Elizabeth KamaldinWith their debut CD, “The Horrifying Truth,” being crowned as one of 2011’s best albums, alongside having their music likened to the soundtrack of the Quiksilver (or extreme sports) lifestyle, the 3-year-old band and former Quiksilver Ambassadors, I Am Giant, seem to be living every musician’s dream.
They’ve even had big names in the extreme sports scene featured in their music videos, including 11-time ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) world surfing champ, Kelly Slater, and professional skateboarder, Tony Hawk.
“We really enjoy participating and watching extreme sports as a lifestyle and as a band,” Shelton says. “One of the biggest perks of being associated with Quiksilver is [that] we get to play at a lot of [such] events. … We’re really lucky and grateful to have some of the biggest names in extreme sports in our video clips, and hopefully we’ll have some more features in our next record!”
The foursome recently even played at Wavehouse Sentosa, on Jun 11 as part of their Asia Album Release Show, “The Horrifying Truth”, to a screaming crowd ranging from head banging teens to die-hard fans.
Yet, for I Am Giant, life wasn’t always a bed of roses. Their current member line up was birthed from the demise of their previous bands – Ed from progressive rock band, Volume, Paul from double platinum selling band, Tadpole, and later, more recently, Stylus, and Shelton, from the triple platinum selling ‘nu-metal’ band, Blindspott.
For some of the members, most prominently Shelton, where they stand today can only be attributable to a nightmarish history in the music industry. As the heavily tattooed drummer told getfrank.co.nz, his past saw him dirt broke, sleeping on floors, and even being unsuccessfully sued by members of his previous band over its name, a painful experience with the plaintiffs being the drummer’s childhood friends.
If any, the life lessons the foursome took away from their past endeavors was to “work harder, then work even harder,” as told by Shelton. For Paul, “If there’s one thing I wish I knew back then, it’s probably knowing what’s important and what’s not. Writing something, that people wanted to listen to, is.”
In fact, on the band’s perfectionist quest to find a vocalist, they went through the long and tedious process of auditioning over 160 individuals just to find the perfect choice of vocals to their upbeat sound – and Ed fit the bill. “It was amazing to have the opportunity to form a band and start this journey that we’ve been on, really,” Ed remarks.
Though they might be standing proud with their record of numerous achievements today, I Am Giant aims for even greater heights and remains a down-to-earth and hard working band. Whenever they hit the road on tour, they never fail to write new songs, aiming to hit 20 to 25 tracks for their next album.
“First and foremost, it’s a passion. We love to play, write, and tour. … We’re a really serious band, … and it’s a professional thing, it’s a business,” commented Shelton. “To be able to continue doing it, you need to be really focused and driven, and you’ve got to do the right things,” agrees Andy.
Perhaps with aspirations best personified by their “giant” band name, I Am Giant “hasn’t reached the end of the rainbow yet,” claims Shelton. “There’re still many things we need to do to achieve our dreams and our goals, and each day we get closer to it!”
Today, though the band skateboards and snowboards much less than they used to, largely due to wanting to save their musicians’ limbs from the unnecessary battering from the elements, their ambition towards music will likely never die. Placed right below their girlfriends on their individual list of priorities, or so as Shelton says, I Am Giant promises “more music, an evolution of songs, and an extension of the music we’ve already established.”