BIG EYES/THE BIG EYES FAMILY PLAYERS
In 1999, James Green finally plucked up the courage (after much procrastinating) to commit two songs to tape that had been buzzing round his head for a few years. ‘Big Eyes’ and ‘The Boo Girl’ were born and, soon after, James realised that recording was actually quite fun and proceeded to record a few more songs. Word had somehow got around about this project (not that it was particularly a secret) and a live invitation popped through the door. James quickly realised that he needed a band and, thanks to some talented friends, Big Eyes took shape.
The music emerged from a love of classical forms, probably instigated by seemingly endless car journeys as a child with Elgar on the stereo. James was keen to make his own ‘classical’ music but, with no classical training nor even the ability to read music, the result was not exactly the Enigma Variations. The actual sound was probably closer to Tindersticks’ more intimate instrumental moments or perhaps the Dirty Three in a music box, with violin, harmonium and guitar as the epicentre. A smart reviewer once noted that the group sounded like ‘a blind man conducting the saddest orchestra you can imagine’.
The group played live all over the UK in various forms (most notably with Daniel Johnson at his UK debut) and released four albums on UK label Pickled Egg Records (‘Big Eyes Songs’, ‘Clumsy Music’, ‘Love Is Gone Mad’ and ‘We Have No Need For Voices When Our Hearts Can Sing’). The music spread out past its initial premise and involved more complex string arrangements, guest musicians and the occasional vocal.
In 2004, James called it a day with Big Eyes. The group had pretty much run its course and a change of direction was needed. So, in its place, James decided to form a collaboration project and called it The Big Eyes Family Players. The group was formed around James and his Big Eyes co-pilot, David Jaycock, and, for the first recordings featured a bunch of gifted individuals they had got to know along the way, including Jeremy Barnes (A Hawk And A Hacksaw), Rachel Grimes (Rachel’s), James Yorkston, James William Hindle and Suzy Mangion. The resulting album ‘Do The Musiking’ (again released on Pickled Egg) was a sprawl of klezmer, chamber music, minimalist lullabies and full-on hoe-downs/rock-outs, as if Big Eyes had been left at the back of the fridge, morphing and mutating into new musical creatures.
TBEFP followed this in 2008/2009 with two more albums, ‘Donkeysongs’ (Rusted Rail) and ‘Warm Room’ (Pickled Egg), the latter an ode to folk music. Also in 2009, in the continuing spirit of collaboration, the band recorded and released an album of traditional music with Fife singer/songwriter James Yorkston, appropriately called 'Folk Songs' (Domino). An album of re-imagined old tales, led by a man with more than a little interest in the form, and coloured-in by a band making it up as they go along. They toured the album around the UK later in the year, playing with Mary Hampton, Alasdair Roberts and Marry Waterson.
The group are about to release a new album for 2011, 'Family Favourites', on Karate Body Records. It is a reworked retrospective of their ten or so years, taking songs from their back-catalogue and rearranging/reworking/rerecording them with an 8-piece band. It also features some new compositions and a cover of 'Three Wheels' by The Dirty Three. The band are also currently working on a follow-up to 'Folk Songs'.