Archive for the ‘Big Business’ Category

Anger Management: Big Business

Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

Every fortnight, we check in with all things heavy on RTRFM’s Critical Mass show.

When Jared Warren and Coady Willis of Big Business were absorbed by The Melvins in 2006 to become the band’s new rhythm section, it was on the condition that they keep making albums as Big Business. Lucky for fans as we now have two awesome bands! The guys have taken on board the influences of their mentors and mothership and since 2009 they have released music that has toyed with and demolished listeners expectations of what a ‘sludge metal’ band can do.

Adding extra guitarists (at the moment they are a 3-piece but have been a 4-piece ‘power quartet’ at times), adding layers of vocal harmonies (check the track “Theme Form Big Business II” from Mind The Drift), trying different production techniques and writing interesting and damn heavy music has been their agenda.

Whilst The Melvins are touring their excellent Hold It In album from last year (with Butthole Surfers bassist Jeff Pinkus) Big Business have been extra busy. One of the many bands to find themselves stranded after the unfortunate demise of Hydra Head Records, they have formed their own label Gold Metal Record.

True Gold contains two new tracks, “Blacker Holes” and “Diagnostic Front.” “Blacker Holes” is a fantastic anthem and, perhaps, a warped attempt at a pop song. With pounding drums, bellowing vocal harmonies, awesome bass and guitar riffage (and a very Torche-esque guitar tone), it’s catchy as hell. Fools gold this isn’t. Get stuck in.

Critical Mass airs every Wednesday from 9PM (GMT+8) on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth, Australia.

Sounds Like Hell: Big Business

Friday, August 1st, 2014

Sounds Like Hell is an irregular feature on old and new noise rock.

Big Business sound like a band named Big Business should, which is to say that Big Business sound gargantuan and don’t fuck around. There’s no meandering in their music, no space for solos or build-ups or crescendos or riffs that go nowhere. Whether they’re playing a 1 minute or a 10 minute song, every second is a nonstop onslaught of stoner metal mired in sludge, like the soundtrack to an acid trip in the middle of a Vietnam flashback.

Things don’t change much between records, but that’s not a problem. Big Business have found a formula that works and they’re sticking with it. Think Torche meets Melvin. In fact, the two main forces of this band – Jared Warren and Coady Willis – have been Melvins’ rhythm section since 2006. But rather than King Buzzo’s familiar wail, Big Business’s sound is punctuated by Warren’s mammoth howl, like a raging Poseidon.

After a lacklustre third record, Big Business released Battlefields Forever late last year, a larger-than-life 9-song collection that marks a return to form, packed with bombast and titanic riffs. For fans of Mastodon and cheesy fight scenes.