Big Bill represents everything punk should be. Sure, you’ll find drums played at breakneck speed, distorted guitars, and sneering vocals, but that’s not what I mean. Big Bill’s songs and performances push against convention. Though punk as a uniform style has largely congealed into a tepid paste resembling a method of making noise, the best punk acts of the day inhabit a space that can’t merely be labeled punk–or rock or garage or anything else for that matter. Big Bill is identifiably themselves in a way few bands ever are.
Big Bill makes songs that not only embrace oddity and individualism but also challenge gender roles and musical sensibilities. The two songs on their newest 7-inch, “Mainly Manly” and “Weird Walk” evidence these tendencies. In an era when we’ve seen a revitalization of dialogue surrounding gender and race, Big Bill’s songs work to ally themselves with such underrepresented parties, a move that feels even more punk than the genre’s original ideologies. 2016 isn’t the time for a weirdo punk band to make waves nationally or release chart-topping tracks, but Big Bill is more important than that. I can’t think of another current Austin band more iconic or resonant. The’ve already left a mark that will be talked about for years into the future. I am hoping this is just the beginning. I’ve already written the sentence more than once on this blog: if you haven’t yet, see them. Big Bill plays Cheer Up Charlies tomorrow (on a great bill) and the Austin Town Hall & Side One Track One Party at Hotel Vegas on Sunday. You can buy their latest 7-inch here, and listen to both songs below.
