This February will see NYC foursome Big Ups make the trip across the pond for the very first time after kicking up a storm with their riotous live performances in Northern America, particularly their frenzied sets at this year’s CMJ festival. The band will be bringing their scuzzy, intense brand of punk rock to the UK in February. Dates below.
For fans after a glimpse of what to expect from a Big Ups show, they need look no further than the band’s recent clip for album cut “Goes Black”. Directed by Sean Stout (Terror Eyes), the camera takes viewers to the front row of a show, a sweat-laden visual attack on the senses with the camera under constant threat of flailing limbs.
“Goes Black” comes from the band’s upcoming debut record ‘Eighteen Hours of Static’, due for European release on 13th January 2014 through Tough Love Records. Dead Labour handle the US release.
Big Ups – Goes Black video:
The band, made up of Brendan Finn, Joe Galarraga, Amar Lal, and Carlos Salguero Jr., met whilst learning about specifications of Cat 5 cables in New York City. Shortly after, they formed a band. Since that glamorous meeting in 2010, Big Ups have refined their blend of punk, post-punk, metal, and indie rock into a salty mash that gets stuck to the roof of your mouth. At their brightest, they have been likened to The Descendents, but at their sludgiest, they call to mind bands like Pissed Jeans and The Jesus Lizard.
This winter, the band will release their debut 11-track LP, Eighteen Hours of Static on Tough Love Records (Girls Names, Cymbals). The record was recorded by Charles DeChants in the rock ‘n’ roll labyrinth known as Excello Recording in Brooklyn over three days. The album highlights Big Ups’ depressive mood swings. They toy with dynamics on aggressive tracks like “TMI”, “Little Kid”, and “Fresh Meat”. But not to worry – the mania is still there; songs like “Goes Black” and “Atheist Self-Help” demand attention with their sneering guitars and colossal drums. Lyrically, the album is a meditation on subjects like truth, faith, and science (the record’s title is a reference to Carl Sagan’s Contact), but admittedly, Big Ups doesn’t necessarily have all of the answers.
The band are currently touring the US, and are set to head to Europe in the new year.
Big Ups February 2014 UK tour dates:
(Dates and information subject to change.)
Mon 24th – Start the Bus, Bristol
Tues 25th – Shipping Forecast, Liverpool
Thurs 27th – The Old Blue Last, London
Fri 28th – Bermuda Triangle, Brighton
Eighteen Hours of Static Track Listing
1. Body Parts
2. Goes Black
3. Justice
4. Grin
5. Wool
6. TMI
7. Little Kid
8. Atheist Self-Help
9. Disposer
10. Fresh Meat
11. Fine Line
Photo credit: Dylan Johnson
For the latest tour dates, music and information, please go to: