CUB in Conversation With Jules from The Big Moon

Dynamic female four-piece The Big Moon released their 2nd album Walking Like We Do in January of this year, featuring singles ‘Your Light’ and ‘Take A Piece’.

 

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Guitar lessons are going so great!! Well done everyone. Lots of people were also asking for tabs and we have now got around to being productive about this! If you’re still interested, please dm us with your e-mail address, the songs you want tabbed, and the instrument you want them on and we will e-mail them out to you along with details to our paypal account. You can then donate whatever you feel/are able and all proceeds will go to @trusselltrust food bank charity. Starting with bass tabs and piano scores to begin with and guitar tabs will follow a little later. This is a pic of how Jules shows us new songs. Love you guys! Hope you’re holding up ok xxx 📸 @ichorrocks

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All four London-based The Big Moon members (Jules, Fern, Soph and Celia) have other projects going on at the same time as playing for The Big Moon and dedicate a lot of their time to the music industry.  

I think it’s fair to say that The Big Moon offers a polished, poppy second album, arguably less experimental (at surface level). ‘Walking Like We Do’ features a move towards a more synthy vibe and away from heavier guitarwork in tracks like ‘Silent Movie Susie’ and ‘Bonfire’ on their debut. The band boasts an incredible evolution since they first began playing music together in 2014, even adding an eclectic flute to new track ‘Barcelona’. 

 

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Hey guys. Today we are joining together with 1500 other artists to ask the government to support live music! The magic of music is in its ability to bring people together and to share experiences. We obviously can’t and shouldn’t do that physically at the moment, but without some kind of support, the impact on this whole part of our culture could be devastating and, as always, the parts of the industry that will suffer the hardest are those we need to protect most. There are 210,000 people working in the live music economy all across the country. That includes not just the artists we see, but all the amazing venues, touring crew, studio staff, promoters, managers, the people organising festivals, and a zillion others. It’s a whole ecosystem and it has all just been wiped out. As many other UK businesses are now finally able to start working back to normality, the live music industry is looking at sitting and waiting for a very long time and unless we get some help, some parts will not survive the wait. Please share the hashtag #letthemusicplay and let the government know how you feel! THANK YOU WE LOVE YOU xxxxxxx Pic by @soundofapeach

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Jules’ songwriting resists the classic ‘on the road again’ ideals often present in follow up albums, attempting instead a more political undercurrent newer to the band’s image. Softer tracks like ‘Dog Eat Dog’ point out to listeners the imperfections within our societies, lyrically emphasising how humanity fails to look beyond themselves in tough times…

You only build bridges when the river wets your feet

Other tracks like Barcelona lament more personally on what it feels like to be left behind by conventional life. 

Jules, Soph, Fern and Celia also created a week-by-week podcast talking through the making of each individual track from the new album, with the help of Jelly Denniston. It’s available to listen to now on all streaming platforms. 

 

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If you’ve ever wondered about the process behind the songs on Walking Like We Do then please, wonder no further as we’ve made a Track x Track podcast! The wonderful @jellydenniston has helped us dig deep in to the memory box to talk through how these songs came into life. It’s Easy Then is up first and we’ll be releasing one each week. Link in bio, or in all the usual places xx

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Look no further for Big Moon content, talking all things female, lockdown videos and The Big Moon’s evolution through time!

Bryony: When you first set out with The Big Moon, did you expect it to snowball in success as it has? 

Jules: Honestly, no. I don’t think you’d ever expect that! There’re so many bands out there now and we feel incredibly lucky that The Big Moon is what it is now. 

B: How would you describe The Big Moon now in comparison to when your first album was released? 

J: We’re definitely older and wiser now than we were. 

B: Obviously you recently released the video for ‘Why’. What was that like in the current situation? 

J: There wasn’t enough space at our homes, so we actually had to use a studio, but we had to take it in turns to go in (couldn’t distance properly otherwise). The whole beach semantic came from our director and we had to use a big green screen. None of us really had a clue how it was gonna turn out. Our untrained eyes only really saw the green screen for what it was rather than what it would end up being. I feel pretty proud of it now – it came out so good! 

B: What do you think music is going to look like moving forward? Could it make it easier for smaller/independent groups?

J: Honestly, no. The problem is that bigger bands will be fine. They have a bigger fanbase. Smaller bands need smaller venues and a lot of those are closing down at the moment.

Click this link to support small venues in the music industry. Members of The Big Moon have been posting out on their Instagram platform about what we can do to donate and keep small businesses open through the pandemic. 

B: ‘Walking Like We Do’ was quite political in parts. Is there anything that inspired this? Can we expect more of this for future releases? 

J: It’s about what I’m thinking in the moment. If something scary happens, naturally I write about it. It’s important to use our platforms and it doesn’t have to be about music. 

B: ‘Walking Like We Do’ also feels very personal – you’re really quite exposed in songs like Barcelona. Is there anything in particular that caused you to write more personally for the second album?

J: I cared a lot more about what I was saying for ‘Walking Like We Do’. I never thought anyone would hear the first album, but I knew there were people awaiting a follow up. The second try felt more real and meant more. I also had a lot more time to think through what I was saying. 

B: I can’t not ask a question about being female in the industry, especially with the whole band being female! Do you think your experience as a woman has shaped the things you write about? Has the industry improved in making way for female artists in recent years?

J: I think it’s hard to think how being female could NOT have influenced me. Being a woman affects EVERYTHING. It is what I am and has been my whole life. I’m also not sure if the industry is changing. I listen to a lot of music made by women for women, so it’s easy to think that there are loads of us out there, but just because that’s what I listen to doesn’t mean that it’s what most people listen to. It’s easy to have a sort of tunnel vision and think that there are a lot of women out there just because that’s what you listen to (but that’s not a clear picture). Music isn’t the only industry where there are issues – all industries need more women. 

B: Finally, what’s the quickest you’ve ever written a song from start to finish?

J: ‘Pull the Other One’ – it took about an hour. I set myself a challenge before a night out and that’s how it turned out. 

The Big Moon is scheduled to tour in 2021. Buy tickets here.