The Big Moon’s second LP Walking Like We Do, released in January, showcased the four-piece indie rockers for what they are: truly versatile and full of character. The Big Moon’s Celia Archer talks us through adapting to the current climate, and how nothing can stop the band from pushing forward…
So, the new album. There was more of a political/social commentary than there was with Love In The 4th Dimension. I remember reading a few interviews where you’ve spoken about how the state of the world can get overwhelming and that that can be translated into the music. Since then there has been a HUGE step up.
Celia: Little did we know!
How have you adapted to this new state of the world?
Celia: I didn’t think about this before, God someone’s gonna ask me what I think about the world! I think obviously we’re at a place now where, I know everyone keeps saying it but, we’re in such unprecedented times. A lot of the things that people are getting angry about are not new problems. It’s not a new world.
Yeah, it’s basically highlighted how fragile our society really is.
Celia: Yeah! None of it is new, it’s just now we’ve had a lot more time to deal with what the reality of that really is. All of these inequalities we can see are clearly structural. All we can hope is people start doing something about it! But you know, all of these things are massive. I’m a musician, not a social-scientist or an economist or a historian – maybe this is also a time where people are realising, “Hey, the only people I really listen to are people in bands or actresses! Maybe they don’t know what they’re talking about!”
Yeah, no pressure or anything. Why? Don’t you have all the answers?
Celia: “What’s The Big Moon’s hot take?” Hahaha. Universal Basic Income. Which I’m actually all for.
I mean it makes sense! All of the wealth that gets thrown around and this isn’t something we already have in place. It’s bizarre.
Celia: I know! I mean when you think about, when big companies make these huge donations. I can’t remember who it was but I saw a donation of 100 million dollars to this organisation. And you’re like, “Who has a spare hundred million dollars?! Who have you been exploiting to get this much money?”
Take money away from the working class and give it back in these little ‘philanthropic’ packages.
Celia: Realistically though this is preaching to the choir. It feels good to get righteous about it but really we’re all complicit.
But there are different levels of responsibility. The amount of change we can achieve in our individual lives compared to someone with a spare hundred million.
Celia: Of course, but also what I’m feeling at the minute, especially as someone who can’t do my normal job, I’ve had a lot more time to think about things and not participate in the world in the same way. It’s sitting in all of these complexities and tensions and you can see why it’s so appealing for someone to say something like “let’s just get Brexit done” – oh that’s a thing! Let’s hold onto that! It’s like you have a personal responsibility to do something, but there’s only so much you can do, but also it’s not really about you, but it definitely is about you. It’s messy but that’s the reality of it.
So how about the four of you? Has The Big Moon kept close during all this?
Celia: Yeah! I mean we’re all in different places. I have seen Soph and Jules once in person, I haven’t seen Fern physically at all. We use Zoom to talk when we can, but we haven’t tried any Zoom rehearsals yet. We’ve tried Whatsapp workshopping a song, but it’s just finding the right times in all of our schedules. Jules has written some new songs already which I think is mind-blowing. Fern’s been fiddling around with them.
Would you say the current climate is a big influence on this new album?
Celia: Well I’m not so sure if it’s going to be an album. I’m not sure how they’ll end up coming out. Maybe an EP or some singles. Everything is about how you’re feeling at the time, of course, but also the journey of these past few months has been so different. The feeling of March was completely different to April and then completely different from now.
But then it still feels as if the whole thing blurs into one!
Celia: Yeah! For me it’s been good to remember dates and actually look at a calendar. Like when I’ve thought, “God I feel like shit and I have done for a while now” I can look and see, “Oh actually I had a nice day last week and it’s not been that long.” It’s quite nice to get a hold on things. We were doing this podcast with our friend, where we were doing a weekly Zoom talking about how we made the different songs on the album. To have some sort of routine and talk about that job that we do sometimes was good.
A controversial topic at the minute is the streaming culture and how for most artists it just isn’t a sustainable source of revenue after everything that Spotify and Apple Music take.
Celia: Well, it’s not a topic that I know enough about. I know that it is not a great model and I know it also gets worse depending on what label you’re on, where major labels can negotiate better deals. We’re part of Universal so they can negotiate and set a revenue stream for us because they can say like, “We’ve got Taylor Swift” and use it as a bargaining chip. We, as artists, make most of our money from touring and merch and physical sales so most of these are in decline or not possible right now.
Were you mid-tour when it all started?
Celia: We had gotten most of our touring done at the beginning of the year, I mean obviously we had festivals – and festivals are where you make the proper money. So we’ve lost all of that but we were lucky enough to get most of the touring done. Literally though who knows what’s going to happen next.
Do you see a future in live streaming shows?
I think we’re going to have to work with what’s possible. People need music. People need a break, they need a connection and it’s the responsibility of artists to figure out what that’s going to be and what it will look like. We have to find ways to bring people together with all of the restrictions and help people find solace. You know, that’s our job! Different people will figure it out in different ways. We’ll just have to take everything as it comes.
Walking Like We Do is available to download/stream now.
By Dan Fauzi
Feature Image Credit: Chuffmedia