Big D and the Kid’s Table LIVE @ The Space
Big D and the Kid’s Table is a band that originated in 1995 in Boston at Berklee College of Music, and happened completely by accident.
I was able to sit down with the band this past Friday, Sept. 27, before they performed at The Space in Hamden, Conn., to gain an interview and some insight into their interesting musical career.
Before I headed upstairs to interview the band, I spent some time with the fans that were desperately awaiting Big D’s arrival on stage. I was shocked at the range of their target audience, as I interviewed people from ages fourteen to sixty-seven and everything in between.
Ben, a 14 year-old high school student from “right down the road,” in Connecticut, took the time to tell me why Big D was so important to him. “My brother who is 17 is always listening to them, so I started because I really loved the sound. Not many of my friends listen to them, or even know about them, so it’s kind of my own thing and I like that,” he said. “LAX is my favorite song by far because it’s so different. It has 36 f-bombs. I had to listen to the song twice to count them all.”
In opposition to Ben was my other favorite fan of the evening, Stankin’ Rich. Stankin’ Rich has followed the band since about 2002 and even traveled to Las Vegas from Connecticut to see them in a four day music festival. “On a side note about the music festival,” said Rich, “The festival was happening right across the street from a soccer field where young kids had practice and all the soccer moms were around, so Big D had to do a live radio edit of one of my favorite songs, LAX, while they were on stage. It was really neat.”
After talking to the varied group of fans, I had a better grasp on the kind of consistency this band exuded to their fan base. They had fans of all ages because they were so loyal to the music they had started out with and they just built upon that.
When I sat down to interview Dave, the lead vocalist of the band, he started to tell me how Big D was never supposed to happen.
“Big D was never going to be a real band,” said Dave, “I came up with our name as a joke, like, ‘oh, we’re big d and the kid’s table,’ but in actuality we were just a bunch of nerds who liked to play music all the time.”
Naturally I wondered how they would have gone from a Berklee dorm band, to playing shows all across the country, and I got the answer I was looking for.
“After a show we did in LA, when another band randomly dropped out, Kevin Lyman, the creator of Warped Tour realized our work ethic and he pushed for us to land our record deal. Up until this day, Kevin has helped us the most with our career and I still get nervous talking to him.” The band laughed in unison when this was said because it is clear that no matter how big, Big D is today, they remain humble and true to their roots, which is always refreshing to see.
I asked the band as we gathered in the attic of The Space if they had any songs that meant the most to them as a whole, “LAX for me,” said Dave, “represents the band the most because it is so unconventional.”
“I would have to say Shining On,” said Derek the drummer for Big D, “I think it is the most inspiring to our fan base and it sort of represents the message of ‘get up and keep trying.’”
Lastly, Alex, the guitarist for the band commented on his favorite being, Try Out Your Voice. “This song just really copulates our view on politics and what we like to speak out about. I think it is more daring than some others and can have a broad message to people.”
It was amazing to see how diverse the band was and how their likes and interests varied so much. From my experience, the key to a successful band is when everyone brings something completely different to the table and Big D exemplifies that more than anything. They were probably the coolest people to hang out with, they were super laid back and their back up singers had fashion sense to be envious of. They are the sort of band that exudes exactly the attitude they have on stage, in real life, and that is hard to come by these days.
“One of my all-time favorite bands is Melt Banana – a band that originates from Japan,” said Dave, “and nothing is final, but we may be going on tour with them, which would be amazing.”
“Now that we are all spread out; some of us are in Boston, some in NYC, we really how precious our time together is, so it forces us to hone in on the music instead of fool around when we meet to practice.”
I believe that all of this honing in will definitely lead to great things for Big D, a band that has been going strong for years, and who has amazing opportunities still to come in the future.
Big D and the Kid’s Table is probably my favorite band I have sat down to interview thus far and I suggest if you don’t know their music, that you sit down and listen…all day, until you know every word, and then do it all over again.
They are a fun-spirited, uplifting band, who convey the same attitude of their songs in their personal relations and there are not many bands out there that are like that anymore.
