The Alt in Our Stars Podcast featuring: Big Ups
“Everybody says it’s getting better all the time, but it’s bad... still bad.”
That’s the shout-along chorus New York City's Big Ups offered on “Justice,” a track on their debut album Eighteen Hours of Static.
“Being so didactic about things, it never even occurred to me that the lyrics on the first record were so direct,” frontman Joe Galarraga admitted on the Alt In Our Stars podcast. “I think that has changed. In terms of how I was writing, that was a very intentional change.”
Into It. Over It. Premieres Lovely New Song 'Anesthetic'
The quartet’s sophomore album Before a Million Universes drops today (March 4) on Exploding In Sound. They've grown as songwriters, but their jarring bursts of stop-start post-punk and hardcore will still jolt you out of any slacker rock or dream pop-induced stupor you’ve been stuck in. Galarraga, along with bandmates Brendan Finn, Amar Lal and Carlos Salguero, stopped by the Billboard office to discuss everything.
The quartet came together several years back while studying music at NYU, so they’ve got plenty of good advice for students looking to get a new band off the ground. Galarraga gave one very specific suggestion:
“It would be really cool if there was a band playing DIY shows in Brooklyn that sounded like Korn.”
Past Episodes: Downtown Boys | Børns | Panic! at the Disco | Yeasayer | Bully | Emo Music | Beach Slang | 2016 Rock/Alt Preview | Chairlift
To keep up with the podcast (a new episode comes out every Friday) and to stream old episodes, subscribe to The Alt In Our Stars podcast on iTunes. Let us know what you think on Twitter (@cpayneonaplane) and by rating the podcast on iTunes.