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Big Wild and a Bright Future: Get Familiar With the Charismatic Stylings of This Blossoming Producer [Interview]

November 5, 2015 By Halina Wilusz

Big Wild

Jackson aka Big Wild signed to Odesza’s label just last year, and ever since has been hanging on to an upward, whirlwind of rising popularity and success. Or, for this cool West Coast native, just going with the flow. He’s electrified crowds with his live drumming, piano, and whistling at festivals all over the country this year including Shambhala, Lightening In A Bottle, and most recently Suwannee Hulaween in Live Oak, Florida.

Weekends like this can be a little overwhelming. I just came off tour with GRiZ to here, I go to Tulsa tomorrow, then finally back home to LA, but I think overall you have to take everything in strides when you get to this point. You can’t sit down, and think of everything that’s going on cause then you will be overwhelmed, but just one thing at a time and as cheesy as it sounds go with the flow.

We lucked out at the chance to pick Jackson’s brain just before his afternoon set in the legendary Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park Ampitheater. Diving into everything from his, background, his breakthrough year and what we can look forward to coming from Big Wild in 2016, read up more on the rising star down below.

Tell us a bit about your musical background and how your sound has evolved since you started making music?

I played from 3rd grade through 8th grade, and I got bored of doing just one instrument. That’s when I started breaking out music production on the computer. So starting at about 13 I made hip-hop beats all through high school and into college where I really started to take more of an electronic spin to it, making songs that could stand on their own and not necessarily need vocals on it. That kind of evolved into where I am now;

Always trying to do something unique and experimental in every song, but still be relatable to people. That’s kind of my driving mission.

Do you think you need a background in instruments to make good electronic music?I don’t. It certainly helps, but I think the most important thing to making good electronic music is that you have to be a good songwriter. You’ve got to be able to create good melodies or be good at sound design; making a good sound palette for the whole song. You can make great electronic music without necessarily being a great pianist, guitarist, drummer, or what have you, but you definitely need songwriting abilities, and you have to have a good ear too if you want to consistently be making good music.
You once stated that “Venice Ventures” was inspired by watching Pulp Fiction. Have you had any similar experiences lately that you could see blooming into more creative tracks as well?I haven’t had a cultural influence like that since “Venice Ventures,” but I have been influenced a lot by the people and musicians I’ve met since I’ve started touring this year. Seeing my music played out live has given me such a new perspective whereas last year I’d only performed a handful of shows, so seeing how music translates live has totally given me new inspiration as to how I want people to feel when they come to the shows.
You’ve had such a big year. Was there ever a moment when you realized that everything was going to keep going up from here?I think it’s when I first performed with ODESZA at three shows last September and October. Their agent reached out for a meeting, and said he wanted to represent me. Then when the gigs started rolling in I was touring with ODESZA, and then with Kodak to Graph I really realized like, “Hey, this is going somewhere.” Since then I’ve just been getting pretty good opportunities, doing my best to take advantage of them, and I think it’s slowly paying off.
How you cool was it having your track “Aftergold” featured in an Apple Watch commercial?That was awesome, and actually a total surprise until my manager showed me the ad when it finally aired. They didn’t want to tell me incase the deal fell through or something. It’s pretty crazy to see your music on such a well known company’s commercial, especially for a new product.

That was also kind of an indicator that this is going somewhere. It was cool to see my music set to visuals and video. There are a lot of opportunities like that that have been coming through and I never really thought of my music that way in like a visual, cinematic way, but that’s how a lot of people interpret it, and it’s cool.

Do you have any plans for releasing new tracks or even a headlining tour?I’m working on a lot of original music right now that I’m planning to releasing December through spring. Then I’m working on a couple tentative projects for the end of Summer..like an album type of project. As far as a headline tour goes I’m working on one for April and May of next year going all around the country, about 30 shows.

I’ve got a lot of cool remixes and collaborations in the workings too. I’m working on a lot of cool tracks that I can’t really talk about yet, (but I can say) there is one GRiZ plays sax on. I’ve had better opportunities now to work with bigger artists, and artists that I’ve been wanting to work with for a while.

Since I’ve been so unknown nobody’s given me a chance, I’m finally getting that chance.

Big Wild - GRiZ Tour

Out of any living vocalists who you would want to work with the most?I don’t know if this is my favorite (vocalist), but it’s who first came to mind…Stevie Nicks. I just love her voice. She’s such a badass and has such good energy. I would love to just make a song around her voice. I’m really into classic rock and music from the 70s and 80s, so she’s definitely a huge influence.

What artists are you listening to right now?Tame Impala… I’ve been getting into Kendrick’s album, To Pimp A Butterfuly, it’s taken me awhile to process every track. It’s pretty deep, but really cool stuff. I’m into a lot of different stuff…like Thundercat Flying Lotus’ bassist). He put out like a five track project recently. Then there’s always random shit on Soundcloud that pops up. If you go through my likes it’s a total clusterfuck of different stuff, but that’s how I get inspired and influenced.

Sometimes you hear about artists that hate having their original tracks remixed. As an artist with a pretty extensive library of remixes how do you feel about artists who are disapproving?Most of the remixes I do now have been approved of by the band (or used on a remix EP). I’ve never actually encountered a situation where someone got pissed off that I remixed their song. The two biggest remixes I did that were unofficial were the Sylvan Esso for “Hey Mami”…I just found the acapella, did it, and it turns out they really liked it which was dope; and then the Hundred Waters’ remix. I actually reached out to them for their approval, and they loved it.

I think it can be tricky because if your music is out on the internet, then anyone can remix it, and take it a direction that you never really intended, which isn’t fair to you as an artist. But it’s something that comes with the territory. I still think it’s a really good opportunity to establish a name for yourself especially if you’re a smaller artist.

How did you come up with the name Big Wild?It’s inspired by my first trip out to California when we went to Big Sur, and I was really inspired by the landscape. I was already going in the direction of making electronic music that was adventurous or trying to be different than what everybody else was doing or what the trend was, and that solidified that idea in an abstract way, and that name Big Wild just came to me naturally.

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?I actually went to Goodwill and got a cheetah shirt and leather pants so I’m going to be a disco rockstar kind of thing. I need a sleezy gold chain though to solidify the outfit I just don’t have one. I might see where I can find one around here. It’s a pretty amusing outfit I just kind of put it on yet though. I’m kind of embarrassed.

Big Wild Hulaween

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I’ve been under the idea that if I make the best music I can everything else will just follow.

The sky is the limit for this rising producer, and we can’t wait to hear what adventurous sounds he will come up with next. Big Wild’s entire library of remixes and original tracks is available for streaming now on Soundcloud.