| Big Yellow Mellow |
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| Monday, 29 January 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See Big Yellow play live at the Chinatown Arts Festival. For more information see http://www.dimsum.co.uk/culture/chinatown-arts-festival-2007-the-circle.html. Nick, Cyril, Ben and Jeremy, the blissed-out indie rockers that make up British Chinese band Big Yellow, get mellow with Stephen Pucci, and talk about their forthcoming single ‘Twists and Turns’…  So, Big Yellow, great to meet you all. You must be hugely excited about the release of your debut single - 'Twists and Turns'. What other emotions are you going through right now?Excited anticipation. No one knows how this will turn out. With all downloads counting towards the charts, being in the top 40 is now very do-able. The single release also coincides with our show as part of Chinese New Year 2007. It's at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, so we've been frantically organising that, as well as the marketing of the single. There's been a mild panic, as there's not been a huge amount of time to do it all in! Is 'Twists and Turns' a typical Big Yellow song, or does your classic, manic and mellow mix make it part of a more varied and atypical 'Big Yellow sound'? Our songs range from manic guitar rock to blissed-out pop… but it's the melody which ties them all together. We've been described as 'blissed-out indie rockers', which I think captures it well! We're not sure if there’s a typical Big Yellow sound. ‘Twist and Turns’ does bring together an 80s keyboard style with an indie rock undertone. Does Big Yellow have a British Chinese flavour to its music? And what influences have enhanced that flavour? Three out of four of us are British Chinese, and the other is from New Zealand. We were all brought up with a mixture of influences, and so our music is really a reflection of that music with which we grew up and enjoy, which is largely western. However, Ben (keyboards) and Cyril (guitar) have a classical background, whilst Jeremy (drums) is jazz-influenced. Our sound is an even blend of all of us. Perhaps we're redefining what a British Chinese sound actually is… Are you often defined as a band by your ethnicity - and does it bother you? We hope we aren't defined by our ethnicity, but by our music first. However, we are visually ethnic! Whilst this doesn’t bother us, it will inevitably affect people's view of us (whether they admit it or not). There are very few oriental faces at the front of mainstream rock/pop music in the West, and therefore a lack of role models. In film, TV and classical music, there are now prominent and successful oriental people who show future generations that they can be successful in the same way. It’s the whole perception that the Chinese don't do pop music, they do classical. We look forward to a change in this perception.  As China (and greater China) creeps up the global media agenda, have you experienced a growing interest in your music?That's hard to know. We hope that will certainly be the case, as our band could be part of the bridge between both in the future. It does mark us out as part of a growing trend, which is helpful as it can give us more exposure. We want to be heard and seen by as many people as possible… What do you hope to hear the UK saying, or indeed chanting, after the single's release on February 12th? Hopefully ‘Big Yellow Hit the Big Time’! Our aim is to reach more people through the single release and to gain a larger fan base. It's also nice to see people dancing to our songs at gigs, as well as singing along. And what does the Year of the Boar hold for Big Yellow - more singles, more gigs... a Grammy? We have to get past February first. But absolutely - we'll keep plugging away with the gigs, singles and promotion. And more interviews like this one! Finally, in three words (each), describe Big Yellow to Dimsum readers... Nick: Melodic, manic rockers Cyril: Even better live! Ben: Golden, melodic sublime Jeremy: Blissed-out rockers Thank you so much guys, and best of luck with the single!!! Big Yellow’s debut single ‘Twists and Turns’ is released on Monday 12th February. To find out how to buy the single (just 79p!), as well as more information on Big Yellow’s campaign, please visit http://www.bigyellowband.com/chart/. Now available on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=209119143
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