by Patrick Pilch (@pratprilch)
Big Bite manage to pull zero punches on their self-titled LP; the most recent arrival on the fledgling boutique label Pop Wig. For their proper debut, the Seattle-based outfit assemble eight, fuzz punk pieces in just 22 minutes. Each track soars with raw intensity, elaborating on the prototypical ideas developed on the band’s previous “demo,” “seven inch” and tour tape releases.
Sharing members with Oakland’s own Happy Diving, Big Bite pull straight from their brother-band’s playbook. In a lot of ways, the group is quite similar to Happy Diving: cranked amps, feedback laden intros and wailing guitar hooks make up the bulk of Big Bite’s sound. Half the tracks on Big Bite’s self-titled border anthemic, each bearing the boot-stomping potential to strike fear in floorboards across the nation.
Highlight “Relentless Healing” packs a frantic sense of urgency, possessing a force only quelled by a warbling guitar riff around the track’s two-minute mark. The fill gently concludes the manic peak in the album’s prettiest, most tempered moment. Opener “Pure of Heart” kicks things off with a boisterous, beer-clinking introduction of pure “rock and roll,” leather not included. “Faith” picks up where “Heart” leaves off, playing out like a feel good aftershock of the sonic spiraling of “Get Away” or “Double Dare.”
Combining the raw, aggro approach of Wipers with the hyper-elated vivacity of The Replacements, Big Bite adopt a full-throttle punk approach, composed in tangent with scrappy DIY ethics. Being their debut, the album marks the beginning of a band’s self-realization, as concepts escape their embryonic blueprint stage and advance into territory of refinement. Big Bite offer a terse but thoughtful collection of solid tracks, a perfectly brief introduction to aside-project actualized.