Big Cheese

Today’s hardcore scene is getting so damn great, with lots of up and coming bands working their asses to deliver good stuff to the world, that makes me feel super stoked. ‘Punishment park’, released by UK’s Big Cheese in March 2020, is ‘the shape of hardcore to come’, in my humble opinion. Razor (vocals) replied to my questions about the Leeds hardcore scene, Brexit, NYHC and the relation to the title of their new record to the ‘Punishment park’ film from 1971.

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Pictures by Alex Samayoa (no.1) and Septic Schizo (no.2).

bigcheesehc.bandcamp.com www.instagram.com/unitedkingdomofbigcheese

Hey Razor! What’s up mate? Please introduce yourself! Who else is Big Cheese and what do you do for a living? Do you also play in other bands or are you involved in the scene in any other way?

Hey Apostolis, I’m doing well. Currently isolated in my house in North West London amidst the chaos that is the Coronavirus. I sing in Big Cheese and also work part time fixing jeans for a Swedish denim company. Meg plays guitar and is in the fashion world, Louis plays guitar and plays full-time in Higher Power with our drummer Alex and Joe our bassist is an Apple Genius.

Big Cheese means an important person in the business or something. Why did you choose such a name? Was your goal to leave a big mark on the hardcore scene?

It’s funny because everybody else except me was opposed to calling the band Big Cheese but they soon came around ha ha. I liked the idea of it being this kinda obnoxious in-yourface thing but not arrogant, you know? I don’t think we had any long term goals with the band, particularly with Higher Power taking off around that time, but I know we put a lot into making a half decent demo. I guess things panned out pretty well!

You come from Leeds, a city with a prolific hardcore scene through the years. Bands like Rot In Hell and lately Higher Power, Violent Reaction or The Flex come from your city. There must be something in the water

there! How’s the scene nowadays and how’s life in the north?

I grew up in a town half way between Leeds and Manchester but spent about 6 years in Leeds. I moved to London last summer so I can’t really comment on the scene in Leeds anymore, but I was sad to see numbers had started to dwindle and less bands were playing out. At least with shows I was doing. With that being said, Leeds has some great venues which was a good hub for all of our bands to grow and the scene to flourish. Some of my favourite life memories are from my years in Leeds and I‘ll never forget them.

You recently released ‘Punishment Park’, a record that in my opinion and as I posted in my social media is ‘the shape of hardcore to come’. Definitely a big step from your previous EP ‘Aggravated moppery’. Give us some behind the scenes info and how did you end up working with BBB Records (in co-operation with Quality Control Records of course)?

Thanks mate, I really appreciate that. I think it was a given that we were gonna release an LP on QCHQ because Ola has been so kind to us over the years. QCHQ is a perfect DIY label and the collaboration just made sense after doing two other releases with her. Sam at BBB reached out to us as we were half way through writing the record and after a quick discussion,

all parties agreed to do it. It was all pretty easy and we just sorted it all out via a group chat.

Your sound is heavily influenced by 80s NYHC and bands like Cro-Mags, Breakdown and Warzone to name a few. What fascinates you in this kind of sound?

I would have to say all of the rhythms and styles prevalent in NYHC are what fascinate me and always have. Whether any of the what seems effortless to the listener was ever totally deliberate when the bands were knocking all those infamous demos and records out; going from fast 230bpm parts to slower, more primitive parts in an instant is so jarring in a good way. It’s very organic. As a drummer primarily, I was brought up listening to and playing a lot of different styles of music and NYHC seemed to be an amalgamation of a lot of them and it just seemed to click with me.

There’s also a touch of NWOBHM / Motorhead style metal / punk, am I right?

Yeah you’re right! Me and Meg are always listening to that stuff so I guess it found its way in there.

Do you write the lyrics? I have noticed that lately, with the rise of music streaming platforms, only a few care about reading lyrics when they listen to a record. Thus, less and less bands write quality lyrics. How important are the lyrics to Big Cheese and what topics do you cover?

I think good lyrics are integral to hardcore punk. It’s easy to piece together a couple of buzz words but I’m always conscious of not being too on the nose and try to come up with something a bit more imaginative. It’s also important to take a stance on certain things and I guess a bulk of my lyrics on the new record are pretty socio-political. Unique to our situation here, we were writing during the whole Brexit shitstorm so what I was penning at the time reflected how I felt about the whole thing. A lot of the other stuff are tongue in cheek commentaries and ramblings from the depths of my mind and stories from my day to day experiences.

‘Punishment Park’ pays homage to the 1971 film of the same name. What’s that special with that specific film and how does it connect to your music?

Punishment Park is a great film. It’s pretty harrowing and I’m drawn to its format because it’s really not that far from reality in some areas of the world. Police states, extreme censorship and surveillance etc. I referenced the film in a song and loved the title so we decided to name the record after it. It then helped shape the overall package and created a solid theme to really get behind. When relating it back to my own experience, 2019 Britain felt like some kind of twisted funfair, just without any fun ha ha.

The cover artwork is amazing. Who designed it and what do you want to represent with this?

My man Nicky Rat. He designs pretty much everything now. Faust (Andrew Fletcher) designed both our demo and 7” covers and Nicky kept with the general theme with the Big Cheese. Now he’s sat dining at his table in the center of Punishment Park. I wanted it to represent the band at present and tie together as many of the lyrical themes from both this record and Aggravated Mopery as possible on paper.

You’ve already tour the States twice. What differences do you see between the scene there and the one in UK / EU? Any big plans for more touring in the future?

UK and Europe are always fun and hospitable. I love the States and we have made a ton of friends there. The only downside for me is folks getting aggro over the smallest thing and scrapping over nothing. It does come with the territory but fighting gets boring when you realise there is a much bigger and badder world out there. I’ve lost friends to mindless violence and I hate to see it tarnish good shows. The world over has been very receptive of Big Cheese and shown nothing but love. We’re grateful to play out anywhere we’re invited and although nothing is set in stone, we certainly plan on touring this record when the pandemic subsides.

Thanks a lot for the interview. Stay safe!

Cheers mate, likewise!