Troubles’ Brewing
"I wish there was some way I could order a chicken fingers basket without the chicken fingers," Alex Craig muses as we walk up South 2nd Street to Williamsburger for a pre-show drink.
"Wouldn’t that just be an order of fries?" asks Ian Drennan.
"No, it would be a chicken fingers basket without the chicken fingers," replies Craig, noting the important distinction. The brief exchange seems to underscore what I would later learn to be the two’s tendency for stripping things down in a way that makes an odd sort of sense.
We sit down and place our orders— draft beers and, what else, a chicken fingers basket—and get to talking, which is when I learn that, in a sense, only one half of Big Troubles is present at the moment, specifically the formative half.
Big Troubles began as a casual bedroom-recording project between Craig and Drennan (who had a project of the same name before working with Craig). According to the duo, however, things didn’t begin to get serious until the summer of 2009, when they started to collaborate with what would eventually form the rest of the live band: bassist Luca Usmiani and drummer Sam Franklin, formerly of Fluffy Lumbers. The newly formed group played its first show at the end of that summer and continued to work, releasing a debut album, Worr y, this past September to overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Hailing from Ridgewood, N.J., Big Troubles was born during a veritable explosion of music in the area that brought the regional style to the greater New York area in a big way. The band got its start surrounded by acts like Real Estate (and offshoots Ducktails and Alex Bleeker and the Freaks), Julian Lynch and Liam the Younger, and Craig and Drennan readily admit that the scene was somewhat musically incestuous. "We’re also sort of in half these bands too when they have a live lineup," says Craig. "It’s not something you can always hear, but I think we’re all influencing one another by playing together; we’ve all lent little bits of our styles to each other." Drennan pipes up: "Especially playing with Julian." (Big Troubles will tour Europe this summer with Lynch and Ducktails, the seven-person entourage making up three bands live.)
When listening to Big Troubles, currently based out of Brooklyn, it’s clear that there’s a stylistic overlap with these related acts. But it isn’t present to the extent that Big Troubles is without a distinct sound. While much of the recent music to come out of the Ridgewood area has adopted a laid-back, ambient feel, often anchored by washes of drones, soft synth and light, ethereal guitar work, Big Troubles’ sound is marked by fuzzy, electronic drums, heavily distorted guitars and an aesthetic that recalls blown-out speakers and music that surpasses the quality of the sound system it’s being played on.
The songs on Worr y are short, punchy and tend to be anthemic rather than psychedelic. Still, the songs manage to retain a close feeling of intimacy and personality, partially due to the fact that Worr y was recorded only by Craig and Drennan. And though the sound certainly has its melancholy feel, the members of Big Troubles claim it’s more of an incidental quality than something they seek out in their songwriting. "There’s a nostalgic quality to our music," Craig begins. "But I think it’s more a result of the influences we draw from," interjects Drennan. Clarifying, Craig continues, "Our influences appeal to us because of our nostalgic attachment to them."
Currently, Big Troubles is working on a second album to be released in the fall of this year, produced by none other than Mitch Easter, who has produced records for Pavement, REM and many more. The band expects its sophomore release to be a transitional one, as the entire live lineup has been drafted to record the album—Craig and Drennan conjecture that this will add a more dynamic feel to the sound. "It’s not going to sound like it was recorded in a trash can," jokes Craig, although the trash-can aesthetic may be what drew many fans to Big Troubles in the first place.
"We’re hoping that [Easter] can help us realize a record that still references the classic pop we like," Craig muses. "But just more clearly."
While the future may hold hopes for clarity, the blurriness that gives Big Troubles their signature feel is still very much present; as is the debate surrounding the definition of a chickenless chicken fingers basket.
Big Troubles, April 15, Daina Event Oval at Barnard College, West 117th Street at Broadway; 2, Free.