Big Girl

By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Photo by: Sydney Tate featuring Crispin Swank, Christina Schwedler, Melody Stolpp, and Kaitlin Pelkey

Meet Big Girl

A self-portrait by, Big Girl

Would you rather…

be able to jump a hundred feet in the air, or make things move with your mind? What would you do?

Oh absolutely move things with my mind.  In terms of practicality, this would be super helpful. My upper body strength is… more like upper body weakness. Never been able to do a pull-up. I need help with amps. Not very big girl boss of me. So first I'd use my mind to carry everything I need everywhere. But the grander possibilities are kind of endless here. Maybe I'd make the band rise up into the air during our live set. Not to be that bitch but I could also probably move my body a hundred feet in the air if I could move things with my mind so seems like the most sensible option overall. 

Some questions with Big Girl

Hey there, welcome to the blog. Tell us about your project. Who is Big Girl?

We are Big Girl! I like to think that we make up this giant lumbering one-hundred-foot-tall animatronic woman. Josh on drums controls the legs, Nico on bass is the heart, Crispin on guitar gets the arms and hands. The vocalists Christina and Melody are like two little demons forever circling Big Girl, or like a shoulder angel/devil combo except they’re just two devils. And me, Kait, I’m the little guy behind the controls in Big Girl’s head.

What was the first concert you ever went to? How did it go? 

I grew up in Miami where there was a surprisingly active local rock scene when I was in high school. The surprising part was that it was high school bands putting on shows in local bars and venues like Churchills and Sweat Records. It felt sort of anarchic, lawless, and I loved it. The first concert I ever went to was probably some Miami high school punk band at Churchills. The first bigger concert I can remember was St. Vincent at the Stage in Miami. I remember her passing over me in a black leather bodice and skin-tight leather pants. I held her leg. 

What do you like best about performing live in NYC?

Aw well everyone is so damn talented. Sometimes I get to the point where I feel like I really know it, I know the faces and the venues. I feel like I can see the bubbles of communities, where this one branches off, kids who went to college together, folks from the west coast, and I feel like I have a sort of bird's eye view. Then BAM I go to a random show and see an incredible band I've never heard of with this whole attached community that’s always been just beyond my sightline. That happened to me the other night at Transpecos – I went to see Sour Widows who we played a show with at Radio Bean in Burlington on our tiny tour and I saw the opening band koleżanka who blew my mind! It's like the internet or the multiverse. Lol. Or like if you took a turn on a random street in your own neighborhood and find out there’s been a carnival there the whole time you've just never seen it!

What was the origin of the stellar orange jumpsuit featured in the music video for ‘Summer Sickness’ as well as some live performances?

Ah, yes. The flight suit. I found the orange suit on depop! I knew I wanted to make a video for Summer Sickness. Even before we had recorded it. A lot of the visual story came to me while we were working on the demo. I visualized the hill and dancing on it with Melody and Christina. I had an image in mind of a distant shot where all you see is a little orange dot moving on a grassy expanse. We didn’t end up using that shot in the video but it gave me the color orange to work with. A lot of the song is about my mother when she was incredibly sick before she passed. She slept a lot, and I would imagine that she dreamt of flying. When I found the flight suit on depop, a lot of vague ideas I had about the video came into focus for me. 

There was also some inspiration for the song arrangement and the video idea in Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”. That’s the music video where she’s dressed in this incredible red outfit with Salisbury Plain in the background. We had pretty similar damp and gloomy weather at the shoot for Summer Sickness, which we shot at Knapp’s View in Chester New York. My mom and I loved belting Wuthering Heights in the car, plus my mom’s name is Cathy so in my head the song is really about her.

Do you have anyone you look to for fashion inspiration?

In NYC I feel like having your eyes open is enough. I’m a libra so I’m vain and I use outfits to change my mood. Sometimes I’ll change three or four times in the same day because different scenarios call for different perspectives, qualities of movement, textures. 

I feel like I get the most fashion inspiration from my friends. I used to say that my friend Hannah Gutman was my stylist / social media manager. You may recognize them as Twister Daddy. They are a fellow libra and Miamian so they *get it*. I still text them when I don’t know what to wear for a show.  

What does your family think about your music?

They’re super encouraging! They haven’t heard much since we only have two singles out and most don’t live in NYC so they haven’t seen the live show. But my dad is on Facebook a lot and always sees the day-after-show-tagged-story dumps. His favorite song of ours is “Instructions to Say Sorry” which is ironic and awesome. Maybe one day he will read the lyrics...

If you could ask another musician any question who would it be and what would you ask?

I don’t know. I’m freezing up here. Will you go to the dance with me? That, to anyone and everyone. I’ll see myself out.

What was it like working on the music video for ‘Summer Sickness’?

It was awesome. I wish we had more resources to make every song into a music video. I write very visually and often have music video ideas even as I’m songwriting. 

It was a long process developing the Summer Sickness music video. It started with my bandmate Christina Schwedler and me improvising movements to the demo recording on my roof. I brought the idea to the choreographer Renata Pereira Lima (who I went to high school with!) and she got the essence of the idea immediately. Renata worked so closely with us to teach us the choreography! Melody and Christina and I spent some very long days in dance studios rehearsing the parts! Everyone was just super dedicated and supportive and that’s pretty much everything you can hope for as an artist. Working with skilled people who care about your art, who want to uplift it, and make it so much better with their individual talents. It’s everything I want from music and collaboration.

How do you feel about the reception to ‘Summer Sickness’ so far?

People are connecting with it! And well, what more can you ask for? It feels like it’s opening doors for us and that’s exciting! It’s also gotten some radio play which is wild and new for us. The feedback has been immensely positive and has left me feeling very optimistic!

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

We’re releasing “Black-Eyed Susan” on October 4th along with an animated lyric video! That song has probably my favorite lyrics on the album so we really wanted to highlight them with this release. Also October 4th is my bday soooo you kind of have to listen.