Dinosaur Pile Up: The Jurassic Spark

Dinosaur Pile Up

Among other things, vocal­ist-guitarist Matt Bigland is talking about wind conditions when his band, Dinosaur Pile Up, take to stage for their India debut in November. Says Bigland over the phone, “I hope it won’t be windy.” Bigland is known to hit all kinds of stress buttons ahead of a show and this is just one of those moments of panic. “The guys ”“ [drummer] Mike [Sheils] and [bassist] Jim [Cratchley] ”“ are usually okay and it’s me that gets kind of nervous. I’m just like that.”

It’s the same nervous mind that felt lonely after a show in Barcelona and wrote “Barceloner,” part of their 2010 debut album Growing Pains. Bigland, currently on the phone from Copenhagen while Dinosaur Pile Up are on tour promoting their 2013 album Nature Nurture says “some kind of touring can be quite displacing,” The frontman is quick to add, “That’s not necessarily a complaint though.” In fact, Bigland is excited to come down to India for the Bacardi NH7 Weekender in November, performing in Pune and Delhi. Says Bigland, “Being asked to play in India is such a wild idea for us.”

Dinosaur Pile Up, which originally started off as Bigland’s solo project in 2007. Including Growing Pains and Nature Nurture, Bigland has always written all the band’s material. He says the process won’t change with their next album either. “I’m always writing. I get bored and restless very quickly. As soon as I finished Nature Nurture, I was already writing.” Bigland adds that they aren’t quite done touring with Nature Nurture, though. After releasing singles such as the warm, happy “Peninsula,” and the sadder, but still heavy break-up song “Derail,” Dinosaur Pile Up have toured UK, Europe, Japan and the U.S. The band is notching up much more popularity in America especially since their sound is closer to their inf luences, including American rock bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Weezer. Bigland adds that their recent shows in Japan were equally well-received. Says the vocalist, “It’s crazy for us when we go to a new country and the people sing the lyrics back. We didn’t know what to expect, and at our f irst show, the crowd was singing back Nature Nurture and we couldn’t believe what was happening.” Other times, Bigland knows even the press is always on cue with their songs and material. He recalls doing five days of interviews while Dinosaur Pile Up played in Australia, “Some of the questions were so in-depth, I thought, ”˜Oh my god, you thought more about writing the songs than I had to do.’”

With a week to spend in India, two festival shows and a club show on the cards, Bigland says fans and first time listeners can expect the band’s favorites off both albums as part of the setlist. Says Bigland, “We play the heaviest songs, usually. I can guarantee it will be pretty wicked.”

This article appeared in the November 2014 issue of ROLLING STONE India.