a large, loyal fan base. It is young women who fill the clubs down to the last corner when the glam rocker goes on a concert tour. Admittedly, up until now I thought Big Boy was a one-touch fly, a product of resourceful record company people who wanted to turn the glam-goth trend of acts like Wednesday 13 or Deathstars into a mainstream hype aimed at those who were too old are for Tokio Hotel and Cinema Bizarre . And really: the gothic girlies took a bite and adore the German who pretends to be Scandinavian and lives in Los Angeles. But does that just have to do with window dressing, or is there more to Big Boy? Today I say yes, it's not just the cool image, but also the music that carries you away. In my opinion, 'Ponygirl' is more mature, less trendy, rockier and simply blessed with better songs than the debut. Well, the big boy can't sing, but he can wear pants. "
Discography
Albums
- 2007: Hail the Big Boy (Mate in Germany)
- 2009: Ponygirl (Private Room)
Singles
- 2007: Hail the Big Boy (Mate in Germany)
- 2009: Love Is Almost Perfect (Download)
Music videos
- 2007: Hail the Big Boy
Web links
- Official website
- Big Boy at Discogs (English)
- Big Boy at laut.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Big Boy. In: darkmoments.de, webzine & photography. October 2007, accessed October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Big Boy - Survival of the Fittest . In: Gothic Lifestyle . No. 3 , 2010, p. 68 .
- ↑ a b c laut.de biography: Big Boy. In: laut.de. Retrieved October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Sebastian Kuboth: Big Boy - Hail The Big Boy. In: punkrocknews.de. July 2007, accessed October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Interview of Big Boy for the new Hail the Big Boy release. In: auxportesdumetal.com. September 2007, accessed October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ a b c Big Boy - The wild life of a big boy . In: Kin Kats - Music & Sexy SubStyle Magazine . No. 12 , 2010, p. 46 .
- ↑ Big Boy. (No longer available online.) In: kinkats.net. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 7, 2011 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Big Boy album review Hail the Big Boy , August 2007 ( Memento from January 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Big Boy - Ponygir Track List! In: stormbringer.at. October 19, 2009, accessed October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ a b c d Big Boy - Horse Whispers in Hollywoodland . In: Sonic Seducer . November 2009, p. 101 .
- ↑ Frank Thießies: Big Boy. (No longer available online.) In: sonic-seducer.de. July 2007, formerly in the original ; accessed on October 17, 2017 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ulf Kubanke: Big Boy: Ponygirl. In: laut.de. Retrieved October 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Must Hear . In: KinKats - Music & Sexy SubStyle Magazine . No. 11 (2009/2010) , pp. 34 .
