Surviving Everything Q & A: Lachlan and Joshua from Big Dead
Brisbane’s jazziest alt-rock quintet Big Dead are on the verge of releasing their most ambitious collection of songs, in the form of third EP ‘Shell’. Ahead of the EP’s launch show at The Foundry we asked 40 per cent of the group how they’d be the ultimate cockroach and survive everything the world could hurl at them!
If a zombie apocalypse happened, what would you take with you to survive?
Lachlan: A Lifestraw (a bottle that makes contaminated water safe to drink) because being eaten by a zombie while violently ejecting vomit and diarrhoea is not radical. A .22 caliber rifle because .22 is the most abundant ammunition type. Antiseptic stuff, because in any apocalypse scenario just think of what would’ve killed you if you were in the middle ages. Your Dad because, cold nights…
What are the items you would need to survive if you were stranded on an island?
Joshua: Pretty much the same answer as the first question, except maybe more dads?
How would you survive if you and were band mates were put into The Hunger Games?
Joshua: I LOVE Jennifer Lawrence, but I would promote the fact that we need/WILL hunt and kill her. We are the hungriest.
How would you survive if you were stuck in GTA Five?
Joshua: Well for starters, it’d be funnier being stuck in vice city, but I’d be a thug for a bit, doing missions and sh*t, then invest in the stock market and sabotage the companies, try to make it as a legit munza.
Lachlan: Nah dog, invincibility. ► X ► ◄ ► R1 ► ◄ X ∆. However, this will not help you with the dehumanising existential crisis that follows losing the value and beauty imbued by impermanence.
If you were stuck in the desert and everyone spoke Portuguese what would you do?
Lachlan: That probably means we’re in southern Mozambique in which case the people I’m with probably know what they’re doing. If not, just head north toward the rainier subtropical region.
If you were stuck in the ocean ‘Castaway’ style how would you survive?
Lachlan: I’m terrified of big boats – like being on the water near one, but I suppose you could swim over to a cruise ship, get a contract playing jazz and seek out a meagre existence scavenging Penne Alla Arrabiata from the lunch buffet.
How would you survive stranded in New York with no clothes or money?
Joshua: Turn tricks for the first day – make a killing cause lately we are all looking like Grecian gods. Then just start living out ‘Sex In The City’ till the end of days.
For the uninitiated, how would you explain Big Dead’s sound and live shows?
Live: 1 per cent crowd banter, 17 per cent choons, 82 per cent technical difficulties.
Sound: We run an addled path through jazz and rock experimentalism, recalling the sprawling reveries of Spiritualised and the skittering polyrhythmic manoeuvres of Jaga Jazzist.
We’re loving your new single Sad Machine, what is the inspiration behind the song?
Joshua: It’s actually an adaptation of a screenplay I wrote about a robot Frankenstein. Cam really nailed it!
Lastly, what are three things that people should know about your upcoming EP ‘Shell’?
Joshua: Sounds, Words, Strings.
Lachlan: It’s the band’s third EP, it’s getting launched on the 28th of July at The Foundry, and we’ll have some other survivalists supporting us.
Big Dead ‘Shell’ EP Launch
THURS 28 JULY
The Foundry, Brisbane
