Big Bill is the KUTX Artist of the Month for August 2024, powered by PNC Bank.
Since 2011, Big Bill has been amassing a cult following in Austin, thanks to their wild live shows and irreverent humor. They can turn such banal subjects as microwaves, old bananas, and salad toppings into catchy, absurdist punk anthems (they’re the only band in the history of Rock The Park that’s led a parade of children singing about salad. Future Rock The Park bands: your move).
But for Strawberry Seed, Big Bill’s new album, they threw the biggest curveball yet: they wrote traditional songs. “Big Bill started out really raw, weird, punk,” explains singer Eric Braden. “Over time we started to see the value of imitating the greats. You don’t have to be one hundred percent original all the time to make a great song. Sometimes writing a song that is evoking something that already exists is a really exciting thing to do.” For the album, Austin songwriters like Lucinda Williams and Bill Callahan were their guiding lights (they even kick off the record with a cover of Callahan’s “Ex-Con“). But don’t expect some folk or country re-branding. They are still Big Bill, after all, so those influences are braided with their cartoonish impulses for an album that’s fun, catchy, and deeply considered.
This week on My KUTX, Eric Braden and guitarist Alex Riegelman are the guest DJs. They trace Big Bill’s punk roots while also thoughtfully shouting out the new sounds that are pushing the band into exciting territory. Hear Big Bill’s My KUTX on Saturday, August 24 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime right here.
Playlist:
[intro: Big Bill – “Poverty Of Wires”]
- The Clean – “Anything Could Happen”
- Big Boys – “Security”
- The Monks – “Boys Are Boys And Girls Are Choice”
- Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston – “I Did Acid With Caroline”
- Elliott Smith – “Either/Or”
- Sun Ra – “Love In Outer Space”
- The Breeders – “No Aloha”
- Lucinda Williams – “Maria”
- Suburban Lawns – “Janitor”
- Juan Waters – “Real” (feat. Mac DeMarco)
- Meat Puppets – “Up On The Sun”
- Smog – “Ex-Con”
- Cate Le Bon – “The Light”
- Cass McCombs – “New Earth”
- Pete Dello and Friends – “It’s What You’ve Got”
Episodes
