Meet the Musicians Behind Big Gigantic Before They Perform at Red Rocks This Weekend

If “electronic dance music” doesn’t conjure bright sounds of saxophone and a deep, rumbling percussion, then you ought to try out Colorado band Big Gigantic and see what you think. The duo—classically trained saxophonist Dominic Lalli and drummer Jeremy Salken—mixes varying styles of jazz, hip-hop, funk, and dubstep, setting them apart in an EDM scene defined by larger-than-life DJs like Deadmau5, Illenium, Skrillex, and Calvin Harris.

From their debut album, Fire It Up (2009), to the collaborative works of Brighter Future (2016) and Brighter Future 2 (2022), Boulder-born Big Gigantic has been busy, assembling 10 albums and dozens of hit singles: “All of Me” (featuring Logic & ROZES), “The Little Things” (featuring Angela McCluskey), “Highly Possible” (featuring Waka Flocka Flame), “Wide Open” (featuring Cherub), and tons more. The band has sniffed the top of the dance charts and ignited stages with live shows, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Plus, their music has been featured in various ad campaigns for brands such as Apple, NASCAR, and HBO.

We sat down with Big Gigantic ahead of their annual Rowdytown show at Red Rocks this Saturday, September 28, to talk about their Colorado origins, their process for making music, their favorite places to visit when they return home, and what you can expect from the latest edition of the EDM festival.

Editor’s note: The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

5280: Where did you grow up and how did you embark on your musical journey?
Dominic Lalli: My dad was a drummer, my grandfather was a drummer, and my mom sang in the church choir, so there was a lot of singing and music around the house. They were always trying to have me in piano lessons, but it didn’t really kick off until I was in sixth grade and was asked to be in band. I was like, “Sure, I’ll be in band.” And it kind of started there.

I ended up going to summer music camp for jazz and got a scholarship for college. I got my master’s degree in music, and that led me all the way to Colorado where I started playing with the Motet. Then I met Jeremy, got a computer, started making beats, and the rest is history, I guess.

Do you remember that first moment that you picked up a sax?
Lalli: I remember the first moment I walked into the band room. I stepped in and they asked, “Do you want to play alto or tenor saxophone?” And there were 30 kids playing alto and maybe five playing tenor. So I said, “Oh, I’ll play tenor” because I’ve always tried to do it differently than everybody else. And that’s what led me to doing Big Gigantic and electronic stuff—because I was always wanting to take a different path than the normal one.

Jeremy, do you remember those early days with the drum kit?
Jeremy Salken: I was about three years old when I started. I would pick up chopsticks and start playing on pots and pans as if they were drums. I just kind of naturally did that as a kid. My grandfather caught on to me doing that and bought me a Muppet Babies drum set. When I got bigger, he got me a Junior Pro Drum Kit.

In the middle school band, I played trumpet for some reason. I don’t even know how I ended up on trumpet. And I was last chair. I was terrible. But I was still playing drums at home. So in eighth grade, I ended up trying out for jazz band, which was the level beyond orchestral band. I beat out kids that had been doing drums the previous years, and was like, Oh, this is what it feels like not to be terrible at something!

How did you land in Colorado?
Salken: I moved to Colorado [from Virginia] in 2002 to be a snowboard bum and was still kind of playing music. I ended up in Boulder and started to play there, where I met the Motet guys. I was playing gigs in town when I met Dom. We ended up living together.

Was Dom a good roommate?
Salken: He was a great roommate. He was really clean—we were both really clean. We took care of all the things that you do when you’re living with other people. We were living the dream back then [in the late 2000s], paying $400 a month to live in Boulder.

What do you like most about Boulder and living in Colorado?
Salken: I love that Boulder is so close to the mountains, but you still have everything that you need out of a town. If you want to go on a hike for lunch, you can do that. It’s just so beautiful. It feels like it’s not a real place. I live in Denver now, but I was in Boulder for 16 years.

The music scene back then was great. Everybody was really supportive of each other, playing gigs at different restaurants and bars every night. That period—2003 to 2014 or so—was a magical time in Boulder.

If you have friends visiting, what are the three most important Colorado places you need to take them?
Lalli: Red Rocks. I would take them to the mountains; somewhere like Telluride. And then my house. I would take them to my house because I live there.

Salken: I mean, you gotta go to Red Rocks—100 percent. And yes, you have to go into the mountains. So maybe Aspen if you’re driving farther? But actually, I would take them to Strawberry Hot Springs and Steamboat. You know, mountain time.

I love eating and finding places to eat around town. Temaki Den is one of my favorite sushi places. Then, you gotta go to Yacht Club. There’s live music on Sundays and they’ve got trivia Mondays and it’s a really good hang.

 

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Your sound incorporates a lot of different styles—hip-hop, house, dubstep, etc.—and could be pushed more into jazz, pop, rock, or even synthwave. What made you lean into the EDM space over the others?
Lalli: A lot of it has to do with the culture of the Colorado electronic music scene. We followed a lot of direction from [Colorado] powerhouses like STS9, Pretty Lights, and Bonobo. This is such a mecca for electronic and bass music in the United States. We are fans of music and fans of this scene, and our sound developed from that.

You give your music away for free in hopes of getting people to come to your shows. How did you introduce this idea, and how has it worked out for you? Did you ever second-guess your strategy?
Lalli: We followed suit. [Pretty Lights] Derek [Vincent Smith] was one of the first guys to do it. He put all his music out for free because it had unclearable samples [that he couldn’t sell]—he would get sued instantly. So, he did that for necessity. But it propelled him into selling all these tickets for his tour.

So, we were like, “Let’s try that.” Because we had nothing to lose. It’s not like we’re going to make a bunch of money on records. We were playing funk music in bars with our friends. So we just gave it out. I remember thinking, If we sell out the Fox Theatre, I’ll retire. We sold it in a day. (And didn’t retire.)

Since you started A Big Gigantic Difference Foundation in 2016, how has it blossomed? Where did the idea for that come from?
Salken: We started it because as we were touring around the country, meeting a lot of people, we realized we could help these communities with food and monetary donations. We were already connected to Conscious Alliance, which works with communities to help distribute food and clothing. As we were progressing in our career and our shows got bigger, we would do these gigs where a dollar of every ticket would go to Conscious Alliance. Through that, we thought it’d be cool to reach out to other nonprofits in other communities and see what more we could do.

In 2016, we started a 501(c)(3) and began with that same model of a dollar a ticket. When we raised $50,000, we would pick a charity to work with. Early on, we chose Youth on Record, which is a Denver-based nonprofit that helps provide music classes for kids that don’t have them in school. They have a building where they can teach kids how to play instruments, how to work in the studio, how to record, etc. At the time, they didn’t have a computer lab. And because we make electronic music, it seemed appropriate to help them raise funds for one.

Every few years, we try to do a big project like that within our community.

Will the Difference Foundation be connected to Rowdytown at Red Rocks on Friday, September 28?
Salken: A dollar of every ticket. It’s going to be a crazy one!

What are your thoughts on this year’s Rowdytown, and how will it be set apart from years past?
Lalli: We just wanted to make it like a themed party essentially, so that’s the main reasoning behind the “Neon Dreams” thing. It will be fun for people to roll with and dress up.

And this year, we’re only doing one night with two sets. SunSquabi and the Floozies will open, then we’ll open up the night with a chill mix set, sort of like a “best-of” mixes we’ve performed live.

Will we hear a lot of new music in 2024 and after this tour? What’s up next?
Lalli: Maybe one other thing? Maybe one or two other things this year that are just part of other people’s albums that we’ve collaborated on? Most everything is going to come next year. I have a lot of stuff in the works, in the cut, ready to go and almost ready to go. So, definitely one album next year. Potentially two. We’ll see how it all goes.

Our tour finishes by the end of September, then we’re done playing for the year. And not much happens in January and February either. So, I’ll be able to really get in and finish a bunch of stuff.

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Big Gigantic plays live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre this Saturday, September 28, for the annual Rowdytown festival. Seats are still available.