Big Light
San Francisco, California, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
Please see link.. - ASCAP
When the full band enters a Big Light song, people are blinded a good 30 miles away if there is a flat road between the band and those unknowing people. It's a supernova of brightness that then gets contorted and worked into less authoritative gestures, ones that aren't going to need hours to wear off, to shake the throbbing white curtains from your eyeballs. The brightness of the flair is softened a bit and used conservatively and only in spots, where needed. "Monster," the first song that the San Francisco group taped for this particular session soars out of the gates and then quickly backs off to settle into a chugging and fuzzy verse as lead singer Fred Torphy sings like a Summer of Love version of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy or into a Minneapolis burn from the desk of Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner - but this is before the guitars get back to being their squirrely, ringing and attention-grabbing selves at the end of the song, as the psychedel-O moment takes place. These moments splatter onto your face like tossed eggs from a high school prankster's passing car in almost every song the band makes, using up its quota of quick-fingered tangents, but especially in the eight-plus-minute epic song, "Bonebreaker," which brings into the mixture lyrics about the impossibility of a nameless and faceless group of others ever "fucking you up…side down" and we learn of roots that are growing upwards instead of down. All of this is to signify that things are odd and out of form, but if there's one thing that can always be counted on - it's the guitars, our chauffeurs to bring us safely to our drop spot or to nudge us over the side of the cliff, playing us all the way down, matching the volume of the angry, whistling wind and pulse in our ears as we drop. The guitars that Big Light bring to the party are the kind that chatter and walk, they're talky and they lay you out, making your mouth turn acrobatics in appreciation just as all noodling seems to affect faces. It's the great face melt of the Bay. - Daytrotter
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
San Francisco-based rock band BIG LIGHT first emerged circa 2007 as a vehicle for aspiring singer/songwriter/guitarist Fred Torphy to get his songs into the world. The band would spend the next three years developing their sound and performing around the West Coast relentlessly. Now hailed as one of the fiercest young rock bands in the Bay Area with a growing national buzz, BIG LIGHT delivers its debut full-length album, ANIMALS IN BLOOM.
As the story goes, Torphy was inspired by his generation's wave of great American rock groups, including My Morning Jacket, The Slip, Dr. Dog and Wilco. Joining forces with drummer Bradly Bifulco, they were determined to form a band that would follow in those footsteps. More than specific stylistic similarities, they sought to find players who shared a mindset. “We’re always looking to keep things as sonically interesting as possible, but it all needs to come back to serve the song,” says Torphy.
On the strength of that vision, Torphy and Bifulco were able to recruit bass player Steve Adams, who added instant recognition and legitimacy to the early line-up. A fixture in the Bay Area music scene and founding member of pop/rock jam stars ALO, Adams was offered the opportunity to flex his rock & roll muscles in BIG LIGHT. “I’m definitely turning my amp up and using more fuzz” says Adams. “One thing I really love about BIG LIGHT is its true garage rock sound. It's gritty in all the right ways."
Proving there’s little question that timing and luck can be a factor in success, BIG LIGHT became a beneficiary of both in 2008 when guitarist Jeremy Korpas needed a place to crash and landed on Torphy’s couch. A friend of a friend, Korpas didn’t join the band immediately. However, his first official show with the band on May 13, 2009 at San Francisco’s Make Out Room was a turning point, solidifying BIG LIGHT as it's known today.
With the pieces firmly in place BIG LIGHT quickly climbed the S.F. club circuit, going from bar gigs like Bottom of the Hill to headlining The Independent to playing support at the legendary Fillmore; they’ve shared bills with Spoon, Broken Social Scene, The Mother Hips, Dead Confederate, Everest and Howlin’ Rain to name a few. A hit on the festival circuit as well, BIG LIGHT has already performed at Outside Lands, Noise Pop, Wanderlust and the High Sierra Music Festival.
With its debut album, ANIMALS IN BLOOM, BIG LIGHT has crafted a record that is catchy enough to land on the radio, but adventurous enough to engage those who refuse to listen to it. A guitar-rock album at heart, BIG LIGHT took ten of its best songs and used the studio to experiment, in some cases changing tracks drastically. Headphone junkies and audiophiles themselves, the band created a true “listening experience” that never feels fake or dishonest. They recruited friends to expand the arrangements where needed, including Umphrey’s McGee's Joel Cummins on keyboards and ALO’s Dan Lebowitz on pedal steel. The band was assisted in the album’s production by Apollo Sunshine drummer, Jeremy Black.
What this band has achieved in less than one year with the current, definitive lineup is remarkable. Some artists struggle for years and never see this level of success. Listening to the new album and watching the band evolve at such a rapid rate onstage, one gets the feeling that BIG LIGHT is poised to get a lot bigger.
For more information on BIG LIGHT and/or promo, interview, photo and ticket requests, please
contact Kevin Calabro at Calabro Music Media: 718-369-6567 or CalabroMusic@aol.com
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