Little Oil / Epitaph Records today confirms the release of Big Talk on July 11th 2011. The debut solo album by The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci – and the name of his band as well as the record – Big Talk will be preceded by a single, Getaways, on May 10th.
Recorded at The Killers’ Battle Born studios in Las Vegas between November 2010 and January 2011 with help from producer Joe Chicarelli (The Strokes, My Morning Jacket), and mixed at London’s Assault & Battery with Alan Moulder (U2, The Killers, Foo Fighters), Big Talk sees Vannucci step out from behind the drum kit of one of the biggest bands of the past ten years to show us what he’s got. And, well, he’s got the lot! As a songwriter with The Killers, whose writing is frequently approached collaboratively, it will come as no shock to find that Vannucci has a way with a genius song of his own. Vannucci is a true multi-instrumentalist and superb vocalist, who has created what is set to be the rock club-shaped soundtrack to the summer.
About Big Talk…
When The Killers came off the road last February after pretty much nine years of back-to-back albums and touring, the idea was for everyone to take time off. Singer Brandon Flowers quickly got bored – he released his solo album Flamingo late last summer. After three weeks off, Vannucci, too, was restless, and saw the opportunity to get out there with his own thing, to bring his own ideas, his own voice front-and-centre for the first time. “I needed to do this,” he says. “It’s such a departure from what I’m used to, but now, having done it, it feels like the right thing to do. It all feels very natural. I can’t sit on a couch very long!”
He recruited an old friend, Taylor Milne, to help him with some of the songs. They’ve known each other since 1998, and were previously in a band together, Expert On October. When Vannucci realised he needed a wingman for Big Talk, Milne was the obvious contender. “Taylor really attacks things from a different angle,” he says, highlighting the guitarist’s unique style and musicianship. “All these really cool leads that you’ll hear on the songs are Taylor. We work on it together, but it’s his take, so it’s very different. It sounds fresh to me.”
Vannucci will take Big Talk to the stage this summer along with Milne and a full band.
For the release of Big Talk, Vannucci has begun his own start-up label, Little Oil, in collaboration with Californian punk indie Epitaph.
http://www.bigtalkmusic.com
