Big Gigantic plays Orbit Room in Grand Rapids

Courtesy / msorp.com
Big Gigantic performing at Red Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Courtesy photo

Courtesy / msorp.com Big Gigantic performing at Red Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Stephanie Allen

Since Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken first started Big Gigantic in 2008, they haven’t stopped booking shows or gaining fans. And in an electronic dance genre that has seen a lot of new artists, it seems as if they’ve made it, well, big.

But for Lalli, his Big Gigantic dreams aren’t over yet. Every day he gets better and sets more goals for the duo.

“It’s hard for me to really – its always just such a work in progress for me, so it’s hard to feel like we made it,” Lalli said. “I set my goals real high.”

With a master’s degree in jazz saxophone from the Manhattan School of Music, Lalli moved to Boulder, Col., and was living with Salken when they started making music together.

“We had been playing music for a couple of years before we started the Big Gigantic idea,” Lalli said. “I was in another band and I was kind of sitting in with some other electronic bands and some people in Boulder were like, ‘Oh, you should start something.’”

So he went to his roommate and they started messing around with electronic beats mixed with Lalli’s live saxophone and Salken playing drums. And before they knew it, they were touring and playing shows all over the country.

“When I got the idea, I got Jeremy involved, started rehearsing, got some gigs, then in a few blinks of an eye it was four years later,” Lalli said.

During those four years, Big Gigantic released four albums, including their latest, “Nocturnal,” last January, and has embarked on endless tours. They’re now in the second week of their biggest circuit yet with the Winter Tour, which stops in Grand Rapids Feb. 8 at the Orbit Room. With several of the shows already sold out, he said nobody should miss the Michigan stops.

“Everyone should definitely come because they’re going to feel like they missed out if they didn’t,” Lalli said. “We have so much love for Grand Rapids.”

They show their love onstage, mixing melodies and beats to create unique shows. Big Gigantic puts a twist on electronic dance music by adding live instruments and with what Lalli calls “experimental improvised jamming,” which helps him guarantee that this tour will be one big “raging dance party.”

“It’s pretty good times, a lot of good music and, yeah, our light show right now is just nuts, I mean huge – we call it the waterfall,” Lalli said. “But, we’re definitely having a good time out here. It’ll be a party.”

After being on tour for almost an entire year, moving from festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and the Electric Forest Festival, to doing shows in venues, Big Gigantic had some time off in January to start writing a new album. They are continuing to work on it while on their current tour.

Even though they don’t find a lot of time to stop, Lalli wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I just love it,” he said. “I love playing music. I love making music and it’s that much more rewarding when there’s people out there. I feel so grateful for what I have, the Big G and everything. It’s easy to come out and give it your all every night because I love it.”

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