Pomona, CA - At this year's HARD Day of The Dead, we had the opportunity to interview one of the scene's big up-and-comers, Big Gigantic. The band consists of Dominic Lalli, a producer who plays the saxophone live, and Jeremy Salken on the drums. Their live shows present a unique mix of banging EDM while keeping true to the soul of live jazz club improvisation. With a growing demand of electronic music and a surplus of CDJ players, these guys have definitely found a niche that’s been able to push them into the limelight this past year. We had a chance to chat with the duo before their performance on the main stage see what they had to say in our exclusive interview!

DB: You guys were just in Atlanta right?

Dom: We did Atlanta two nights ago for Halloween and had a total rager! We dressed up as Cheech and Chong. That’s why he was growing the beard out.

 DB: And now you’re going for No Shave November?

Jeremy: Well I guess we’ve transitioned. Now that it's already here I thought we might as well keep it going and see what happens. I’m three weeks in already I might just keep going.

 DB: You guys stoked for the Mad Decent Boat Party? Have you ever played on a boat?

Jeremy: We’ve done Holy Ship but we’re stoked to be a part of the first Mad Decent Boat Party. Playing on a boat is the best.

Dom: One of my favorite festival experiences is the crewship, rager, festival because there’s no phones so you’re out of touch with everything. There’s nothing to do but just hangout. There’s food 24-hours a day plus you can sleep in a bed and take a shower without dealing with shuttles. You can do your thing then just walk back to your room.

 DB: How’s the tour life been treating you?

Dom: We love it man it’s great. About twice a year we'll take on the big tours with a bus and everything then over Summer we’ll do like festivals and one offs. We just got off some insane shows with Skrillex.

DB: The first time we caught you guys in SoCal was at Coachella this year and it seriously blew us away. What can we expect to have changed in the performance since then?

Dom: We’re always changing up the progression of our shows through the music and visuals. I'd say our shows have been steadily evolving since we began performing six years ago. We try to keep it fresh and fun for the fans and ourselves. The cool part about Coachella was that we were able to do it twice. You do it the first time and you’re like holy shit that was amazing, and then the next week it happens all over again!

DB: So you guys remixed Zhu recently and that was a great track. How’s the response been to it online and at performances?

Jeremy: Good I think our fans are loving it and we love playing it. We’ve started doing a little section of deep house in our sets to give it some variety and so far everyone’s into it.

DB: Have you rocked any Hard events before?

Dom: I don’t think we have yet but we’re getting the big stage tonight so we’ll be going up there and just doing that [makes a karate chop motion].

DB: When did you guys meet each other?

Jeremy: We met like 10 years ago through the music scene in Colorado. We played jazz gigs together, you know some funky stuff. We were in a bunch of different bands just playing a lot. We also lived together at some point and eventually Dom got a computer and started making beats on it.

Dom: We were always playing a lot of random gigs and at the time we were trying to figure out some way to incorporate what we were digging electronically with what we played in jazz. We were just messing around and figuring out how to do something new.

DB: How was the transition going from being a musician into producing EDM.

Jeremy: We’re still learning so much new stuff with EDM. It feels the same as learning an instrument when it comes to technology and music production. It’s like learning something on top of making what you already know. We see it as a fresh approach to creating music.

DB: It seems like being a good producer requires artists to learn the craft of sound engineering too.

Dom: Yeah I mix all of our stuff and then we’ll have it sent to our guy to master it. Aside from that we do everything ourselves. We have a studio in the basement in my house. For the last couple years I’ve been working out of our manager’s garage which was kind of cool but now I have my own thing so its way nicer.

DB: How’s the workflow when you’re getting through an album?

Dom: You know it's always different because we’re always so busy it’s like I’m writing whenever I can then we finish up the stuff that’s worthy of releasing. And eventually we figure out a way to put it all together on a finished product.

DB: How much of the music that you make will you actually put out?

Jeremy: Well it’s hard to say. A lot of times you’ll start something that will lead to something else then you can toss around ideas that will eventually make the cut. There’s tons of ideas we’re always messing with in terms of composing and sound design. The great thing about working electronically is that you can just save things that you come up with then build a palette to come back to whenever.

DB: Your following has gained a lot of attraction this past year how does it feel knowing that your music is being heard and shared around the world.

Jeremy: It feels great, we’re just staying super busy and trying to keep things rolling

Dom: Yeah this year has been huge for us in so many different ways releasing our album and touring abroad on top of all the insane festivals. This feels like a good way to close off all the work we’ve done all year. We’re wrapping up the festivals with Day of the Dead and pretty soon we’ll be getting down some fresh new material.

DB: You guys are already planning out your next album?

Dom: Oh yeah absolutely the concept is already in motion and once we make it home we’ll be hard at work on it!

We had a great time talking with Dom and Jeremy. We're excited to see what they have coming up in the future!

Photos by Jay Wade Photography