HotStar: Big Gigantic

Big Gigantic has been called livetronica, a term used to describe acts like STS9 and VHS or Beta  Not everybody is on board with the terminology – but if it means a combination of live instruments and electronic music, then it would certainly apply to Big Gigantic’s frenetic live shows.

The duo consists of drummer Jeremy Salken and multi-instrumentalist Dominic Lalli, who graduated with a master’s degree in jazz from the Manhattan School of Music and handles keys, sax and laptop onstage.

“It’s definitely taking the best of the electronic world and the best of the live-band world and putting it together,” Joe Atamian, who books the band alongside Jason Kupperman at Paradigm, told Pollstar. “A lot of the kids are going to these EDM shows just because of the way the scene has exploded. They’re not the kids who grew up going to the underground raves. They’re the kids who grew up listening to bands and seeing live shows.”

Meanwhile, Big Gigantic’s sellout business includes an annual event called Rowdytown, which takes over Denver-area Red Rocks Amphitheatre every summer.

“Rowdytown kind of started as a concept of an event rather than a show,” Kupperman said. “It started at Red Rocks last year, which we sold out back in September. It’s going to happen again this September at Red Rocks and it’s a concept we planned on expanding in different markets in the next couple of years. At Red Rocks, we were able to be the first act to have projection onto the actual mountain itself. It was pretty spectacular.”

The agents stressed they sign acts for the long haul, not just to capitalize on a trend. And they were sold on Big Gigantic when they saw them play a 2 p.m. slot at Camp Bisco, without any light show, and knew the musicians would weather any dip in EDM’s popularity.

“I’m not saying electronic music is a flash in the pan,” Atamian said, “but these guys will be playing music for a long time one way or another.”