Big Wild | Soundcloud | Buy Invincible

This Friday, one of my biggest inspirations makes his way to San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom. Jackson is a hell of a dude, and his music has a very unique way of giving you energy while immersing you in a plethora of synths in a drum-filled frenzy. Check out what he had to say about his path and process so far:

C+A+D: Let’s start with how I found out about you, through Odesza and when you opened for them about 2 years ago at SXSW. How did that relationship come about and how do you think that made a change to your career?

Big Wild: Our relationship definitely helped a lot, because there’s a lot of crossover between their music and my music. Odesza’s fans were able to connect with their music and they become my fans too. It was just a really beneficial relationship for both parts. It’s been cool to get tips and advice from them. Not to mention working with Foreign Family. It was a big difference maker in pushing me to where I am today.

C+A+D: The invincible EP is a perfect summation of you and how your sound developed over the years…My favorite song is between Empty Room and Invincible, which are unmistakably you. What was the most challenging part of putting this EP together? Where did you see the most improvement to your process?

Big Wild: The hardest part about it was just its completion. I had been working on some of these songs for over a year; on and off. It’s really easy to run into roadblocks or writers-block. Through this process, I’ve made changes on how I make music now, so I can make music a lot faster than before.

There would be times when I didn’t know how to make the drop hit harder…or how to tweak this or that. I think that was the hardest part. Accepting that I could keep making changes to the song forever, and it’s never going to be perfect, and to just finish it. That’s a really big part of putting together any kind of project, EP, or even a single. Just knowing when to say, “OK. I’m not really improving the song. I’m just making it sound different.” And that’s crucial.

C+A+D: What other equipment makes up your live rig? Did you evolve your rig from a more basic set up, or has it remained the same since you began performing

Big Wild: I really try to focus on not piling up a bunch of gear and keeping it fairly minimal. I don’t want to clutter my stage with gear and separate me from the crowd. My set up over time has pretty much the same amount of things. I used to use a nord keyboard but on this tour I’m using a keyboard that also triggers samples off my computer as well. I’m happy with how it brings my songs to life in front of a crowd.

C+A+D: If you had a time machine and were able to talk to yourself before your first show as Big Wild, what advice would you give?

Big Wild: Oh that’s a good question. *thinks for a few seconds* If I had to give myself advice, it would be not to overthink everything. Don’t make music more complicated than it needs to be, because I definitely tend to do that. Another thing is to understand the importance of different elements in all types of music and why people would like those things.

It’s important to not get sucked into one part of a song, and focus on all the parts; like the melody of the vocals for example. Understand what goes into making a FULL song, rather than get too obsessed on one specific part of a song. Which I guess goes back to not overthinking it. These are all things that were goals for me on this EP. Get involved with writing the lyrics. Get involved with writing the melody for the singers. Work on these other things that I never cared much about, but now I’m very much into. This EP was a learning experience for that, and I’m at peace with how it came out.

Lightning In A Bottle | Lineup | Tickets | Set Times

Big moment for us to talk to a founder of such an amazing creation as Dede Flemming of The Do Lab.
We’re plain Jane and his text is purple. Let this Bob Moses mix soothe you as you read.

Bob Moses – Inner City Odyssey Mix

Lightning in a Bottle and The Do Lab are well known for being the halfway point to some people between Burning Man and Coachella, so I was wondering what your opinion is on that? How do you think that environment at LIB benefits society as a whole?

Oh yeah absolutely! We’ve often compared ourselves to a hybrid of those events. Certainly not the size and scope of either, but just as far as the style. We have the creativity and spirit of Burning Man…and we try to have some of the organization and curation of Coachella. I think it’s great for everybody, because you bring in the people from the Burning Man culture who have a great understanding of what this community is and what this world is about. Then you have the more curious folk, your Coachella audience, who aren’t necessarily exposed to the free spirit energy and vibe that we offer.

Yeah we totally feel what you’re saying through going to LIB the past few years. So you’re definitely accomplishing a happy hybrid of the two.

Ah yes of course. And we have a tremendous amount of respect and inspiration from those festivals. We’re honored to have that comparison made.

Was there a particular reason for having Flume specifically top center on the bill, as if he is the cult leader? Don’t get me wrong he is one of the biggest names in the industry, and I love and am inspired by him like crazy…but with the other headliners who have put more time, more records, and more value into this scene, what was your reasoning for that decision?

You know sometimes lineup posters are what they are for numerous reasons. We’ve always felt he was a great fit for our festival…Maybe it’s debatable whether he should be on the top or not. It comes down to what we like stylistically, and there are some politics involved. In my opinion, the lineup poster order is always subjective.

Very true. Nowadays it comes down to the undercard and the homework done behind the scenes to have a truly complete lineup.

And we feel we do our best to accomplish that!

It shows Dede…it damn well shows. Ha! But hey, The Do Lab seems to be having its year! With Lightning in a Bottle about to sell out, it’s bigger than ever. You guys are planning on adding more festivals to the year. How do you plan on maintaining the small inclusive vibes in the face of such growth?

Well, I think this has always been one of our biggest concerns. I feel like we’ve always done an excellent job of maintaining the vibe. Go back to 2006 when we were just 1200 people. I felt that if we grew to 3000 or 4000 people we would lose the intimacy. But we didn’t. Then we jumped to 6000. And we still didn’t. Then we jumped to 10000. And we STILL didn’t. Now I’m just confident that it’s the people that come that make it intimate. We do a lot of work to curate, not just a festival, but all the offerings in a way that maintains that intimate vibe as we grow in numbers.

Yeah we really feel that through your attendance at the Do Lab stage and the festival, that a lot of it really comes down to the crowd you guys pull. So kudos to you on that. But LIB has moved a lot in the past few years. What was your favorite venue? How did you even pull off a festival like this in the bubble within a bubble, my hometown, Irvine. And How did you respond to the reaction from people at Bradley last year?