When Johnny Took talks about BIIG TIME, the band he created with his brother Matty, there’s a twinkle in his eye. He’s clearly fired up about their debut album 200K, and the upcoming UK tour. With both brothers firmly established in their main bands, BIIG TIME is a passion project they’ve long talked about—finally realised thanks to a rare gap in schedules. A few weeks after BIIG TIME’s debut live shows supporting The Courteeners in Australia, Johnny joins me over Zoom from San Francisco, where he’s working with DMA’s on their fifth studio album. Matty, fresh off touring PLANET’s debut, is back in Sydney. The timing might’ve been a miracle, but the excitement is real.
“We’ve always played music together growing up, which has been great. One thing we used to do in our early 20s was play cover shows around Sydney,” Johnny says. That era even inspired the album’s title: “200K was because we used to play as 200K, it kind of vaguely looks like TOOK, so it’s a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek kind of name.”
Those long nights playing Dylan, The Band and Fleetwood Mac left a mark—Matty on banjo, Johnny on guitar, or swapping for dobro. That shared musical DNA forms the foundation of BIIG TIME.
“I had a break from DMA’s, and had all these songs that just didn’t make certain projects. And Matty had the same, but they really meant a lot to us, these songs, we’re really proud of them, it kind of felt like the world had to see them, you know?”
The pair brought unfinished tracks together and filtered them through each other. “Written separately, but then when we come together to make the final product, they have to go through the filter of both of us. It evolves when you’re together.”
As for the sound? “It’s noisy harmonising pop, basically all the songs are love songs. I’m quite traditional like that, and even the melodies are quite old school, traditional songwriting. We’re kind of a wall of sound kind of band, which is the music that me and Matty have always loved.”
Johnny might be seen to be singing lead, but the vocal blend is key. “Even though I’m technically singing the lead melody, I feel like the sound of BIIG TIME is us singing together.” You hear that clearly on the lead single, Bigger Than Nothing. There’s something special about building something with your sibling. “It’s really nice and it gives you the chance to have goals with each other.”
Live, that ‘wall of sound’ energy shines. Johnny lights up when recalling their recent sets supporting Jamie Webster and The Courteeners in Australia—“they were awesome”—and they’re buzzing for the UK tour. “Our main thing is, is that we really wanted to focus on releasing music, being able to play these songs live in the UK.”
When asked which tracks he’s most excited to play, Johnny doesn’t hesitate. “It’s funny because I find with this album, when I’ve played it to people, that certain songs resonate. I think Signing Out is a really great one. Love’s Wealth is quite beautiful, and I love it how it goes into that noisy bit after being almost like a ballad at the start. I’m Feeling Alive is kind of like our football song. Gets Better With You is a lot of fun as well. So, yeah, I really like all the songs on the album.”
Discussing some of the tracks on the album, we learn that Love’s Wealth is the album’s oldest song, written by Johnny over a decade ago. “You can write a song when you’re 20, and it’s a good song, but then for some reason it didn’t quite fit this band, or it didn’t quite fit this album, or wasn’t quite finished yet and then all of a sudden, the stars align and it finds a place in the world. And a lot of these songs have kind of been like that, and they work really well as a collection.”
He is meticulous and keeps all his demos and tries to write “a crappy song every day”, because they can evolve into something special, “you’ll be surprised by the end of the month if you do that for five minutes once a day for a month, you’ve got 30 ideas”. Take DMA’s track Silver, “I wrote silver when I was 21 and it didn’t come out till I was 28, and it’s become such an important song for a lot of people, an important song for me and the band. It’s just so important that you hold on to those.”
Johnny reassures that DMA’s aren’t going anywhere, with work already underway on their next album. He uses this to explain why some of the songs on 200K have their roots in older demos. “It’s really hard for a song to make a DMA’s album, Tommy and Mason, they’re some of my favourite songwriters. So to be able to make a 12-track DMA’s album, the song has to be particularly special.”
As for BIIG TIME’s future? Johnny is hopeful. “One thing I’ve got from BIIG TIME is that there are songs that are personal to me that maybe for some reason, haven’t worked 100% for DMA’s. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad song and actually some of them are my favourite songs I’ve ever written. I just love that BIIG TIME is this vehicle where we can do that, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”
It’s clear that BIIG TIME is more than just a side project for Johnny and Matty Took. With 200K, they’ve crafted a collection of songs they’re genuinely proud of, built on years of shared musical history and brotherly connection. Their excitement about taking these tracks on the road for their upcoming UK tour is infectious, and if the passion Johnny speaks with is any indication, BIIG TIME is only just getting started.
