[Interview] LITTLE BIG: pink is a trashy color

Pink bangs, tattoos, fluorescent pink chibres projected on stage, Little Big declares in his microphone "We are Little Big, we are coming from mother Russia, you know what I mean". And if you don't know it, you soon learn it. Often compared to the South African band Die Antwoord, Little Big has been able to form a strong identity in the musical world by exploiting traditional Russian imagery, and having fun like crazy. 

Leaving Russia the same day to win the Fête du Bruit in Landerneau and its French crowds, the most trashy band of the festival talked about their music in all simplicity. Little Big closed the second night of the Festival of Noise, talking about sex, bombs, punk, and sex in their songs. We talked to the most famous band about the Russian rave scene, their music and their country.

"We don't provoke"

Good evening Little Big (it's past 11 p.m.).

Ilya Prusikin (pretends to swing the flowers on the table in front of him): Ah, I can't see you.

Let's start with the music! What are your influences?

Ilya Prusikin : Pro DJ, Nirvana, Radiohead… Almost just classical music! [laughs] We listen to Dutch music too.

Okay, and how did you come up with this pretty unique sound? 

[The group manager translated to the band members who responded in Russian. The answers to the questions are a synthesis of the answers of Ilya Prusikin, Sergey Makarov, Sophia Tayurskaya, Anton Lissov and the manager, on the right in the photo]

The "unique sound" came by itself, we do not really know how. 

Do you make your songs according to a real artistic approach, or to provoke?

We don't do this to provoke. What we come out is what we want to do. It sounds more complicated than it sounds. We don't have a special goal.

Even Lollybomb?

Lollybomb is just a fun story there is no political context to the lyrics and the clip. We needed to tell a story, and Kim Jung Hun was the right character, so he was the one we staged.

What is your favorite clip to shoot? 

Faradenza.

"It's much more complicated to make music freely in the United States than in Russia"

What is your worst tour memory?

We once did a concert in the Czech Republic. The name of the city where we played, in Russian, means "fuck". And you know what? 5 people came. The concert was horrible.

A better tour memory perhaps, to balance the balance?

The manager : I would say a beautiful day spent by the sea, in Marseille. We were having a picnic, right after the concert, we saw the sun rise. We have good friends there. Besides, we lost contact, so if thanks to this interview they can reach us on Facebook or by other means… 

Our best memories are in France. It is in your country that we do the most concerts, after Russia.

We often talk about censorship in Russia… Do you feel free to express yourself with your music?

The Russian underground scene is one of the most powerful in the world. But it mainly exploits the Russian language.In Russia, for 3 years, it has become easier to do what you want in the field of music. In the United States, for example, it is much more complicated, because there is more control.

There are no big labels in Russia. 53% of the Russian market is independent, which must seem pretty crazy for Europeans.

Indeed, it is a significant figure… Little Big in three words?

Mad! With a soul. And… Russian!

Discover Faradenza's music video!

Little Big released the first part of the album Antipositive this spring. The second part is scheduled for October.