In a world so saturated with bands trying to stand out and experiment with new sounds, it’s refreshing to hear straightforward rock ‘n’ roll every once and awhile – especially when it’s tight and solid. Bands like Bleached have begun to pump new life into female-led punk rock, and Seattle’s Big Eyes is following suite with their gritty garage rock tunes. Last month, the trio released its sophomore album, Almost Famous, and have since been touring in support, playing every day for four weeks. During life on the road, Big Eyes’ front lady, Kate Eldridge, was nice enough to chat with me about the tour, the new album, and getting tattooed in Canada.

Katrina Nattress: You just began a massive tour that’s taking you all over the U.S. and Canada. You’re literally playing every day from May 29 until June 22. What made you decide to schedule your tour in this way?

Kate Eldridge: When we tour we usually schedule shows for every day of tour.  Days off can be refreshing – when you have a super long drive it’s nice to break it up – but we always just try to find places to play every night if we can.

KN: Are you afraid of getting burned out before that leg of the tour is over?

KE: Nope. This tour is actually a bit shorter than most of our full U.S. tours. We usually do 5-7 weeks. Four weeks ain’t so bad.

KN: What are you looking forward to most with this tour?

KE: Playing the Midwest is always amazing. Those folks love rock and roll and pop punk, for sure!  I’m originally from New York, so the East Coast is always great too.  We are playing a couple shows with our good buddies and labelmates Night Birds (in Washington DC and Richmond, VA).  We are also playing a couple shows with our buddies Tenement (Springfield, IL and Milwaukee, WI).  Hitting a handful of Canadian cities that I’ve never been to.  Always stoked to check out new cities!

KN: Have you played in Canada before?

KE: Yep, we have played Vancouver at least 7 or 8 times in the last year and a half.  We live in Seattle, so British Columbia is really close to us.  We have played in Kamloops a couple times.  Once we played in this tiny shed in Squamish – that was a great night.  We all got “Hard Life” tattoos.  We have also played Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

KN: Anything crazy happen on the road yet?

KE: Tour has been pretty mellow so far, and by mellow I mean we haven’t had any problems or issues yet.  We are having a blast and keeping ourselves super busy (and mostly showered!).  On the drive from Portland to Boise we saw a pirate ship.  We’ve stayed in some pretty badass houses so far too.  Our buddy Jonny was staying in this huge ass house in Salt Lake City that had a hot tub, and we all got our own beds.  Pretty swanky!

KN: What’s been on your tour bus playlist?

KE: We’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts, heavy metal and country music.The last couple of days we have listened to Wicked Lady, Louvin Brothers, The Hollies, Goodnight Loving, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, and (podcasts) This American Life and Stuff You Should Know.

KN: Part of your tour is playing the Sled Island Festival (twice!) in Alberta. Will this be your first festival appearance?

KE: Sled Island will be our biggest festival yet.  We have played a handful of other fests though.  The Fest (Gainesville, Florida), Best Friends Day (Richmond, VA), Smmr Bmmr and The Bender (Portland, OR), definitely a few others too.  We are also playing No Suck Fest in late July, which is in Hawaii. 

KN: What bands are you looking forward to seeing at Sled Island?

KE: We are only going to be around for Saturday and Sunday, wish we could be around for the entire thing though. Looking forward to seeing Jesus and Mary Chain, The Thermals, John K. Samson, Thee Oh Sees.

KN: You recently released your sophomore album, Almost Famous, on Grave Mistake Records. What would you say are the largest differences between this and your 2011 debut?

KE: Our first LP, Hard Life, was recorded at our friend’s rehearsal studio after-hours over the course of a month.  We would start tracking at 11pm or 12am and go as long as we could (usually until around 4 or 5am).  We tracked drums two nights in a row, then had to spread out guitar, bass and vocals on random days.  Our new LP was recorded and mixed in six consecutive days in Portland during the daytime [laughs].  It was a lot easier to focus and a lot more fun to record.  We tweaked the sounds of the amps and the drums more. I really wanted the new LP to have a very big, full sound.  The layout of the LP is a lot more thought out as well. We had a clearer idea of how we wanted it to be.

KN: Your band began in New York. What made you decide to relocate to Seattle?

KE: I had never moved away from New York (except for when I lived in New Jersey for four months), and I’d toured all over the U.S. and was always drawn to Seattle. I had been babysitting for a family in New York a few years ago and they moved out to Seattle in 2009, and we stayed in touch and finally I moved out here in 2011 and was able to start babysitting for them again. It’s a beautiful city and I was looking to change it up. 

KN: Are you happy with the move?

KE: Very! Seattle rules.  Looking forward to the summer. We are sticking around Seattle for July and August, that’s when the weather is best.  Gonna swim in lakes, have BBQs, work on new songs. Summer!

KN: What are some Seattle bands we should have on our radar?

KE: Unnatural Helpers, La Luz, Wimps, Tacocat, The Trashies, Stickers, Pony Time, Ubu Roi

KN: Who are some of your musical heroes?

KE: George Harrison, Tom Petty and Paul Westerberg are probably my 3 biggest influences.  They are masters of their craft.  They keep things simple, but clever and tasteful.

KN: What are some albums that made you decide to make music?

KE: In 4th grade I got my hands on a burnt CD of Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album.  Kind of cheesy but whatever.  That album really stuck with me and I still love most of the songs on that album.  I didn’t start playing guitar and writing songs until 7th grade, but that was the first time an album ever stuck with me like that, and I think it definitely had a pretty big effect on me.  I started taking songwriting more seriously when I was about 19, and I was super into Paul Westerberg’s solo albums.  Sad songs always resonate with me most.  I’ve always wanted to be able to write songs that really stick with people.  Who can’t relate to heartbreak and loneliness at some point?

 

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