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Tour poster by Amy Jean
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BIG SCARY
share new single + video
‘GOODBYE EARLE STREET’
with a nod to
ELTON JOHN
New album ME AND YOU out September 23 on PIEATER
Watch ‘Goodbye Earle Street’ here (dir. Nick Mckk)
Stream ‘Goodbye Earle Street’
+ Touring this October with support from Beckah Amani, and Gabriella Cohen* (MEL) +
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Photo – Nick Mckk
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Praise for BIG SCARY
“Their very versatility has engendered experimentation, flux and transgression… Big Scary have long defied any limitations” – Cyclone Wehner, NME
“I’ve always been a big fan and that’s a really special song from them” – Richard Kingsmill, triple j (on 2022)
“a bit more bare-bones, certainly really moving” – Declan Byrne, triple j (on Home & Hosed)
“an Australian music scene without Big Scary would be bereft.” – JUNKEE
“not only stands out with its immaculate beauty, but its ability to convey heartwarming or visceral emotions.” – Happy
“in their introversion Big Scary have discovered a sense of joy” – Josh Leeson, Canberra Times
“an album that champions their DIY spirit… a sound that captures what Big Scary do best.” – Holly Pereira, STACK
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Having recently announced their fifth LP Me and You with a double A-side, Big Scary quickly follow up with third single ‘Goodbye Earle Street’, together with its accompanying video, out everywhere today. Me and You is out September 23 through Pieater (the label that Big Scary’s Jo Syme & Tom Iansek run with their manager Tom Fraser), and their forthcoming tour this October will see them perform as a two-piece for the first time since 2013 (full details below).
‘Goodbye Earle Street’ is a sweetly sung duet, where young naivety tastes the fleeting attention of the big city. The song title is a nod to an earlier Big Scary song called ‘Earle Street’ from their 2009 Mini EP, and its thematic inspiration – Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. Once the opening line “meet you at the hotel” came to be, they immediately pictured Central Park and the Plaza Hotel; blossoms, stylish people, and an excited character experiencing the rush of those iconic images. They’ve always pictured ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ in a New York setting, and ‘Goodbye Earle Street’ follows a similar narrative, mirroring their love of the song’s story.
The video for ‘Goodbye Earle Street’ was directed and filmed by Nick Mckk (Julia Jacklin, Elizabeth, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever) and features fly-on-the wall visuals from the writing trip where Me and You was created. Drummer and vocalist Jo Syme shares, “We filmed for ‘Goodbye Earle Street’ down at Phillip Island on Boon Wurrung land – there’s a house amongst farmland that we go to every time we write for a new album. We set up in the living room with this great angled, high ceiling so the drums sound so cool, and there’s plenty of room to sprawl out with gear. But what I equally look forward to are the hangs – making meals, zoning out by the fire, windy walks on the beach and playing mini golf on one of the island’s two courses. We asked Nick Mckk to just be a fly on the wall for these lil activities we get up to. Our stipulation was that we genuinely had to play a full game of mini golf, not just get some shots! (Tom won by a sizable margin).”
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The first taste of Me and You was the generous ‘Real Love’ / ‘Devotion’ double-A side, acting as a beacon for the album that’s to come – tender, nostalgic and reflective on relationships. While 2021’s Daisy saw the band get a little bit silly and a little bit rock opera, Me and You displays the slowed-down version of their creative dynamic. Guitars are back on the menu, with the acoustic returning to the fore (harking back to very early Big Scary days), and the hero of Daisy, the synthesiser, takes a back seat to the grand piano. String arrangements are used to create tension, or Bacharach-inspired romance, while Tom and Jo singing in unison peppers a sweetness across the album.
Daisy and now Me and You are releases of a renewed modus operandi for the band. Following the release of Animal (2017) and subsequent tours, Big Scary quietly went into a hibernation that would end up lasting nearly three years. Then came 2019 – years since they had worked together, and with many other creative outlets in their lives they probed upon pairing up again, “What is Big Scary?” As Tom said to Jo over the phone, “it is the music made by me and you.” So that’s what they embraced. In the past, while the band had always written together, most songs and albums would be finished by Tom in the editor’s chair – arrangements, lyrics, and production. But, from the point of Big Scary’s rebirth over the phone that night, Daisy and now Me and You have seen a more equal input from both band members lyrically, in singing, and in the editor’s chair, with Tom teaching Jo how to engineer sessions using ProTools. This renewal sees the band focused on their purpose, confidently at ease with their songwriting and recording craft, unfettered by any expectations other than to enjoy the process.
Big Scary are touring this October, performing as a two-piece for the first time since 2013. Beckah Amani is supporting on all dates, with Gabriella Cohen also joining in Melbourne. Full dates are below, information and tickets are available from bigscary.net.
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Big Scary – Me and You
out September 23 (Pieater/Inertia)
HERE
The album cover is by US-artist Jeff Bohm, titled “Freeway Casino Lovers” – Tom stumbled across it on Instagram. The image contains little symbols that are significant to the visual world of the songs, and the centrepiece – the elderly couple – share the type of authentic romance sought in the songs, and the enduring 16-year musical partnership of Big Scary.
Me and You
Track list:
Side A
F.A.
Firefly
Asking Right
All To Pieces
Lonely Age
Side B
In My View
Goodbye Earle Street
Devotion
Real Love
You Won’t Always
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Tour poster by Amy Jean
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Big Scary
2022 Australian Tour
Tickets on sale now from bigscary.net
with special guests Beckah Amani and Gabriella Cohen* (*MELB only)
Thursday 13 October – The Factory Theatre – Eora / Sydney, NSW
Friday 14 October – Republic Bar – nipaluna / Hobart, TAS
Saturday 15 October – Jive – Kaurna Country / Adelaide, SA
Wednesday 19 October – The Triffid – Meanjin / Brisbane, QLD
Friday 21 October – Theatre Royal – Dja Dja Wurrung Country / Castlemaine, VIC
Saturday 22 October – Corner Hotel – Naarm / Melbourne, VIC
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Photo – Lilli Waters
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Follow BIG SCARY
Facebook – Instagram – Twitter – YouTube
Spotify – Apple Music – bigscary.net
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Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
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