Big D and the Kids Table

Big D and the Kids Table frontman David McWane has said, “There are people who want to be in a band and then there are musicians.” However once in while a group come along who decide to make music simply because they have no other choice—and those are the acts who tend to stick around. For the past fourteen years Big D And The Kids Table have proven that regardless of fame or poverty they will forever be addicted musicians—and their latest full-length Fluent In Stroll is the apex of their decade-and-a-half long career.

The best person who ever put it was [Warped Tour founder] Kevin Lyman, McWane explains. “My girlfriend once asked him if we were a big band and he replied, ‘I’ll tell you like this, they’ve been around for 14 years and each year they’re relevant.’ I think that’s a great description of what this band is all about.”

This fact is nowhere near as evident as it is on the band’s sixth proper full-length Fluent In Stroll, an album that sees this group of Bostonian college friends—McWane, guitarist Sean Rogan, bassist Steve Foote, drummer Derek Davis, trumpet player Dan Stoppelman, saxophonist Ryan O’Connor and trombone player Paul Cuttler—coming together to craft an album that defies categorization and takes the band’s ska-influenced sound to the next level. “This album reminds us of our very first record in the sense that instead of following any rulebook we were trying to have fun with our sound,” McWane explains. “I think we just naturally wanted to write a really positive record comprised of songs that were an absolute blast to play night after night on tour—and I think that’s exactly what we achieved this time around.”

Correspondingly Fluent In Stroll is a mix of hop-scotch, double-dutch, soul, ska and reggae that comes together to form a unique style of music McWane has coined “Stroll,” which is showcased via inventive tracks such as “Doped Up Dollies On A One Way Ticket To Blood” and “Fluent In Stroll”. “I think some of our older fans might be surprised by the more stroll-sounding songs because it’s a genre outside of itself, but in all honesty I think that these songs are way more ‘punk’ than most of the so-called ‘punk’ music out there,” McWane continues, adding the bands new Do Wop singers Simone and Nicole from the band Tip The Van and Boston solo artists Haley-Jane & Sirae came together to form the hop-scotch sound of The Doped Up Dollies. “Whenever anyone hears something new it takes a minute or two to catch up, but I think people will get it and love it!”

That said Fluent In Stroll, which was produced once again by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ bassist Joe Gittleman, still retains Big D And The Kids Table’s unique sound whether that’s via the laid-back Jamaican ska sound of “Been Wishing On” or the summertime jam “We Can Live Anywhere!”. “We weren’t allowed into the traditional ska band camp or the punk-ska camp, we never fit in anywhere,” McWane explains when asked if there’s a place where the band—who have played with everyone from Melt Banana to the Pietasters—feel like they belong. “We were just this weird band that some people could understand.” However instead of seeing this as a drawback, Big D have used their idiosyncratic sound to carve their own unique niche in an oversaturated musical landscape and have built a dedicated fan base in the process.

“I personally like shows where you have to prove yourself,” McWane responds when asked which of the band’s thousands of live performances stick out in his head. “The Warped Tours and the Dropkick Murphys tours that we did were cool because when you’ve been in a band for as long as we have and you get to play shows where you have to prove yourselves you have that same first-show anxiety,” he continues. “When you play the shows where everyone in the place loves you, then it turns more into entertaining—and that’s cool, but that’s not where I personally come from,” he elaborates. “That might sound kind of weird, but I like the underdog shows more because it adds a little bit of spice and kick to it.” The good news is that armed with a record as ambitious as Fluent In Stroll the band will undoubtedly have to prove themselves all over again in sweaty clubs all over the world.

“I think we have the same aspirations with this disc that we do with every record and that involves our little pow wow of saying, ‘Don’t you think music is s~~t?’” McWane—who is also an accomplished author currently working on a second book of poetry, a collection of Big D lyrics, two short films and a retrospective DVD about the band called Built Up From Nothing—explains when asked about his personal expectations for Fluent In Stroll. “Music groups have always recognized and applauded for creating something new and different for listeners, yet today it seems that artists are recognized for making what’s already been or what’s most the same,” he elaborates. “We really tried to push the envelope the way artists used to do and all we’ve ever wanted was to be able to play music in front of a lot of people that love our songs,” he summarizes. “If we could play on one stage in front of the world, we would do it.”

David McWane- Lead vocals
Sean P. Rogan- Guitar/ keys/ vocals
Steve Foote-Bass
Dan Stoppelman- Trumpet
Paul E. Cuttler- Trombone
Ryan O Connor- Saxophone
Derek Davis-Drums

Courtesy of bigdandthekidstable.com