It’s time to get to know Hey Gigantic! We set vocalist/bassist Jonny Bateman 10 questions about his musical likes, tastes and guilty pleasures…
How would you describe your taste in music?
My taste in music is pretty varied, growing up with rock, blues and pop from my parents and then finding grunge, punk and hip hop in my teenage years, not forgetting a little bit of nu-metal! Just love the variety in music, always something to compliment your mood or context, and nowadays it’s all at your fingertips. God bless the internet!
Who do you consider to be your favourite band and why?
That’s the impossible question surely, so many good bands! Just too hard to answer. I suppose bands represent different parts of your life and some come and go, but right now I’m kind of obsessing over Mac Demarco. Love his new record but also just love him! Haha Watching way too many funny videos of him on YouTube. Check out the ‘Hot Ones Spice Challenge video’. Love it.
Who is the best live band you’ve ever seen?
Foo Fighters at Brixton Academy in 2000, It was ‘Nothing To Lose’ tour. That was an epic show for sure! That or Rage Against The Machine on the ‘Battle of Los Angeles’ tour. Not perhaps the best live bands I’ve ever seen but definitely the gigs that had the most impact on me from a young age.
What is the one song that you could listen to forever?
These are tough questions! … I think ‘Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill’ is a good shout. God I love that song, I could start and end every day with that song. So good. I think I first heard it properly on the movie Vanilla Sky, such a great soundtrack! Most the songs on that soundtrack are brilliant to be fair. Red House Painters, Sigur Ros and Jeff Buckley are all strong contenders from that soundtrack too.
What album, if any, was a turning point in your ‘musical life’ and why?
It’s cliché but being played grunge and punk bands in the 90’s was a huge turning point! Going from listening to pop on the radio and my parents records to finding my own identity with bands my friends and skate videos introduced me to was massive. The key 3 albums I bought on tape at that time was ‘Green Day – Dookie’, ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ and ‘Nirvana – Nevermind’. They changed everything for me.
In 3 words, what makes a good album or song?
Emotive, Intriguing, longevity
A festival or a gig? Why?
I love festivals for the variety and epic scale but I love gigs more for the quality focus on one band or performer, especially those small intimate gigs where you experience them for the first time and feel that unquantifiable brilliance. Nothing like it.
Who would be your 3 dream festival headliners?
Oh wow! Alive or dead? I’m going dead. Has to be No.1 Nirvana, No.2 Elliott Smith and finish it off with No.3 Tupac Shakur, just because it would be awesome and I don’t want to watch him as a projection.
Who are the best new bands you’ve discovered lately that everyone should know about?
They’re not particularly new or undiscovered but the band that has excited me more than anyone in the past year or so is definitely Pinegrove. Just feels so fresh and yet classic, saw them at The Lexington, London last year and just blew me away! That’s a gig I’ll never forget. If you haven’t already, go check them out!
As for upcoming UK bands, be sure to check out Faux, Bellevue Days and Prey Drive. All awesome bands.
What band or artist is your secret, or not so secret, guilty pleasure?
Oh man got plenty of pop guilty pleasures! Love a well written pop song. I’d say Carly Rae Jepsen’s last album ‘Emotion’ was up there! And that Zara Larsson song ‘Lush Life’. Listened to those A LOT in the last year. Go ahead, judge me all you want. Haha.