Big Data will play his first Sunset Strip Music Festival on the West Stage Sept 21
From The Big Apple to the Sunset Strip BIG DATA, has done just what the name suggest by hitting two of the biggest music scenes with his newfound “paranoid electronic music.” Now ready to take on the legendary Sunset Strip performing at this year’s Sunset Strip Music festival (SSMF), BIG DATA will play at 4:50 p.m. on the West Stage Sun, Sept. 21.
New Yorker, Alan Wilkis is giving us a “Dangerous” sound with BIG DATA’s recent chart topper, along with an even stranger music video, that you can catch here
OC Concert Guide caught up with Wilkis to talk about SSMF and the concept of his recent music video.
OCCG: You will be playing SSMF this year with over 70 bands in a span of two days, what are you most excited for?
AW: There are so many insanely awesome bands playing, hard to pick… Definitely excited to see Jane’s Addiction, Big Freedia, and Mayer Hawthorne. Fenech Soler are friends-via-the-internet of mine – excited to finally watch and meet them in person… And obviously Fartbarf.
OCCG: With that being said, Sunset Strip has a lot of music history behind is, do you have any favorite iconic bands that came out of that scene?
AW: Guns & Roses were pretty big for me when I was growing up, and if I ever find myself playing a guitar solo while rising out of the ocean like Slash in the “Estranged” video, I’ll consider my life complete.
OCCG: Where can we catch you at SSMF, when you are not on stage?
AW: I’ll mostly be alternating between watching other bands, drinking coffee, watching more bands, eating, and drinking more coffee…
OCCG: You have done remixes for various major artists, which one has been your favorite?
AW: I’ve been fortunate enough to remix a pretty broad range of artists, but my favorite has to have been The Who. Just being able to hear the original stems and individual parts of such an iconic recording… that was a dream come true.
OCCG: What is the meaning behind the name BIG DATA?
AW: In the tech sense, “big data” refers to making sense out of outrageously large quantities of data. As a music project, I think of the name as trying to make sense out of how technology influences our lives, and how we are evolving as a result. I’m fascinated by the complicated role that technology plays in our lives.
OCCG: What was the vision behind the music video Dangerous, with the women covered in blood, the pitching of the running shoes it’s quite the video.
AW: The vision was to try to turn the American marketing and advertising machine on its head. We imagined a world where a brand manufactures this product that encourages evil and violent behavior in its consumers, and then we wanted to depict how the brand and its agents would set about marketing that product, all the while knowing its evil effects.
OCCG: Now that Dangerous peaked at number one on the Alt Charts, What’s next anything we should be looking out for?
AW: I’m in the process of recording my full-length album and am in the home stretch! So keep an eye out for those new tunes, and in the meantime I’ve got a new remix EP, entitled “1.6,” coming out on 9/30.
OCCG: What can we find on the BIG DATA iPod playlist?
AW: I’m a bit of a musical sponge. I’m constantly on the hunt for new music, and try to listen to a few new albums a week. I pick my favorite songs from each new album and archive them in a public Spotify playlist every Friday – you can follow it here.
OCCG: You will be going on tour this fall with Fitz and the Tantrums, How close are you with the band? Do you set ground rules for the tour, or will you have any pre-show rituals?
AW: I got to meet Fitz for the first time at a festival date we both played recently. He was incredibly nice and a pleasure to talk to, and I’ve heard from multiple sources that the entire band and team are all similarly wonderful to be around – can’t wait to hang with them!
I don’t think I’ll set any ground rules for the tour other than I ride shotgun, and I’m in charge of music in the van. Otherwise, I’m going to try to eat healthy, do vocal warm ups before every show, and hopefully get some exercise in there… clearly some real cool-guy-musician stuff. Ha!