Big Boy Bloater

 

Nobody knows his real name but, at the end of the day, his enormous talent and personality is all that matters to music lovers. Big Boy Bloater has become, through the years, one of the hottest names in the music business, not just in his homeland in the United Kingdom but worldwide too.

Despite a tribulated period of his personal life, Big Boy Bloater has managed to put together with his long time compadres The Limits, one of the most accomplished album of his career, Luxury Hobo. The album, recently released, is an entertaining photograph of life in the modern society, a didactic and allegorical outlook on the way that people live nowadays, almost in a mechanical way. Musically and vocally as well, Big Boy Bloater and The Limits have reached with Luxury Hobo one of the pinnacles of their glorious career. Bluebird Reviews is delighted to meet Big Boy Bloater to talk about Luxury Hobo and the artist's career so far in a dark, rainy day here in the outskirts of London. Two minutes into our conversation, though, Big Boy Bloater's big smile and charisma helps immediately to bring back that brightness that UK is unable to supply today.

 

BBR - Luxury Hobo comes after a difficult moment in your personal life. How long did it take to assemble together the songs that ended up in the album?

BBB - I wrote the first song of the album last year, that was the time when it all started. To be honest with you, I am not that kind of person able to pre-plan well in advance songs to be written and recorded. I find myself working better when I get close to deadlines. When the time came for the record to be completed, I just said to myself: "I have to get a grip and get the job done". I am a last-minute type of person, I find being under pressure getting the best out of me. 

BBR - Half of the record is fuelled with some real foot-stomping 70's rock, which brings back memories of the best periods of bands like Dr. Feelgood or the Stones of Sticky Fingers. Have you been listening to a lot of 70's rock records, prior to recording Luxury Hobo?

BBB - Yes, I think so. I remember I was listening to a lot of Mott The Hoople's material, T-Rex, Elvis Costello, that kind of stuff. I guess I was feeling in a particular 70's mood, which has probably infused unconsciounsly some of the material on Luxury Hobo.

BBR - It's fascinating and, somehow ironic, to hear someone like you, partially involved in the media business, talking about the debatable impact that platforms like YouTube bring into people's life in that beautiful tune The Devils Tail. Was the track inspired by a particular episode you witnessed throughout your side career as a DJ and music journalist or something else?

BBB - There is not an episode in particular I am referring to, in that song. It is just that I keep noticing in many people this insane desperation for fame. They would do anything for their fifteen seconds of fame. It is just an observation on the subject. I cannot understand, for the life of me, why people would reach some very low levels of dignity, in order to get few seconds of notoriety. It is just something that, to people like me, doesn't make any sense at all.

BBR - All Things Considered is, in my personal view, the song that mostly defines your artistry in Luxury Hobo, with your powerful deep singing style and your guitar penning one of the best songs I have heard so far in 2016. What influenced more your R&B roots, the Stax or the Motown sound?

BBB - I would probably say Stax. Especially the first Stax period made a real impact on me. There were some fantastic Blues and R&B songs generated in that period. You know, as hard as I try, I don't think I can reach with my voice those fabulous peaks that Stax's artists were able to do, back in those days. I am getting there, though, little by little (chuckles).

BBB

(Photo by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato)

 

BBR - How much does it still annoy you the fact that some music press keep labeling you as a blues artist? Because that certainly annoys me.

BBB - This is something I have to fight every single time I deal with press or media in general. It is not because I consider a bad thing to be called a Blues artist at all. I love Blues myself but I feel Luxury Hobo is much more than blues. Also, I think that when you put a tag on something, people would just say: "Y'know, I am not that keen on blues, I am not willing to give a go to this album or that artist". I rather prefer they call it Alternative, if they really need to label it, because the people would be at least curious to give the record a spin and perhaps say: "Hey, I don't really know what this is but I like the sound of it!". I was once part of a band for a very long time, something like 15 years plus. We were playing just songs from the 50's R&B circuit and we reached the highest level we could possibly achieve in that time, we were at the top of our game. The down side though, was that you, as an artist, end up in a musical cul-de-sac with no ways out and I don't want that kind of history repeating again. Luxury Hobo has got certainly Blues elements but it has got also elements of Rock and Soul into it. In brief, there is something for everybody. To label it as a Blues album, is very restrictive and perhaps a little bit unfair. And for an artist, as you said, it is very annoying and frustrating.

BBR - In the past, you have always self-produced your records. This time around, on Luxury Hobo, you had the helping hand of Adam Whalley, a TeamRock (The music media platform BBB colalborates with) compadre to bring up a notch the production quality of your sound. Which has been the best contributing factor in your opinion, of working with Adam on this album?

BBB - That's a very good question. He really brought so much to the album. Despite being a young guy, Adam has got a very wide taste in music and a big knowledge too. He likes very much his Rock stuff but his knowledge goes much further than that. It was great to bounce some ideas off him and exchange points of view on songs or technical stuff. He even contributed to share his views about adding second guitars on some tracks. It was really great to have that precious second ear listening to my songs. Sometimes, when you write a song, you are so close to something but still unable to see it or feel it, without somebody that can actually hear you and point at you what the missing factor is. Adam's outside opinion was another added bonus to the great time we had in the studio working with him. The cherry on the cake, for me personally, was that on Luxury Hobo I didn't have the whole pressure of producing, engineering and think about all the different aspects of making a record. I knew I could rely on Adam while working on Luxury Hobo, which made the whole recording process much more enjoyable for me. Perhaps the most relaxed and chilled recording process I have ever done with The Limits. It really felt like a bunch of friends playing together without added pressure, because we knew that Adam was firmly in control. Hopefully, our fans will perceive how much we were enjoying ourselves on the album and have a good time through our new album.

BBR - I have read some time ago that chicken is your favourite food of choice. What's the reason why you don't like chicken cooked in Italy?

BBB - (chuckles) It's kind of a long story but I'll try to be as brief as I can. Few years back, I worked with a motorcycle clothing company and they were doing exhibitions in Italy. They took us out to play over there and the first night they took us out for dinner. The restaurant put some real weird looking food on the table. It didn't really inspire me at all, however I got on with it but i asked if I could have something different the following night so I asked for some chicken.  When we returned back to the same place the following night, the restaurant staff asked the chef to cook some chicken for me but I am convinced the guy never cooked chicken before in his life. All I got on the plate, was boiled chicken which, honest to God, put me off for a little while on Italian food. But I have been back there so many times after that and the food and drinks have always been fantastic. That was just a one-off situation. How the heck did you find out about this? (chuckles).

BBR - BBB, how did you come up with the idea of using Lego characters in the video of It Came Out Of The Swamp?

BBB - The whole idea goes back about three years ago. After my last album, before Luxury Hobo, I had a really bad and low period, I would call it a breakdown, really. To keep myself busy, at that time, I started doing things with Lego stuff in a room, on my own, because I found doing that sort of thing very therapeutic, mostly to keep my mind busy. I had this bag of Lego bits in my dad's loft and that brought a big smile on my face, when I I found it. I have been doing bits and pieces with Lego stuff for few years now, as a hobby. When I wrote It Came Out Of The Swamp, at that time I had a Lego set ready and appropriate to the context of the song so I said to myself: "Hey, this is a marriage made in heaven!". It made perfect sense to me and I knew it had to be done that way. I started working on the video around Christmas time last year and it took a little while to complete it. I wish I had few more weeks available to add more elements to the video but I had to stick to deadlines for the release date of the video. But I do remember that time making the video as a very enjoyable one, sitting in my office, fiddling with Lego bits, such fun!

BBR - You have announced the first dates of your UK Tour for May 2016. Will your American fans have the opportunity to see you performing in the States, sometime this year?

BBB - Well, I never say never but so far there is nothing planned yet. I have played few times in the States, over the years and I always had a fantastic time. It's a huge country and to tour it, it takes a lot of time to travel from a place to another. In Uk, you can go from top to bottom pretty much in one day, while in the States it is slightly more complicated. It certainly takes a lot of planning to do a proper tour of the States but I'd be there in a flash, if that was solely a decision that was up to me. I really love being there playing and I really hope it will happen sometime soon. If not this year, maybe next. One thing for sure, though. We will be touring in Europe, after our UK Tour, in places like Germany, Italy and few more, hoping to bring the good Luxury Hobo vibes to our fans all around the world

BBR -  A wonderful new album, a new record deal with Provogue/Mascot Label Group and a new tour starting soon. How excited are you, right now?

BBB - To be honest with you, I am so concentrated still in promoting the album and doing some more videos for Luxury Hobo that I have not quite yet realised the scale of all this. Inside my head, I can sense it's all happening and it is all exciting time. Sometimes, my wife Lisa reminds me all this, then I reflect for a split second and I tell her: "Well, yeah, I know, exciting, isn't it?". D'you know, I really think that I should sit down, sometimes, take a deep breath and smell the roses. Fundamentally though, despite all the rushing around for promotion and all that is related to Luxury Hobo, I can't honestly wait to be back in tour with The Limits and play our music. It has been a while now and It's good to be back.

 

 

Giovanni "Gio" Pilato