Bicurious: The Writing Is On The Wall
With a band name like BICURIOUS, it’s certainly one that may raise an eyebrow, but the reason is fairly simple. There are two of them in the band and they’re inquisitive guys. Catchy, and to the point. Taran Plouzané (vocals/guitars) also highlighted that the association with the queer community would keep people they didn’t want as fans away from them. “We just thought it would be the kind of thing that would rub homophobic people the wrong way,” and thus BICURIOUS came to be.
Any album that’s produced is a product of hard work and commitment. Musicians at all levels have had to scrap projects due to timing and commitment issues. But for Taran and drummer Gavin Purcell that just wasn’t an option. The creation of their new record, Your Life Is Over Now…, was spread across three countries. Gavin is based in Dublin, Taron is based in Leipzig, Germany and their manager is based in Liverpool. “Obviously there’s struggles to it, because we’re in two different countries, and we can’t just go down to the rehearsal room. But there’s loads of positives to it as well.” All involved were still committed to making this into something they could all be proud of, and they should be. Their passion can be felt throughout the album, they’ve created vivid imagery with their lyrics. Paired with racing guitars and powerful drums to match the tracks’ sentiments. Despite it being their first album with lyrics in every song, it’s clear they’re naturally talented at it. Addressing emotional topics and having that ability to let the listener in can be hard to achieve, artists need to get so vulnerable for the songs to come across as authentic.
Gavin mentions his favourite song on the record is Uncle Kevin, “it’s about an estranged father and daughter, and basically in between that father and that daughter, there’s an uncle who’s trying to keep the two together and relationship sort of existing, but It’s really difficult, and there’s a lot of despair and sadness in that uncle.” It’s a tough topic to put into words, let alone a song but it encapsulates that spectrum of emotions so perfectly. “It’s just a very difficult situation and a very emotional situation for everybody involved.”
The album covers a lot of themes throughout its 11 tracks. Many people can struggle with motivation to achieve what they truly want in life. It’s easy to settle when things get tough, or when there’s simply nothing left in the tank. Taran mentions that a track on the album close to him is Magic Marker, and it touches on these themes. “When I was a kid in my dad’s house, I wrote something on the wall. It was along the lines of ‘to live my life in music’. I always thought back about it, because it’s kind of something to live by, I suppose. And I guess life kind of throws things at you. It’s about the difficulties that life brings your way, and about trying to always kind of remember what you want to do, what you want to achieve, and stuff despite those difficulties. I suppose.” Keeping that drive alive can be so difficult but for BICURIOUS, the writing was quite literally on the wall. Having support from each other as well has been invaluable to them, commenting on their communication and trust in each other other bands may have called it a day when living in two separate countries became a factor. “I feel we’re quite good at communicating with each other, we just get on and we’re both quite chill when it comes to the band so we get stuff done.”
It took a lot to bring this record to fruition, distance was a factor but there was the new hurdle of vocals. This is their first album that has songs from start to finish with lyrics. “It was really intense. We’d booked seven days in the studio in Germany. Everyone flew in so we had these seven days where we had to get everything done. I got myself as prepared as possible, I took some vocal lessons. I really practised my ass off!”
Once again the level of commitment and professionalism given to this album truly shines through. “It was really wholesome to have the guys there, encouraging me and stuff. Because obviously it was my first time, I needed a bit of a bit of encouragement, in the recording studio. But my voice broke after, like on the fifth day. So we lost two days of recording and then I had to fly back to the UK to record the last two songs vocally. But overall, it was like the vocal recording for me was the most fun and kind of new and exciting part of it.”
BICURIOUS are a band that is rooted in the DIY scene they take pride in getting to show this in every aspect of their music, right down to the art on singles and albums. Expressing the need for everything to be cohesive with the ‘brand’ of the band. “I think it’s important to have a brand identity. I would almost rather have something that’s maybe not as beautiful, but that represents the ideas that were behind the music.”
The album artwork on this record was a product of Taron taking the smoothing setting off on his iPad and writing with his left hand, after attempting to get his children to give it a try first. Community is an important aspect of the DIY music scene and the support of those around this band is evident. The encouragement to add more vocals on this album to Gavin‘s memory of the process was during pre-production, he and their team were just hanging out in their Airbnb. It’s clear this band is not the music, the lyrics, the art, thrown together. Everything and everyone works in harmony with each other. Whether that’s flying from country to country to rehearse or having to record the final songs in their manager’s studio in Liverpool. There’s a mutual respect for the parts that must be played to pull off something as beautiful as Your Life is Over Now.
Your Life Is Over Now… is out now via Big Scary Monsters.
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