I Am Giant
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I Am Giant

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | MAJOR

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand | MAJOR
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Rock Alternative

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"I Am Giant - Science and Survival album review"

REVIEW.

New Zealand's hard working rockers I Am Giant have finally released their major label debut on Sony Records with 'Science & Survival,' a record that wastes no time stating its case.

Opening track 'Echo from the Gallows' explodes with big riffs and soaring vocals, which lend more of an ear to a catchy hook than some of the band's peers within the hard rock genre. The vocal style of follower 'Razor Wire Reality' takes some influence from nineties rock acts like Stone Temple Pilots while the instrumentation thrusts things into the modern day with some hectic percussion breaks and, of course, the solid riffs that make the band's staple sound.

While the style itself isn't really anything new, if anything I Am Giant are getting to the party a bit late as the main wave has already carried bands like Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus off, but the band brings in enough personality to give things a unique tinge.

Things pull back a touch in 'Transmission', showing another side to the group. It's a side that has some serious mainstream potential thanks to the hooks and song structure which would be easily digestible by the masses due to its likeability. The band builds the dynamics in such a way that it is impossible to argue.

Interestingly, it would seem the group is full of surprise, as they can pull things back even further again with 'Dragging The Slow Dance Out', a beautiful track with delayed guitars and a relaxed beat that takes the energy of the album to a completely different place but does it seamlessly.

Despite these stand-out moments however, it is clear that the group love to rock, and hit their stride when pumping out the big riffs and drum fill heavy beats. The record closes with the ridiculously long 'Bought With Ignorance', which is quite a feat, and manages to sum up the whole album in one fell swoop, but at twelve minutes it's a big ask at the end of the hour.
CONCLUSION.

I Am Giant are without question capable of having their name held with the big players in the hard rock genre. 'Science & Survival' is a brilliant major label debut and an impressive introduction to the world.
TRACKLISTING.

1. Guéthary
2. Echo from the Gallows
3. Razor Wire Reality
4. Death of You
5. Ça vous dérange
6. Transmission
7. Out of Date Hallucination
8. Silhouette
9. Dragging the Slow Dance Out
10. Miss Seattle
11. Minefield
12. Standing on the Sun
13. Bought with Ignorance. - Kill Your Stereo


"I Am Giant: Giant strides forward"

When it came time to record their second album, I Am Giant had plenty of distractions -- some of their own making. Chris Schulz reports

Clear blue skies, soft golden sands and silky, sunny weather are not things that inspire hard work.

But that wasn't a problem for I Am Giant, who found themselves settling into the beachside community of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the south of France to record their second album.

Living next to a stunning surf beach favoured by board-riding pros was wasted on the London-based Kiwi rockers, says Paul Matthews.

"There are no surfers in the band - not even remotely," he laughs. "We haven't even got a body-boarder."

In true Kiwi style, the trio - singer Ed Martin, drummer Shelton Woolright and bassist Matthews - were living at a beach bach while commuting to a nearby studio to record the follow-up to their 2011 debut, The Horrifying Truth.

"We'd get up, have breakfast, drive in this little Nissan Micra hire car, I'd get really shitty if I couldn't drive, we'd get there about 9, work till 5, then we'd head back.


We had Sundays off," remembers Matthews.

They thought they'd easily finish the album during their eight week stint in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. But something kept getting in their way -- their own perfectionism.

"I'm definitely a perfectionist [and] so's Shelton," says Matthews, the band's chief lyricist.

"We allow each other to be perfectionists [but] we can get a bit long-winded about things."

Matthews says I Am Giant wound up spending most of 2013 working on Science & Survival, "deliberating about certain things".

The result is a super-polished rock record that glistens with radio-ready rock sheen - especially the album's grunty first two singles, Death of You and Razor Wire Reality.

"It's been hard work," Matthews admits. "We paid attention to detail and really got the performances right. If we were listening back to it the next day and it wasn't feeling great, we'd do it again.

"I foolishly said, 'If we don't get it all done, we can do it back at [my London studio]'. It took as much time as it needed to take, I suppose."

I Am Giant fans will discover their second album is heavier than their debut, a result of the constant touring the band undertook as The Horrifying Truth took off around the world.

"I still think it's I Am Giant, but it's heavier," admits Matthews. "I guess we've settled into our sound more. We've pushed things a lot more on this record -- it's heavier but the songs are better."

As for that overly earnest album title, Matthews confirms it's "not a joke".

"I'm sure there's some humour in there somewhere, I just can't remember right now," he says.

It's a line taken from one of his favourite lyrics on the album ("We're just passing by, this collision of science and survival") and Matthews says it reflects the deep thought he puts into crafting I Am Giant's lyrics.

"I'm the predominant lyricist. Usually I'll get a bunch of ideas and I'll show them to Shelton. We'll go through what we want to work on, get the music sorted, and send it to Ed, who'll put down some melodies and iron out things."

As for what his lyrics are about, Matthews wants fans to do some digging.

"There are a lot of different topics throughout the album. I want people to figure it out for themselves. The lyrics take a long time. Sometimes they'll take months. It's hard work - it can be so frustrating."

But that hard work is paying off: I Am Giant have just played to an estimated 30,000 fans at the Orange Warsaw festival in Poland, alongside bands like The Prodigy, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age, Outkast and Kasabian.

And they're about to embark on a nine-date New Zealand tour that will take them from Invercargill to Auckland throughout July and the beginning of August.

Like those sunny days in France that the band was oblivious to, Matthews isn't concerned about leaving behind London's summer weather for a winter tour in New Zealand.

"Climate wise, Invercargill in winter will be about the same temperature as here," he jokes.

You can take the Kiwi out of New Zealand ...

What: I Am Giant's new album, Science & Survival
Also: Debut album The Horrifying Truth (2011)
On tour: July 17, The Bedford, Christchurch; July 18, Refuel, Dunedin; July 19, Saints and Sinners, Invercargill; July 24, The Royal, Palmerston North; July 25, Bodega, Wellington; July 26, The Mayfair, New Plymouth; July 31, Brewers Bar, Tauranga; August 1, Altitude, Hamilton; August 2, Powerstation, Auckland. - NZ Herald


"Giants strive for perfection"

I Am Giant are working hard to live up to their big name.

The New Zealand rock band based in London recently released their album Science & Survival, the follow-up to The Horrifying Truth, the nation's highest selling rock album of 2011.

The band, British vocalist Ed Martin, drummer Shelton Woolright (ex Blindspott) and bassist Paul Matthews (Stylus/Tadpole), spent the best part of six months kicking the album into shape.

They hung out in France, at DC Shoes' Drop In Studios in St Jean De Luz, working with longtime collaborator and acclaimed producer/engineer Forrester Savell (Karnivool/Helmut).

Matthews finished off the album in his London-based studio. It was then dispatched to New York where it was mastered at the Grammy Award-winning studio Sterling Sound.

I Am Giant has toured extensively in the last year, notching up passport stamps from Asia to Germany and Poland.

Last month they performed at Orange Warsaw in Poland on the same bill as Limp Bizkit, Outkast and Snoop Dogg before heading on tour with Queens of the Stone Age as part of the Hard Rock Truck Tour through Germany.

"We wanted to make a traditional album that you could play from start to finish. I was thinking Pink Floyd," Matthews explains while pacing around the carpark outside his London studio.

"We spent a long time getting everything right. For some songs we recorded the vocals three times in some parts."

From the opening chords of Guethary through to the band-polarising 13-minute closer Bought With Ignorance, Sold With Arrogance, he believes they've achieved what they set out to do.

"The songs we picked were, this time around, the edgier, darker tracks. We're proud of the album.

"Bought With Ignorance, Sold With Arrogance caused a bit of debate in the band. It's a long, epic outro. It's got Gregorian monk chanting in the middle. I got my mate Andy from an Irish band from Kingston to come in for that."

The title is drawn from a lyric on the album. Matthews talks of a "collision" between science and survival.

As a band they took risks, Matthews says, experimenting with different timings and time signatures.

"On Minefield, the intention was to take a non-traditional time signature and actually get the groove of it from beginning to end."

Caught up in their French surroundings, they included field recordings of French dialogue, a choir and church bells from the historic village of Guethary throughout the record.

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"We were in France, so we decided to try to use some of the natural environment."

First single Razor Wire Reality is accompanied by a video by award-winning Berlin-based director/producer team Soren and Martin (Bring Me The Horizon, Crystal Castles).

"They are really cool guys who do great videos."

The video for the second single, Death Of You, was shot at Kingseat, a former psychiatric hospital considered by some to be one of New Zealand's most notorious haunted locations.

I've often wondered why Woolright chooses to paint his face black in a their music videos and also live shows.

"You'll have to ask him," Matthews laughs. "It's an artistic thing."

Matthews has been in Christchurch recently, working on songs with rising band Setting Fire to Stacey.

"Doing a few drums, that kind of thing."

I Am Giant launch the first show of their nine-date New Zealand tour in Christchurch on Thursday.

"Some of those songs will be played live for the first time," Matthews laughs.

"We're trying to remember the words." - Stuff.co.nz


"I Am Giant: The Horrifying Truth"

I AM GIANT : The Horrifying Truth

By Amy Maclaine
Made up of a combination of NZ music veterans, as well as a few new faces, London-based quartet I Am Giant deliver a hard-hitting debut in ‘The Horrifying Truth’. The album includes all three successful singles from their 2010 ‘City Limits’ EP, adding to a collection of already-escalating hits. The band’s experiences shape their lyrical approach, as they face up to their growing success with gritty realism. First single And We’ll Defy, is instantly recognisable thanks to much radio airplay, and wholly sums up the album’s overall themes of vulnerability and needing something to believe in. Among others, Black Hole Of My Heart is a potential hit with its layered chorus and searing vocals. ‘The Horrifying Truth’ aptly showcases the band’s fiery sound, easily earning them a place as one of our country’s leading rock acts. A special mention goes to illustrator Elliot Francis Stewart for perfectly capturing the band’s atmosphere in the album artwork. ‘The Horrifying Truth’ was recorded between Sony Studios in Sydney and Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, by producer/engineer Forrester Savell. - NZ Musician Magazine


"City Limits EP review"

Review
'City Limits’ may be the debut EP from I Am Giant, but these lads are no strangers to the limelight, having been in other successful bands as well as toured collectively with the likes of Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Muse, Snow Patrol and Linkin Park to name but a few.

The EP opens with the title track, the first song the guys wrote together. As bassist Paul Matthews explains, “I think everybody has had the feeling they are going nowhere, and its like how can such a massive city with so many people be so limiting and confining to me.” This is certainly a feeling known all too well to many of us. As an opener you need something that is going to propel greatness and this song certainly does this, as it is pure melodic rock, and something you can really sink your teeth into.

Next up is ‘Neon Sunrise;’ a high energy soothing yet prevailing tune with a magnificent chorus, one that can become quite anthemic. This is followed by ‘Let it Go,’ a gripping tune with melodious verses which really bursts at the seams as the chorus approaches. Rounding up the record is ‘Living the Crash,’ a song described by drummer Shelton Woolright as being about “the state where you're not sure if you're dreaming or awake”. Just like its predecessors this is another astounding song, one that is slightly anxious and sends tingles throughout the body.

I Am Giant do not try to be anything other than melodic rock. As a whole the four tracks result in an explosion of raging riffs and anthemic songs with soaring vocals by Ed Martin, a man with an immense yet delicate voice. Keeping it pure and simple will positively place them in the hearts and minds of many. ‘City Limits’ is only the start for I Am Giant; expect great things in the future. ‘ 11 out of 13 Roomthirteen.com
- Roomthirteen.com


Discography

City Limits - single
Neon Sunrise - single
Living the Crash - single
City Limits - 4 track EP

Photos

Bio

With an impressive 70,000+ loyal fans on Facebook and over 1,000 international members of their ‘IAG Army’, I Am Giant have amassed a huge following with five #1 rock singles and a gold album in New Zealand, music videos featuring skate and surfing icons Tony Hawk and Kelly Slater, opening for Slash in Australia, a UK tour with Taking Back Sunday, performances at Big Day Out in Auckland and Sydney, opening for Stone Temple Pilots in Singapore, touring throughout Asia and Europe several times  and playing the prestigious Viper Room and Mercury Lounge in the US.

Having released their debut album ‘The Horrifying Truth’ in the UK and Europe last year, their single ‘Purple Heart’ won support on BBC Radio One as Zane Lowe’s ‘Next Hype’ as well as on XFM, Kerrang! Radio and Q Radio as well as hitting the No 1 spot on Polish Radio Eska Rock.

The band, made up of  UK vocalist Ed Martin (The Artful Dodger, Bruno Ellingham), drummer Shelton Woolright (formerly of triple-platinum selling band Blindspott), bassist Paul Matthews (of successful New Zealand bands Stylus and multi-platinum selling Tadpole), spent the best part of six months fine tuning their long awaited sophomore release, racking up studio time at DC Shoes' Drop In Studios in the pristine St Jean De Luz, France with longtime collaborator and acclaimed producer/engineer Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Helmut). Once again the band brought their invaluable production expertise to the plate and meticulously applied the final touches at Matthews’ London-based studio,  and mastered at Sterling Sound in New York making it a true international effort.

Matthews describes the result as a dynamic and exciting end product, “We had a lot more time to settle into our sound between releases and as a result there’s a bit more of everything. There are some huge soaring choruses, there are some really intense and heavy moments, and we particularly wanted to write a record that you sit down and listen to from beginning to end - for both ourselves and for our listeners.”

Each of the 13 songs on Science & Survival stand strongly on their own and the benchmark has truly been set through quality songwriting and boundless performances; from the opening chords of ‘Guethary’ through to the stratospheric 13-minute closer 'Bought With Ignorance. Sold With Arrogance'.

 

Band Members