Beginning as a group of high school friends jamming in a small-town basement, Grand Rapids based band Big Dudee Roo has created its own brand of folk rock with a grunge edge and danceable grooves. Led by the songwriting of bassist and singer Max Lockwood, the band carefully crafts each song from the ground up, with intuitively original arrangements. Featuring talented singer Aurora Lewis and Justin Dore's versatile lead guitar, the group is rounded out by the consistency of drummer Kurt Rizley and Nate Wagner on banjo and guitar, who also contributes as a songwriter. Energetic and engaging live performances bring their music to life.
Big Dudee Roo believes that music can be more than just entertainment—it can be inspiration for people to think about the world and their place in it, and to come together for change. This comes through in Lockwood's (and Wagner's) songwriting, which often centers around themes such as resisting the dominant culture's ideologies and systems, ecological destruction, deeper connection with other humans and the natural world, feminism, social justice, and the emotions that arise when confronting these issues.
The band's 6-song, debut EP, Germination!, was released in September of 2010 and met with an outpouring of praise from fans. Recorded by Alex Hamel in Grand Rapids, it has been called a mixture of early Wilco, Neil Young, and Donna the Buffalo. The songs were recorded almost entirely live in the studio, capturing the band's raw energy that is best created when performing in the same room, feeding off each other's playing as they have from the beginning.
Big Dudee Roo will be playing across Michigan to support the EP. It can be found at local record stores, online at bigdudeeroo.com, and on iTunes and other music distribution websites.
