The Big Giants

Singer/songwriter Cash saw life change instantly after the birth of the first of his two children. No longer interested in spending time away from his family, Cash went from playing in a group which consumed his life to playing sporadically in order to enjoy family life.
  Whether it was to calm his child’s colic or to just make them smile and entertain them, Cash always had a guitar within reach. “I found myself playing my guitar more than I ever had,” recalls Cash. “ I was making up songs about toes, smiling, or whatever would get a response from my kids. I found a new side of music for myself and I loved it.”
  Cash was noticing his children as newborns responded to certain voices in music. “If my son was crying I would put on Social Distortion and he would immediately stop crying. My daughter - Pearl Jam. Loved them. I think it was their deep voices. When they both came to about age one, they responded not to the traditional children’s music but to bands like Green Day and riff oriented bands.” “Now at age three,” Cash continues,” it’s all about repetition and the hook!”
  What changed Cash from just writing tunes to keep his children clapping to putting together a project was seeing Dan Zanes on television.
“What hit me about (Dan) Zanes was that the songs were real songs, albeit lyrically kid safe, but musically honest,” says Cash. “He showed me that you can be yourself and kids can dig it.”
  Knowing that not only he needed help putting together these ideas but also he wanted somebody to bounce ideas off of, he approached the only person that he felt would make it happen, his friend Mike Palermo.
  Mike, who had just recently mixed Cash’s latest CD with the Rumble Devils that year was a songwriter, guitarist and producer who had a completely different musical background as well as his own influences. Cash, who was a self-described “hack” guitarist and vocalist who had a large number of mostly raw recordings approached writing and recording organically. On the other hand, Mike was a perfectionist. Technically superior, well trained and very knowledgeable with theory and sound.
  “I thought it was a great idea,” Mike admits. “I love Cash as songwriter and performer and I new we would compliment each other.”
  They began to write separately, giving each other raw demos allowing the other person the duty of finishing them. “Cash would give me a song and I’d put my chording and style on it,’ Mike puts, “and Cash would finish or rewrite my lyrics. It was interesting and a lot of fun.”
  Cash adds, “ Both Mike and I were the main songwriters/arrangers in our previous projects, so I was curious how I could work with somebody with a lot of their own ideas. Plus, Mike is a workhorse.”
  It was Mikes insistence that this project should be a band and not a duo. Cash knew the only person to bring into the fold was his longtime musical partner, Bug. “With all the drummers I’ve worked with, it took a children's album from out of nowhere to have me play with the best drummer I’ve ever worked with,” claims Mike.
  “As a father, he was more than excited to participate. Plus, he’s the biggest kid I ever met.”
  On the CD, both Mike and Cash exchange duties of guitar and bass, allowing each of their individual styles to shine for the good of the song. “Originally, I was to play bass and sing with Mike doing all the guitars and backups, but Mike would like the way a picked the guitar on a certain track or maybe he had a better feel for a bass line than I,” states Cash. “We let the feel decide who did what. I’ve never worked like that, but it was was cool.”
  Lyrically, the subjects range from hopping and hugging to cleaning up toys and enjoying time alone. “The lyrics are directed to my kids,” says Cash. “ There’s lessons to be learned and a lot of time to have fun.”
  When it was time to name the band, Cash suggested “Big Giants” which refers to “Big Giant”, the name Cash’s son calls him when he needs his space. “I don’t know where it came from,” Cash says. “Every now and then, when (my son) wants to be left alone, he puts his hand up to me and says, ‘No, big giant!’ It cracks me up and Mike loved the name.”
  “Then we had to work backwards to come up with the concept of what a ‘Giant’ was,” Mike goes on. “We, the Big Giants, are not actually Giants. We are the average height adults that we are. To a child, we, like any adult, are giants so we’re just a group of larger people playing some songs. For the look we chose a Canadianna, woodmen thing. We knew it would be fun, kids would find it funny, and we look great in plaid!”
  To put it simply, The Big Giants have written and recorded an album and put together a group that their sons and daughters will enjoy. They hope yours will too!