[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Black Delta - "Lord Only Knows"

photo credit: Josh Giroux

Omg cute internet people I have the BEST NEWS TO SHARE!

My most favoritest man crush Monday, Jonathan Bates, better known to y’all as Big Black Delta has announced that we’re getting a fourth BBD full-length AND he further blessed us with a new single, “Lord Only Knows”. This dramatic little ditty that he’s just casually launched into the universe is such an exciting evolution for Bates and his signature sound that comes through in all the right moments on this track. It’s loud. It’s lush. It’s certainly not what I was expecting what would follow lead single from back in March, “Summoner”, which makes me love it all the more. Anyone who listens to “Lord Only Knows” for a whopping 30 seconds would not be the least bit surprised that Bates has recently rekindled his romance with heavy metal. The sharp left-turn to that Liberace moment, though. *chef’s kiss* That’s when things go next-level. The track isn’t long enough for me to toss it in a rock opera-esque kinda category, but if ever there were to be an extended edit of this song, I can only imagine the places it would go.

As previously mentioned, “Lord Only Knows” comes from Big Black Delta’s [now HIGHLY FUCKING ANTICIPATED] forthcoming album, LP4, which is available for pre-order now and drops on July 10th. From first glance at the tracklisting, hopefully I don’t have to wait very long to know what a song called, “Air Conditioned Dork” sounds like and I am already bracing myself for what something titled “Ballad of the Co-Dependent” is probably going to do to me. Regardless, the t-shirt + LP combo pre-order is calling my name, possibly that slick mask, too?

While we wait, please enjoy the third installment from director Adam Osgood, who previously provided the BBD universe with videos for, “Huggin & Kissin” and “Bitten By The Apple”. At this rate I would totally watch a movie exploring this father-daughter relationship that continues throughout all three videos, if only to clarify the timeline going on here. Does god-dad get to go back in time once he becomes god-dad so he can accidentally kill the dinosaurs? Did god-dad always know he was a deity? I have so many questions, lmao.

4

Release Date: July 10, 2020

01. Lord Only Knows
02. Vessel
03. Politics Of Living
04. Summoner
05. Ballad Of The Co-Dependent
06. Sunday
07. Heaven Here I Come
08. Canary
09. White Lies
10. Killing Me
11. Air Conditioned Dork
12. Yes

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[SONG OF THE DAY] Mellowdrone - "Let It Out"

I would apologize for the Bojack season 5 binge that delayed me getting to today’s SOTD, but considering the depth of the subject matter for both the series and Mellowdrone’s latest single from their upcoming EP, 3, I’d say it’s pretty kismet that I decided to pour myself into both of these things today.

Enough Bojack! I’m so glad that Mellowdrone is back! Admittedly I’ve been a more committed Big Black Delta fan, but it’s very exciting to see frontman Jonathan Bates going back to this project along with his bandmates guitarist Tony DeMatteo and drummer Brian Borg.

Other things I’m really excited about: Jonathan Bates is sober!🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻

You can’t see me right now, but I’m waving invisible pom-poms so hard right now after writing that last sentence. Bates has hinted at his relationship with alcohol on Big Black Delta material in the past, but apparently has made the decision to get clean and put a priority on himself. I couldn’t be happier for him.

As he starts this new chapter of his life, “Let It Out” is his opportunity to explore what it means to be a man. As he told Buzzbands.LA, “[…]Being raised as a male in my generation, you’re never allowed to show feelings.” In “Let It Out”, however, Bates is doing the exact opposite, specifically in the chorus where as he described there’s, “[…]a group of people operatically crying and a dude is saying, ‘Just let it out,’” 

I will point out that of the three Mellowdrone songs we’ve been blessed with this year that you can smell some Big Black Delta fumes on this one, which I actually think was a very beautiful conscious choice. Within the first few seconds you’re ears perk up due to some familiar sounds from whoRU812, a record meant to be the final purge of art he created in response to his father passing away. It’s not lost on me that after making an ambient instrumental album and then switching to a different project where he very candidly opens up that somewhere we’d find traces of what will likely be his ongoing mourning.

Bates has actually been at the top of my mind a lot lately because my father passed away in July. Knowing that such beautiful things like Trágame Tierra, whoRU812, and now these new Mellowdrone songs can be the product of such deep loss has been very comforting for me, which is part of why I’m so happy that Bates is doing better.

Thankfully we don’t have long to wait for the 3 EP, it’s dropping on September 26th. In the meantime, if you’re having a much needed self-care Sunday, spend some time with this much needed three minutes and fifty-nine seconds of taking care of yourself this evening.

[News] Big Black Delta Announces Release Date of Debut LP

Last month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jonathan Bates aka Big Black Delta, who was hard at work putting the finishing touches on his debut LP, titled BBDLP1. Today, the artist announced that the album will officially be released on September 26th via Coming Home Records. To promote the release of the album, Big Black Delta will be performing at The Satellite venue in Los Angeles every Monday during the month of September. As well, you can listen to the track "Capsize" below, which premiered on Buzzbands.la just yesterday.

Capsize by Big Black Delta

[Interview] Big Black Delta aka Jonathan Bates Talks Influences, Mellowdrone, and Solo Work

Jonathan Bates has been heavily involved in music for over ten years, having been a founding member of Los Angeles rock band Mellowdrone, and, more recently, working under the solo moniker of Big Black Delta. He recently released BBDEP1, which included the track "Huggin' & A Kissin'," and is currently hard at work on his debut LP, tentatively titled BBDLP1. You might also remember a certain track on the Tron: Legacy Reconfigured soundtrack, in which Big Black Delta remixed the Daft Punk track "Fall," from the original Tron: Legacy Soundtrack, alongside SKoA favourite M83.

I recently had a chance to shoot Jonathan some questions regarding his musical influences, his history with Mellowdrone, what it was like working with Anthony Gonzalez (aka M83), as well as what's in store for Big Black Delta in the future. You can check out the full interview after the jump.

Some Kind of Awesome: Growing up in Venezuela and then Miami, how has that influenced the way you view music? And how has it influenced the music you’ve created over the years?

Jonathan Bates: In a lot of latin music, triplet feels are very prominent. It feels like a skipping rock, like falling down the stairs and landing on your feet. I love it when music does this, and I sneak it in whenever I can. Also, the use of brass in mexican and cuban music is pretty much the blueprint to a fucking good time.

SKoA: You formed Mellowdrone back in 1999, how did that come about?

JB: It started out as just me in Boston. My Dad had gotten me a Darla soundcard for my birthday, since it was the cheapest analog to digital sound converter you could get. I was at Berklee College of Music in Boston and had a lot of hacker friend, so one dude gave me Cool Edit Pro and I went to town on that shit. Boston is a cold, windy place, and I'm a scrawny guy, so I mostly stayed inside and tried to make music. Sparklehorses "Good Morning Spider" had just come out and completely demolished me.

Up to that point, I was a prog guitar player who could play you any Dream Theater song on command. A friend of mine, Shawn Bradley, invited me out to LA to help record some demos.  I crashed on his couch, recorded a demo, couch surfed some more, and played open mic's or whatever I could get until, eventually, I got a record deal. I met Tony Dematteo along the way and we locked pretty tight. He eventually recommended his high school buddy Brian Borg to play drums, and he's a fucking badass drummer, so he was in.

SKoA: Over the course of ten years, Mellowdrone released four EPs and two LPs. How has Mellowdrone’s extensive work influenced the ways in which you make music, whether it was negative or positive?

JB: 100% positive. Musically, I would hope I've become better at getting to the point of things. Mellowdrone has taught me WAY more than songwriting. Because of constantly unpredictable shows, I saw shit, and people, I never would have dreamt of. Most importantly, I found re-occuring themes that all of us are subject to, regardless of position, shit all of us go through but don't usually acknowledge. When you try to attempt to make cool stuff and involve commerce, its always a curious scene.

SKoA: After the release of Mellowdrone’s Angry Bear, you felt as if you had to move on from the “band” aesthetic. Why did you feel this way, and what made you decide to move on to your solo project, Big Black Delta?

JB: We had all grown exhausted. Tony, Brian and I are hard fucking workers man. Meet these dudes and you'll see for yourself. But, nearly ten years of "packing up the van and seeing where it led us" got kind of old. We'd been through everything, including fights, getting jumped, beat up by cops, etc. There was one night where we reached our limit. One night, ten minutes before going on, we were truly debating whether or not to tell the promoter one of our girlfriends had been kidnapped. Pretending to be too upset to play, we would pack up our shit and leave. In retrospect its funny, but at the time... I think that was our last show.

SKoA: Upon starting your solo project, you set out to make music that wasn’t restricted by rules and boundaries. Describe the processes you went through after starting a project where you ultimately had complete freedom.

JB: I was surprised at how it easy it was. I feel the way I output never changes, but rather the final definition attached to the result changes.

SKoA: BBDEP1 was released last year as a free download for fans, and now you have plans to release BBDLP1 in September. Have you been pleased with the reception of your solo project, whether it’s your EP, your remixes, or your singles?

JB: People have been very kind, and I'm still very new to this and hope to get better. It's always cool when someone gives a shit.

SKoA: You teamed up with M83 to do a remix of Daft Punk’s “Fall” for the Tron: Legacy Reconfigured album. What was it like working with M83 on the remix, and how did it feel remixing the music of Daft Punk?

JB: It was a very fun weekend for me.  Anthony's a dope musician, so its always enlightening to have a dialogue like that. Plus, my french is shit, so we had to communicate sonically. It's like three chefs making you a stew to stick your dick in.

SKoA: The first LP under the Big Black Delta moniker, BBDLP1, is set for release in September. How are you preparing for the upcoming release, and how are you feeling personally? Are there any plans for a tour in support of the album?

JB: I'm preparing by giving the music out and letting people digest it on their own accord. With this project, if you want more, you'll let me know kind of thing. My friend Caspar at Version Industries has designed a lot of wonderful artwork so the listener can see it the same time. As far as a tour goes, if you want me and Mahsa and Amy to come play, let that shit be known as well.

SKoA: You have an upcoming show on June 29th at The Satellite in Los Angeles, and will be joined by Violet Tremors and The Present Moment. Can you describe what it’s like to perform live on-stage And what do you like, or dislike, about live performances as opposed to working in the studio?

JB: Playing live is like a compliment.  When you hear it, it usually makes you nervous and suspicious, but, if you take it for face value, its wonderful. That make sense? Thought so. In the studio you can undo, when it's live you can't. Is one better than the other? I ask myself that all the time.

SKoA: One last question. What is the future plan for Mellowdrone? Any new EPs or LPs in the works?

JB: Nothing now, but never say never.