Big Empty – Interview – Thanks for Asking! by Liam Sweeny

Big Empty – Interview – Thanks for Asking! by Liam Sweeny.

We connected with Patrick Follet from Big Empty. This is what transpired.

RRX: Music genres are difficult for some artists. Some strictly adhere; others not so much. What is your perspective on the genre you play, or the genres you hover around?

PF: Great question, we’ve put a lot of thought into what musical genres to cover; prior to forming Big Empty, Patrick and I were in another local project that focused more on classic rock, the kind of music that comprised most of terrestrial radio. We noticed crowds were looking for something different and inevitably they requested songs from their (and our) youth. The concept of playing music from the 90s and 2000s appealed to us not only because we were raised on it, but we saw a need for it on the local music scene. Not many bands focused solely on 90s music. You have tribute bands that focus on one artist or bands that focus on one specific decade or style (80s, Southern Rock, Jam music). But we decided to focus on the grunge and post-grunge scene, and we love that period in music! What we found was that crowds were nostalgic for this time and the response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?

PF: It was interesting because we got together to play songs that we like; songs from bands that, in some cases, we listened to in high school. And from the very beginning, the response we got was so positive. People were telling us that nobody else is playing these tunes, which was a little surprising because they’re great songs. We’re meticulous about respecting the music and I think that comes across in our performances.

RRX: What do you think is the most dangerous song to cover from the perspective of criticism? Who do you think is too hard to cover, and why?

PF: Unless we’re intentionally trying to put our own spin on a song, we try to stay as true to the original as possible. An original band can go out and do a shitty rendition of their own song and the crowd still cheers. As a cover band, if it’s not obvious that you mean to do something differently from the original, it’s just a horrible look. If you can’t do the song justice, find something else in your wheelhouse. For me personally, I refuse to sing Man in the Box by Alice in Chains. It’s kind of a staple for a lot of cover bands, but it’s just kind of reaching for the stars and falling short for most of them. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen bands and vocalists in particular come up short on that tune. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’ve moved on. It’s an incredible vocal performance by Layne Staley and it should be treated with the respect it deserves. Not saying it can’t be done, I’ve seen a few local guys kill it, but that’s one I won’t touch.

RRX: We do this for the fans. For the blisters also, but mostly for the fans. Who’s one of your best fans? Without necessarily giving their name, what are they like?

PF: Wow, this is a harder question to answer than you’d think. We’ve received so much support from so many people. If we have to pick a single person, I think we’ll have to go with Elizabeth Vazquez. Liz has kind of become the de facto band mom to some degree. For the most part, she’s our PR person. The vast majority of our social media content comes from her. Other than our shitposting vocalist and selfie whore lead guitarist, our guys aren’t really big on social media, so without her, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the exposure we have to this point. She’s been a huge asset for us. Honorable mention has to go to our buddy Hot Karl for always turning out and pitching in whenever we need him and Mike Humphrey at The Kings Inn. Humpy has been behind us from the get go, dude’s a legend.

RRX: Playing out is tricky because you never know what’s going to happen when you get there. Sometimes everything goes wrong. What was your worst show like?

PF: Oh boy… Our worst gig was our first gig and it’s not even close. I’ll leave names out to protect the innocent, but IFYKYK. We pretty much all came from regularly gigging bands so when we got together, we were pretty much itching to get back out there immediately. Coincidentally, at the same time a local promoter was trying to book bands for a two day “music festival”, so we said, fuck it, let’s throw together an hour of music and go play it. For the sake of time, I’ll just list off the major lowlights. Lol. For five of the six weeks leading up to the event, the only info we had to share was, it was $20, there would be generic “food” and that no dogs were allowed. The guy putting it together wouldn’t allow an address or GPS pin to be posted, just archaic directions to essentially a trail in the forest in the middle of nowhere that no one could follow. Dude refused to reschedule despite the remnants of a hurricane blowing through. More than half of the bands ended up canceling altogether. We got rescheduled to Saturday instead of Friday night. Once we all found the place, it was like a scene out of Deliverance. The quote of the day was, “I’ve never seen this many people with their eyes that far apart”. It’s rock and roll though, so we loaded our gear onto the front porch of the camper they called a stage and played our set. Lol. In fairness, the other bands we met were all great. Met a couple of cool people, but yeah, never again. Oh yeah, the dogs. There were dogs running around everywhere.

RRX: Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Or so they say. Whether you’re off the wagon, on it, or never been, there’s something you got a thirst for. What are some of your basically harmless vices?

PF: Cocaine and hookers are totally harmless right?…….

No? Shit….

Let’s see.. As a group, big titty goth girls.

Individually,

Nick, snacks from Trader Joes. Country music.

Steve, as previously stated, selfie whore. White claws.

Christian, an unhealthy obsession with pizza. Like truly disturbing. (Actually sent a pic of him eating pizza when I sent him this to proofread. Says it has all of the food groups.)

Patrick, Boobs, shitty memes, anxiety medications.

Mark, Khakis and medium shirts. He once left a gig before we had to go on to go home and shrink his shirt in the dryer. Says it was to go get earplugs, but nobody is buying that story.

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