Music > Interviews

Interview with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

05/09/12

Orlando Higginbottom, aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, isn’t your everyday dance musician. Son of a choral conductor, and a classically trained singer himself, Orlando’s musical upbringing didn’t immediately point towards a future filled with club-bangers and nuanced electronica. But he never was one to follow the norm. T.E.E.D. had releases on Greco-Roman a few years ago, and despite now having made the jump to the mainstream, Greco-Roman’s mantra, “We make colourful music because we dance in the dark”, remains incredibly apt. 

How are you?Alright thanks, how are you?

What are you up to?I am, sat at home, doing things.

So there’s a bit of time before NS&V, how has the rest of your summer been?I’m in festival mode at the moment, so that’s in full swing; once it’s started there’s not much you can do but just go along with it. Bestival is the last festival of the summer, then I have a little break and will work out my UK tour show and get that sorted. I’m looking forward to getting on that UK tour and taking the next step with the show.

Do you prefer playing festivals or own shows?You know what, it’s always been the case that I like the variety of doing both. From the practical side it’s always nicer to do your own shows, but at a festival you’ve got the chance of people listening who haven’t heard you music before, and also a better general atmosphere, so I like both. But certainly now, at the end of the festival season, I am ready to back into a venue that’s technically sorted and gives me time to set up and stuff.

Have you played in Norwich before, do you have any expectations?Yeah, I played once when I supported Darwin Deez at the Waterfront. It was a year and a half ago, but the crowd were great, as far as I can remember. I don’t really go in for having expectations for different places, there’s a few venues I know are going to be fun, but it’s always different wherever you go, so I try and keep an open mind about things and let it happen. It’s going to be a good tour though, well, I’m going to have a good time [laughs].

For the people that don’t know your music, your name or your style, can you give a quick run-down of where that all came from?I sort of can, I mean, I did it all because I wanted to do it and it felt like a fun idea, but I guess the real answer is if you haven’t heard my music then go and use the internet and have a listen [laughs]. But yeah, the name and all the things that people pick up on are just things I wanted to do, there isn’t like a story behind any of it really.

You are quite open about your condemnation of the old dance music scene, and your personal desire to something that wasn’t labelled as ‘cool’ and just enjoy it.The point that I was making with that, and the one I still stand by, is that I wanted to write music and play shows that were welcoming and not exclusive; you didn’t have to be part of a movement, or a cool club, or a trendy scene, or be in the know or anything to go to the night that I was playing or to listen to my music. I think a lot of music scenes put across that vibe; they’re very protective, they’re very insular, you have to know this, you have to know that, and you have to be this kind of person. I just don’t think that’s what music is about at all, I think it’s about sharing, and I still stand by that. I wanted to do something that was free from the underground trendiness, not that there’s anything wrong with the music that’s made there, but there’s something wrong with the attitude sometimes.

Your impressive visual displays play into that idea of a detachment from traditional serious dance music, is this UK tour going to be even bigger and better?I hope so, I’ve got ideas, but I’ve also got limited time to sort things out. It’s very annoying, and it’s the nature of what everyone does really; you can have great ideas, but sometimes the resources to make things happen just aren’t there. A lot of the time you need time and money, and both of those things are scarce. I certainly want to put on a bigger show and it will be bigger than my shows from last year, that’s for sure, but you’ll just have to wait and see, I certainly have grand ideas.

You held a competition for members of the public to design your next headdress, is that happening?That’s coming together yeah, we’ve picked a winner and it’s hopefully being made. I really liked the idea of the competition; it’s great being able to involve other people, but I didn’t want to have to take responsibility for getting it made, it’s quite big, so it’s out of my hands now. It’s a cool headdress the one that we picked though, I’ll hopefully be wearing it at Bestival.

Now your album is finally out are you changing your set from more of a DJ type performance to more of your originals?Yeah it’s spread about a bit now, I can take a bit more time over it, with re-edits and live versions of album tracks with a bit more space and things. It used to be all party, and a bit more banging, and now the banging things happen at a certain time, and the chilled out stuff happens at other times. It’s certainly changed, and its great hearing people know some of the songs; I really enjoy that, especially the album ones which aren’t immediately catchy.

Obviously your big hits are great, but I think I prefer your tenderer tracks. It must be nice to play those live, but also a bit scary; putting yourself out there singing and things instead of strictly DJing.Yeah, yeah, I kind of prefer those tracks as well, in a way, they feel like the more … I dunno, I dunno.

I guess your musical background, with a father heavily involved in choral music and a personal involvement with classical music yourself, might be something not many electronic artists have benefitted from, do you think it’s impacted your music?Yes. There’s a big argument to say that that kind of upbringing can only be beneficial, but just to make this clear I also think there’s a lot to be said for the musicians who don’t have that, and find their own way; they often come up with the ideas that those who’ve had the more classical training wouldn’t ever come up with, but anyway, yeah it’s had a huge influence, it’s the musician I am really. Everyone has a musical story; whether that’s the albums your parents played in the car when you were a kid, or the first couple of records you got, or what you were obsessed with when you were a teenager. Everyone’s got a story like that, and everyone’s shaped by those things, and mine is strongly influenced by classical music and being trained, and I’m immensely grateful for that. I feel like I have a wider understanding for musical; my eventual goal is to understand music as much as possible.

Perhaps it’s a little condescending, but I do feel that it’s disappointing most of our generation is somewhat unaware of classical music and the influence it can have, not that it’s essential, but…They are missing out on a lot, that’s the truth, but that’s the ultra-fast culture we live in. People don’t have patience, and culture is expected to always be new and be forward thinking, and that’s a bit boring.

Is it strange for you, having released things a few years ago, suddenly blowing up now?You know, it’s actually incredibly hard to judge. The statistics are slightly impossible to see. How many people know my music now and how many people knew my music a year and a half ago? I don’t actually know the answer to that, so I can’t see what’s happened, and I’m so busy that I don’t really have time to think about whether I’m bigger now that I was then or whatever. It’s always felt like a gradual continuation, that things are just moving forwards, and I guess that’s really great, I’m grateful that things haven’t ever felt stale, but as I say it’s really hard for me to evaluate. Certainly I’ve been getting busier and normal life is harder, but this is becoming what every day is about for me and that’s really great, and I just get to immerse myself in music and this project and the creative side of it. It’s strange, ‘Household Goods’ only just got on the Radio 1 playlist, which is a bizarre thing, but you kind of have to do it like that. When that track first came out people knew my music but not that many, and now that more people are aware of it it’s an opportunity to show them the music again, and with ‘Household Goods’ it was too good an opportunity to pass up, so it’s worth giving them a second shot, which has obviously worked this time.

Lots of people would have heard Garden on the Nokia Lumia ad, was that intentional?It’s not actually something I can go out and try and get, they kind of come to you. It just felt like a good opportunity for me and I’m really pleased I did it. In the UK maybe it didn’t feel like I really needed it for the track, but it went everywhere in the world apart from America, so it’s just been an amazing way of introducing people to my music. People have come from that, so yeah, I think those things are really useful, as long as you’re not working with the most evil company in the world.

I guess in this day and age artists have got to be financially productive, and it’s all well and good being cynical about working for mass media but then…But I’ve got to pay my rent! [laughs].

So what’s next for TEED?It’s pretty much touring; a UK tour, a big German tour, a bit more of Europe, that takes me up until Christmas, then I’m doing some amazing parties in Australia over New Years, and I’m hoping I’ll have had a chance to write some music and will certainly be throwing myself in the studio for a bit.

Sounds great, best of luck with everything and I’ll see you in Norwich.See you there, bye.

Alex Throssell

T.E.E.D. headlines the outstanding line-up for this year’s Norwich Sound & Vision Festival and Conference on October 11th at OPEN. For details on all the NS&V shows, go to www.norwichsoundandvision.co.uk