The sax/drums combo carves out a large chunk of the fall season for their “Uprising” tour beginning in September.
Based out of Boulder, Colo., saxophonist/producer Dominic Lalli and drummer Jeremy Salken are definitely on a roll. Big Gigantic’s appearances at mega-festivals such as Bonnaroo, Hangout, Wakarusa and Electric Forest have helped build the group’s reputation for exciting and dynamic live shows.
During an interview late last year, Salken told Pollstar that he and Lalli wanted to bring live performances to the world of electronic music.
“We’d been in traditional bands before – punk bands, jazz bands, whatever – but always being fans of electronic music and listening to all sorts of different stuff,” Salken said. We were kind of wanting a way to blend the worlds together without just straight picking up a laptop and being DJs and not using instruments.
“We wanted to use our musicianship and bring that into the electronic world that at the time was mainly every song was the same length, every song’s always the same. We wanted to bring our world, like improv, into the electronic genre. And also add stuff that Dom, because he went to school for jazz, knows about, harmonies, melodies and stuff like that, and bring that into electronic music. It was more of a rhythmic thing at the time.”
One of the biggest upcoming shows for Big Gigantic will occur when the group plays Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Scheduled for Sept. 29, the picturesque venue outside Denver will be transformed into “Rowdytown” and will include performances by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Dillon Francis, Griz and Raw Russ.
Other non-“Uprising” shows include the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco Aug. 12; the Summer Set Music & Camping Festival in Somerset, Wis., Aug. 24; Council Bluffs, Iowa, where BG will appear with Pretty Lights Aug. 25; Atlanta’s CounterPoint Music Festival Sept. 27; and Austin City Limits Oct. 13.
Here’s the “Uprising” routing:
Sept. 15 – Port Chester, N.Y., Capitol Theatre
Oct. 3 – Tempe, Ariz., The Marquee
Oct. 4 – San Diego, Calif., House Of Blues
Oct. 5 – West Hollywood, Calif., House Of Blues
Oct. 7 – San Luis Obispo, Calif., The Graduate
Oct. 9 – Reno, N.V., Knitting Factory Concert House
Oct. 10 – Blue Lake, Calif., Blue Lake Casino & Hotel
Oct. 11 – Seattle, Wash., Showbox SoDo
Oct. 12 – Eugene, Ore., McDonald Theatre
Oct. 18 – Spokane, Wash., Knitting Factory Concert House
Oct. 19 – Portland, Ore., Wonder Ballroom
Oct. 20 – Boise, Idaho, Knitting Factory Concert House
Oct. 21 – Missoula, Mont., Wilma Theatre
Oct. 23 – Sioux Falls, S.D., The Vault
Oct. 25 – Lawrence, Kan., Liberty Hall
Oct. 26 – Tulsa, Okla., Cain's Ballroom
Oct. 28 – Columbia, Mo., The Blue Note
Oct. 30 – Little Rock, Ar., Revolution Music Room
Oct. 31 – Oxford, Miss., The Lyric Oxford
Nov. 2 – Lexington, KY, Buster's
Nov. 3 – Cincinnati, Ohio, Madison Theater
Nov. 4 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Mr. Small's Theatre
Nov. 5 – Buffalo, N.Y., The Town Ballroom
Nov. 7 – Toronto, Ontario, Wrongbar
Nov. 8 – Northampton, Mass., Pearl Street
Nov. 9 – Baltimore, Md., Baltimore Soundstage
Nov. 10 – Richmond, Va., The National
Nov. 11 – Raleigh, N.C., Lincoln Theatre
Nov. 13 – Winston-Salem, N.C., Ziggy's
Nov. 16 – New Orleans, La., House Of Blues
Nov. 17 – Mobile, Ala., Soul Kitchen
Nov. 21 – Nashville, Tenn., Marathon Music Works
Nov. 25 – Urbana, Ill., Canopy Club
Nov. 27 – Charlottesville, Va., Jefferson Theater
Nov. 28 – Wilmington, N.C., Brooklyn Arts Center
Dec. 1 – Athens, Ga., Georgia Theatre
Check out BigGigantic.net for more information and click here for Pollstar’s 2011 interview with Messrs. Lalli and Salken.