Bill Evans, Sonic Youth, Frank Zappa, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliott Smith, Deerhoof, Sunny Day Real Estate, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, Miles Davis, Brian Wilson, Beatles, John Coltrane, Neil Young, Steve Corbert, The Log Lady, Noam Chomsky, Salvador Dali, Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Sonny Sharrock, King Crimson, Michael Parenti
The Big Believers formed in June 2007. Guitarist Joel Martin and drummer Dave Johnstone began playing live immediately after conceptualizing The Big Believers, using themes written by Martin as a launch pad.
Martin and Johnstone met as session musicians in Los Angeles. Under the employment of others, they have played sold out shows in the largest venues in Europe such as Wembly Arena, filled venerable American halls like the Wiltern and the Filmore, been seen on Bravo TV concert specials and heard on countless CD's.
The pair formed Dead Language in 2005, an innovative power trio that gave prominence to Martin's vocals. After releasing two EPs within 6 months and embarking on a tour of the midwest, Martin and Johnstone put the band on hold. Focusing on their strengths and lessons learned in Dead Language, the two have returned as The Big Believers.
All instrumental, the most endearing facets of the duo are the uncommon degree of interaction and their savvy as craftsmen. Each has an organic and passionate voice on their instrument.
The band entered New Monkey Studio on October 13th 2007 to record their debut record. New Monkey was the brain-child of master songwriter Elliott Smith. Fritz Michaud, who has worked with cutting-edge artists Autolux and Smith, engineered the session. Joel and Dave tracked every song on their self-titled album live in the studio with no overdubs or edits. The music was recorded on 2" tape and mixed to 1/2". They picked Lurssen Mastering, regarded as experts in analog mastering, to put the finishing aural touches on the album.
The music flirts with a host of idioms. Post-rock, free jazz and ambient are all there but never committed to. The songs are too 'tuney' to be avant guard. THIS IS NOT FUSION. The music flows equally down paths that lead to the harmonic complexities of 60's bebop as well as riff-laden arena rock.
This will be the first release on Arc of Noise on January 18th 2008. Arc of Noise was formed by Joel Martin in order to allow the record to compete in the new marketplace.
Joel is an LA native while Dave hails from St. Louis MO
Good morning!The Big Believers.I wanted to**Welcome you to Myspace**It is for you so others can hear your music.Thank you for being here.Your drummer, Dave plays at my church. He is a awesome player. Your new myspace friend Reggie
guess what i was rocking out on my ipod last night at 2am. i was losing my mind and it calmed me down. hows this for a headline? "the Big Believers saves young mans midnight meltdown"
story joel? hope ur well. be back soon and i'll hopefully catch 1 of ur gigs songs turned out great, thanks for lending ur great talent, it was a top session, keep in touch. mick
you guys were excellent the other night and the CD sounds great. But i have to say Joel, you may have to watch out for Dave, he seemed a little out of itte other night. His nose was all runny. I suspect drugs!!! please let us know when you play in town next
Thank you so much for having us last night. We were in awe of the power and tuneage of your set. And we loved the gravy of "Freak Out" in it's entirety!
