Over the past 12 months, Philadelphia label, Strange Mono, has featured quite heavily around these parts, and they continue to ramp things up with their latest release.
Featuring members of Sheer Mag, The Company Corvette and Programmed Hatred, Big Burly consists of Strange Mono label founders Dan Timlin (vocals) and Jess Kramer (vocals/bass), Ross Pritchet (bass) and Ian Dykstra (drummer). Together they are set to release their debut EP, Tumors, which lands tomorrow via Strange Mono.
In what is concoction of The Jesus Lizard/ Killdozer reverence and power violence, clocking it over just over 10 minutes, Tumors is filled with down-on-chain bass weight that also echoes noise-rock’s dry wit. Not ones to fuck about, Big Burly navigate through the eye of the storm and for those out there who like their sounds on the fault lines, well, this one’s for you.
Ahead of Tumors’ release tomorrow, exclusive to Sun 13, you can listen in full for the first time below.
“Inspiration for the lyrics largely came from my childhood experiences,” says Timlin ahead of tomorrow’s release. “Growing up in a rural area and playing with my friends in the trailer park. Observing alcoholism, violence, ‘Christian values’, and generally abysmal states of being that seem totally normal because you’re a kid.”
Talking about the band’s formation, Timlin continues. “When we started the band Ross, Ian, and me were all working for the same moving company here in Philly. The company is mostly artists and musicians who needed some cash between tours. We built up a real sense of comradery working on the trucks sweating it out. So when we started the band we would spend [six plus] hours in the practice space and come up with 45 seconds of music. When Ian joined he immediately brought these like perfect drum parts. Ian’s parts had the biggest influence on my vocals. There are so many dynamic moments packed into these songs it’s like a super concentrated rush and if you blink you miss it. It’s been a minute since we recorded this EP so the whole band is super stoked to finally get to share it with everyone and on vinyl no less!”
Jess Kramer also offers comment:
“One night while hanging out in a warehouse full of moving trucks I admitted that I’d always wanted to be in a band with two basses and no guitars. Well, it was a good thing I did because as it turns out Big Burly is my dream band. Rossman immediately said yes and a few months later we started playing with Ian, who was down to get weird with us. Every song we wrote as a group and we only played when we could and never forced a thing. I admit some of the licks I wrote were wonky as hell but somehow Big Burly made sense of them all.”
Proceeds from sales of this album are being donated to the Philly Bail Fund.
Tumors is out tomorrow via Strange Mono. Pre-order from Bandcamp.
